PORT TOWNSEND –– The patriotism and protest of folk pioneers Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie will be celebrated by seven songwriters from the Salish Sea region at “7:30 p.m. Sunday.
The show will be at Key City Playhouse, 419 Washington St.
Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the door, by phoning 360-385-KCPT (5278) or online at www.keycitypublictheatre.org.
Performers Daniel Deardorff, Judith-Kate Friedman, Tracy Spring, Michael and Vickie Townsend, Ash Devine and Joe Breskin will share the stage as they offer up songs and stories spanning more than 70 years of performance and activism.
Anthems of justice
From “This Land Is Your Land” to “Do Re Mi,” Seeger and Guthrie penned anthems about justice, working people, a clean environment and peace.
Guthrie’s work writing songs for the Bonneville Power Administration in the pre-war Pacific Northwest will be highlighted
Pacific Northwest
Of his time in the region, Guthrie wrote: “The Pacific Northwest is one of my favorite spots in this world, and I’m one walker that’s stood way up and looked way down across aplenty of pretty sights in all their veiled and nakedest seasons.”
Seeger performed many times in Western Washington, including with the Seattle Labor Chorus, and credited a trip to Seattle in the 1930s as introducing him to the hootenanny — a Scottish term for old-fashioned variety shows full of audience participation.
Friedman is an award-winning songwriter, vocalist and producer who blends folk, roots, jazz, blues, choral/world music traditions and improvisation .
She also founded Songwriting Works Educational Foundation, the Port Townsend-based nonprofit that brings songwriters into care and community settings to compose group songs.
Devine — from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, N.C. — brings a sound that blends contemporary folk, traditional, jazz, world and experimental styles.
The Townsends have brought blues, Cajun and Latin styles to the saloons and salons of the Olympic Peninsula for more than 20 years.
Spring, who lives in Bellingham, sings and plays a blend of blues, swing, old R&B, jazz and folk.
Breskin brings decades of experience and a history of Port Townsend performances to the stage.