Great Lakes folk singer Lee Murdock to perform at LSSU
January 31, 08 by TheFleetIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Source: Lake Superior State University
Sault Ste. Marie, MI - Folk singer Lee Murdock, who sings a vivid musical portrait of life on the Great Lakes, will bring his flair for storytelling in songs to Lake Superior State University on Feb. 15.
Tickets, $10 for adults and $5 for students of all ages, are available now for Murdock’s performance, which begins at 8 p.m. in the LSSU Arts Center auditorium.
Murdock is renowned Midwestern musician who has released 12 CDs and two books of folk and maritime music.
He has discovered a boundless body of music and stories from the Great Lakes and tours internationally, year-round.
Noted as a fluent instrumentalist on the six- and 12-string guitars, Murdock combines ragtime, Irish, blues and folk styles with his songs.
His musical influences span 15 generations.
Murdock began his folk career in the Chicago area in the mid 1970s, expanding his repertoire of blues and popular music as his interest in folk music and the maritime tradition grew.
Murdock’s songs create an unforgettable image of commerce and recreation as they coexist on the Great Lakes today, with huge cargo ships traversing vital shipping lanes while pleasure craft of all types and sizes share the waters along America’s fourth coast.
To listen to Lee Murdock’s music is to visualize the long, heavily laden deck of an iron ore freighter being tossed by waves, to envision a choir singing, feel a lover’s lament, nurture a love for an isolated shoreline, and much more.
Murdock writes many of the songs he performs, but he also draws heavily on the archives of authentic sailing songs collected in the early 20th century by the late Ivan Walton, a former Michigan college professor.
“The discovery of this vast collection of American maritime music was amazing to me,” said Murdock. “And to think that it exists over 1000 miles from any saltwater.”
Murdock blends the traditional songs to appeal to contemporary musical tastes, reaching out to new audiences with his stories and songs from the inland waterways.
Murdock fans have discovered a treasury in his songs about the Great Lakes, too, finding drama and inspiration in the lives of sailors and fishermen, lighthouse keepers, ghosts, shipwrecks, outlaws and everyday heroes.
Murdock’s work is both documentary and also a contemporary anthem to the people who live, work and play along the Great Lakes today.
Audiences across the North American continent have a growing fascination with his stories and music, and Murdock has toured from Oregon to Ontario to Orlando.
His music is aired frequently on radio stations across the land, and his CDs have been consistently rated in the top 10 or top 25 recordings of folk music programmers.
For more information on tickets, call (906) 635-2602 or visit www.lssu.edu/artscenter
