Album Notes

Mark Dvorak is a modern day troubadour who has never stopped performing, writing and recording. He has been called a folk singer’s folk singer who has an encyclopedic knowledge of traditional songs. His songwriting has been called “wondrous” and “profound.”

Since 1981, Mark has performed in nearly all of the United States. Though he often appears on festival stages and in theaters, he is also at home performing in more intimate settings. His concerts are a mix of the familiar and the new; traditional folk and standards from the American song book. He plays authentic country blues guitar and picks great old-time banjo. Mark enjoys involving his audience in sing along songs, just like The Weavers used to do, and he mixes in his own well-crafted and often poignant originals. Mark has a refreshing, down-to-earth stage presence, and is a very engaging performer. He likes to joke around with the folks who attend his shows and throughout the program he’ll add personal anecdotes, and a touch of history or social context.

People remember what Mark Dvorak sings. His roots are in Chicago, but for more than twenty-five years he has been crisscrossing the country performing, teaching
and learning all the while. He’s visited big cities where his concerts and recordings have been hailed as “a refreshing portrait of the living folk tradition,” and he’s traveled many a back road to some little town or out-of-the-way place where the
sounds and songs of the American experience seem more deeply rooted; where his performance comes across like a friendly conversation with neighbors.

Dvorak continues to be an integral member of the faculty at Chicago’s venerable Old Town School of Folk Music. When he’s not on the road, you can find him there teaching, jamming with students and passers by, or just hanging out and soaking in the vibe. Since 1986, several thousand music students have passed through his classes. He has helped many a beginner get through their first chords and strums, and has hosted a catalogue of master classes and workshops on a range of subjects from old time banjo picking to the legacy of the great Lead Belly, to just about every other topic related to the study of American folk music.