Life Force Arts Center is proud to present our monthly concert series "Folk & Beyond": mostly folk music, but sometimes World Music, blues, rock  and blended genres.

Our featured musical artists for January are folk singer Cathy McManamon and blues artist Bonni McKeown.

“Barrelhouse Bonni” McKeown’s blues piano, singing and songwriting style echoes back to the upright pianos in the juke joints and barrelhouses of the South, and the Bessie Smith era of vintage 1930s blues.  She travels between Chicago and her home state of West Virginia, taking the blues to concerts, classes, parties, senior homes, and festivals.  Her goal is not only to keep blues music alive, but also to support the heritage musicians who are upholding the tradition.Visit her website at www.barrelhousebonni.com

During Black History Month 2011 she is giving talks at libraries about her co-authored autobiography of West Side Chicago bluesman Larry Taylor,  Stepson of the Blues  www.stepsonoftheblues.com. She has also founded a traveling workshop, Chicago School of Blues  (www.chicagoschoolofblues.com), which reconnects generations by bringing Chicago blues musicians to classrooms.“Blues is music that helps people survive,” Bonni says. Her motto is:

PRAY FOR PEACE, WORK FOR JUSTICE, BOOGIE FOR SURVIVAL!

Cathy's songs are based on her encounters with Divine in diverse people and places; with the seen, the unseen, and the shadows that dance between.  Daring to share these encounters through her music is a tribute to her travels in this world and walking bravely with an open and loving heart.  At this performance, Cathy will share songs of journeys on land and of spirit, from the mountaintops to distant isles to the places that lie deep within the mists.

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