The Dance

American Roots, Mississippi John Hurt meets Steve Goodmand and Guy Clark for coffee.

Homemade Ice Cream

This is the opening track of the new Gin Ridge Records release "Forgottonia", titled "The King Of Iowa". This song was written as a tribute to Iowa guitar slinger Bo Ramsey.

Gin Ridge Records, GR-1014, Chris Vallillo, Forgottonia. Available at www.chrisvallillo.com or Bandcamp.

Chris Vallillo - Forgottonia - 01 The King Of Iowa

This song was written by Ken Carlyle, a friend and former bandmate, about the fabled race car driver Junior Johnson. Forgottonia was fabled for its moonshine during prohibition(Gin Ridge Records... ever wonder why?) and this song seemed to capture that feeling perfectly. The first time I heard it, I knew it would be a great slide song!

Chris Vallillo - Forgottonia - 04 When Whiskey Had Wheels

This is the  closing track from my new CD "Forgottonia" on Gin Ridge Records.  it's a bottleneck slide version of the old Gospel Hymn Softly and Tenderly (Jesus is calling).  It's performed on a custom built 9 string parlor guitar and was inspired by an a cappella version of the song recorded by Iowa singer/songwriter Carol Montag.  I tried to gussy this up for the record with harmony parts, mandolin trills and the whole works, but always kept returning to this simple, free form version of the song. www.chrisvallillo.com

Chris Vallillo - Forgottonia - 12 Softly And Tenderly

The original version of the song Dixie's Land from the album, Abraham Lincoln In Song on Gin Ridge Records.  www.chrisvallillo.com

Abraham Lincoln in Song

Dixie's Land

The song Ring the Bell Softly performed by Chris Vallillo

www.chrisvallillo.com

CHRIS VALLILLO - Ring The Bell Softly - US92D1700005

I just heard from Andy Wiesenhoff, that our mutual friend Tim Runyan passed away. Tim was an exceptional musician on guitar, fiddle and mandolin.  In the 1990s, Tim, along with Bob Applegate, and Carol Jean Trolsen made up the house band for Rural Route 3.  This track was recorded as part of the 11/12/95 show with the Sandriods and Paul Geremia.  They all joined in on this Wickem Porteous song, the Cumberland Waltz. Tim always said it was his favorite of all the songs we did together. That's Tim on Mandolin warming up with Norman  Blake, Carol Jean Trolsen on bass and I think that's Crow Johnson as well.  Godspeed my friend. Keep playing wherever you are.

Cumberland Waltz, Rural Route 3

A bottleneck slide version of the old fiddle tune "Old Joe Clark"

Old Joe Clark

This song was inspired by the Herrin Massacre in 1922 down in Bloody Williamson County, IL.  Part of the labor wars of the early 20th century, this was a rare exception where the miners fought back and killed the scabs and hired guns.  SIU archaeologists recently discovered the mass grave of the victims and are excavating to re-entomb them in a proper grave.

Bloody Williamson

This wonderful song was written by Garnet Rodgers years ago.  During a very difficult time in my life, this is one of the songs that kept me going.  Hope it does the same for you.

Small Victory

This is Chris Vallillo's arrangement of "Let The Band Play Dixie" a song written by Bob Gibson from the album Abraham Lincoln In Song.

www.chrisvallillo.com

Abraham Lincoln in Song
“With Abraham Lincoln in Song, Vallillo takes the audience on a musical journey, making history come alive with his excellent blending of music and storytelling.”   
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-Phil Funkenbusch, Director of Theaters, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum
The life of Abraham Lincoln spanned a period of change, growth and struggle in our young nation, and the music of his era movingly characterizes these remarkable times. From his days as a flat-boater, through his time at New Salem, his years as a circuit lawyer and on up through his presidency, Lincoln’s life is a microcosm of the development of Illinois during that period.
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Abraham Lincoln in Song helps shed light on one of history’s most beloved figures “not only as a remarkable leader, but as a man,” who knew and loved many of these very songs himself. Special emphasis is placed on showing Lincoln ‘s unique bond with the common man and his desire for reconciliation, not revenge. It is an extensively researched, historically accurate program Chris uses period music Lincoln may well have known and sung, and Lincoln ‘s own stories to illustrate his life and put it into context.
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The show is designed to be an interactive, accessible, program that educates as well as entertains. It covers Lincoln ‘s life from his birth on the big south fork of Nolan’s Creek in Kentucky in 1809 through his death in 1865. It has been performed in association with the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, The Gerald R.Ford Presidential Museum, The Lincoln Home National Historic site, Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum and various touring exhibits including Forever Free from the Huntington Library and “Lincoln, the Constitution and the Civil War” from the Library of Congress and the American Library Association.  Abraham Lincoln in Song has recently been endorsed by the Illinois Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. The show works well for both school audiences (grade 3 and up) and adult audiences.​

13 Let The Band Play Dixie

Test recording of a restored Washburn-Regal double point mandolin.


Washbrun - Regal Double Point Mandolin

Off my 1995 release, Best of All Possible Worlds

Amazing Grace

The title cut of the new CD "Oh Freedom!, Songs of the Civil Rights Movement by Chris Vallillo soon to be released on Gin Ridge Records. 

Oh Freedom!

A bottleneck slide version of the song Battle Cry of Freedom from the CD Abraham Lincoln in Song 

Battle Cry of Freedom

This is the 1930's Supertone mandolin built by Regal for Sear's and Roebuck that I just restored.  One of a series of odd shaped instruments they made in this era, it has a bell shaped upper bout which is a solid chunk of Mahogany.  It's small body cavity gives it a sharp clear bright tone but with good ring and sustain.



Supertone Mandolin

The classic Americana melody performed bottleneck slide style on a custom 9 string parlor guitar.  From the CD "The Last Day of Winter".  www.chrisvallillo.com. 

Chris Vallillo, The Water is Wide

An Ohio River flatboat work song from the early 1800's That Lincoln may well have know and sung himself.  Performed by Chris Vallillo, from the CD Abraham Lincoln in Song on Gin Ridge Records.

Shawneetown

A bottleneck slide version of the 1862 song by George F. Root "the Battle Cry of Freedom"  from the CD "Abraham Lincoln in Song".  This song was written in response to Lincoln's July 2nd speech asking the nation for 300,000 volunteers to serve for 3 years.

This is a section of the Dobro track featuring the 1936 "Angelus" model wood bodied Dobro from the recording "The Last Day of Winter" by Chris Vallillo. 

1936 Dobro, Steel Guitar Rag

This is a section of the guitar track featuring the turn of the century Lyon and Healy 9 String guitar from the song "Steel Guitar Rag".  From the recording "The last Day of Winter" by Chris Vallillo. 

Lyon  & Healy 9 String Parlor Guitar, Steel Guitar Rag

This is a section of the guitar track featuring the 2004 National Tricone guitar from the song "Bonaparte's Retreat".  From the recording "The Last Day of Winter" by Chris Vallillo. 

2004 National Tri Cone, Bonnaparte's Retreat

This is a section of the track featuring the turn of the century Skinhead banjo for the song "Bloody Williamson". From the recording "The Last Day of Winter" by Chris Vallillo.

Skinhead Banjo, Bloody Williamson

This is a section of the guitar track featuring the 1956 Gibson ES 225 guitar from the song "River Road".  Played through a 1950's Gibson Discoverer amp, it's from the recording "The Last Day of Winter" by Chris Vallillo.

1956 Gibson ES-225, River Road

This is a section of the guitar track featuring the 1956 Gibson ES 225 guitar from the song "River Road". Played through a 1950's Gibson Discoverer amp, it's from the recording "The Last Day of Winter" by Chris Vallillo.

Lettie's Song by Chris Vallillo from the Recording Last Day of Winter on Gin Ridge Records. https://www.chrisvallillo.com/the-last-day-of-winter

Lettie's song

Letties Song

Chris Vallillo is a nationally acclaimed singer/songwriter and folk musician who makes the people and places of “unmetropolitan” America come to life in song. Having spent the last 30 years in the rural Midwest, he has a natural affinity for American roots music.  Performing on six-string and bottleneck slide guitars and harmonica, Vallillo weaves original, contemporary, and traditional songs and narratives into a compelling and entertaining portrait of the history and lifestyles of the Midwest. Dirty Linen magazine described the music as, “vivid, original story songs” delivered with an “eye for detail and a sense of history” while Folk Wax Magazine Editor, Arthur Wood  said “Vallillo’s guitar playing flows like warm honey and is a true aural delight.”

For Chris, a good song is as much a work of art as any painting or sculpture. His music has a timeless quality about it, with one foot in the past and one foot in the future.  Perhaps the archaeology degree Vallillo earned at Beloit College (BA Anthropology, 1976) helped him see the important little details of life which imbue his songs with a sense of history.  His prairie poet style has been compared to Edgar Lee Masters and Vachel Lindsay and you can hear the strains of the Carter Family and Jimmy Rogers reflected in his writing.  It’s roots based original and contemporary folk with the rich acoustic textures of bottleneck slide, finger style and flatpicked guitars that echo the influences of Mississippi John Hurt, Norman Blake, Doc Watson and John Fahey.

A recipient of a 1986 Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award for music composition, Chris was also a nominee for the Illinois Arts Council’s 1987 Governor’s Award for Individual Artist. In 1987 he conducted the Schuyler Arts Folk Music Project to document the last of the pre-radio generation.  These recordings were accepted into the American Folklife Collection at the Library of Congress.

From 1990 through 1998 he served as the performing host and co-producer of the nationally distributed, award-winning public radio performance series Rural Route 3 where he performed next to (and with) a virtual who’s who of contemporary and traditional folk musicians. His most recent project, a one man show titled Abraham Lincoln in Song, received the endorsement of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the accompanying CD of music reached #10 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Album Chart in March of 2008.

His latest album “The Last Day of Winter” was released in January, 2013.

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