Chicago folk songwriter still has plenty of stories to tell
by Mark Guarino | Sept. 3, 2024
Folk is in the air with the inaugural Evanston Folk Festival this weekend. Dvorak, a longtime teacher, organizer and songwriter, takes the stage Sunday.
Anyone who has spent time listening to folk music knows that is is less about the notes and words and more about the community it fosters between the performers and audience.
Few exemplify that more than Mark Dvorak, one of Chicago’s primary catalysts of the city’s folk music tradition, which goes back more than a century. A performer and songwriter, he has built a career as a longtime teacher and organizer. He sees himself as someone who uses music to connect with people, not just in clubs and theaters, but in places that typically offer little access to live music: hospitals, libraries, senior residences and elementary schools.
“I’m not really in the music business. I don’t make a living by selling CDs. I make my living by performing,” he said. “Pete Seeger always described himself as a cultural worker. In the same way I think of myself more in the cultural arts. That’s where this stuff has led me.”
Dvorak plays the inaugural Evanston Folk Festival on September 8 and is part of an eclectic lineup that also includes Patty Griffin, Madi Diaz and Robbie Fulks. (WBEZ, which is co-presenting the event, will host an interview stage at the festival on Saturday and Sunday.) Beyond the collection of short essays, and a new album Live & Alone, which was recorded at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in an empty concert hall in Hinsdale.