Mark Dvorak

CRYSTAL FALLS, Mich. — On Sunday, Jan. 12, modern-day troubadour Mark Dvorak will perform at the Second Sunday Folk Dance at the Fortune Lake Camp in Crystal Falls, Mich.

The music starts at 4 p.m. CT and includes an opening set by White Water and a one hour concert by Dvorak. The second half of the event is a 90-minute dance with music by the Front Parlor Dance Band and dance caller Steve Kickert. Dean and Bette Premo (White Water) organize and host the Second Sunday concert/dance series. The opening set will also include fiddling and step-dancing by Carrie Dlutkowski.

Dvorak has been called “a folk singer’s folk singer” with an “encyclopedic knowledge of traditional songs.” His song writing has been called “wondrous” and “profound.”

Since 1981, Dvorak has performed in nearly all the United States and several European countries. His concerts mix the familiar and the new, drawing from traditional folk and standards from the American songbook. He plays authentic country blues guitar and great old-time banjo. Mark enjoys involving his audiences in sing-along songs, and he mixes in his own originals.

Dvorak is a long time faculty member at Chicago’s venerable Old Town School of Folk Music. Since 1986, thousands of music students have passed through his classes. He has taught many new musicians their first chords and strums, and has taught an entire catalogue of master classes and workshops on a range of subjects from old-time banjo picking to the legacy of the great Lead Belly.

All Second Sunday Folk Dance events begin promptly at 4 p.m. CT and end at 7 p.m. CT. Children 15 and under are admitted free. The line-up of guest musicians for the remainder of the 35th season includes Brian Miller and Nora Rendell on Feb. 9, Stas Vanglevski and Misha Litvin on March 8, and May Erlewine on April 5 (note: this is the first Sunday of April).

The Fortune Lake Camp is located between Iron River and Crystal Falls in Iron County, two miles west of Crystal Falls on US-2. Turn south on Bible Camp Road and drive for less than a quarter mile, then turn right on Fortune Lake Camp Road and drive a short distance.

A full season schedule is available at www.secondsundayfolkdance.com. If you would like to sponsor the SSFD with a tax-deductable donation, contact Bette Premo at 906-822-7889.