LEE MURDOCK - MAGICIAN OF THE GREAT LAKES BOATING ACCIDENTS

Murdock brings music tradition of the Great Lakes to Corning

7:35 PM, Mar. 30, 2011  |  

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Written by

John Cleary
Correspondent

• FILED UNDER
• Entertainment

If you go

* What: A performance by folk singer Lee Murdock

* When: 7 p.m. Saturday

* Where: 171 Cedar Arts Center's Drake House, at the corner of Drake and First streets in Corning

* Tickets: Admission is $12 (cash or check) at the door, $6 for students and those using a wheelchair. Children ages 14 and under admitted free when accompanied by an adult.

* On the Web: www.valleyfolk.org; www.leemurdock.com

* Note: Murdock will perform at 8 p.m. Sunday at Bound for Glory in Ithaca.

Bits of the whole world can be found along the Great Lakes, says folk singer Lee Murdock. The music of the region is special to that place but still tells universal stories of survival, love, hard work and challenge.

"It is a microcosm of the whole human experience," he says.

Murdock, who is based in Chicago, will perform Saturday at 171 Cedar Arts Center's Drake House in Corning. The concert is presented by Valley Folk as part of the group's season of performances.

Murdock started out in the 1970s as a blues and pop singer, but became increasingly interested in the folk and maritime music of the Great Lakes.

"When I started singing these songs, I didn't know that much about the history of the Great Lakes region, and I learned a lot through these songs," he says.

They are songs made richer, he says, by the fascinating demographics of the region. Many groups of Europeans settled in pockets in the region, each adding their own traditions to the mix.

"There are great immigrant stories of people who are just naturally drawn to the water, myself included," he says.

Murdock says he has learned songs that reflect on the most far-flung, quiet forest shores of the lakes, and others that bustle with the industry of some of the great cities of the continent — Chicago, Toronto, Detroit and Cleveland.

"I tell people it is a singular place," he says. "There's no other place like it on Earth."

Murdock's performance begins at 7:30 p.m., but he'll be available for a pre-concert jam session starting at 6 p.m. Local musicians are invited to bring their instruments and join in.

171 Cedar Arts Center's Drake House is located at 155 Cedar St. in Corning.

*

Valley Folk will offer a performance by singer Sarah McQuaid on May 7, and another by the band Four Shillings Short on June 4. Both shows are planned for the Drake House's Studio Theater. For more information, visit www.valleyfolk.org.