Special Programs

Lee Murdock in concert

From concert halls to intimate coffee house rooms, Lee brings a deep repertoire of songs and a strong audience following, which he has built up over decades of touring and with the radio & internet airplay that comes with distribution of 24 CDs, including three CDs of entirely instrumental music.

Noted as a fluent instrumentalist on six and twelve string guitars, Murdock combines ragtime, Irish, blues and folk styles with this flair for storytelling in songs. His musical influences span fifteen generations, and combine original compositions with traditional music. He is an accomplished finger-style guitarist, who can pick out a familiar tune from the broad spectrum of published music and songs, classical, pop, even jazz and experimental music.

Songs of the Great Lakes Region

Lee’s emphasis on songs from the Great Lakes region came from his early interest in finding folk songs from the history of his local region. Seemingly a simple quest, Lee discovered an endless sea of fascinating history. He has a special gift for putting the personal perspective on the events he depicts in song.

Thanks to this ever-growing depth of songs and stories at his command, Murdock often customizes a performance to fit the locality or the theme of a museum, book club, or region. It’s not unusual to find a concert on Lake Superior, or songs from Wisconsin, or windjammers and tall ship era. Even from the recent history of steam powered commerce from our Freshwater Highway.

Take a look at some of Lee’s frequently offered themes, on this page. Or contact us with your own ideas for a program to highlight your special community.

Lighthouse Legends

Like the Great Castles the lighthouses on the Inland Seas. Lee’s songs and stories share the tragedy and the heroics, the isolation and the beauty and the drama of lighthouse lore and the Life Saving Service.  Especially popular for libraries and senior citizen groups.

Great Lakes Ghosts

A narrated concert featuring songs of supernatural legends and spooky tales of ghost ships and haunted lighthouses. The perfect fall program for libraries and museums.

From the Auld (Olde) Sod to New Prairie: The Irish in America (Emerald Isle Immigrants)

Be ready to join in the boisterous chorus of a popular Irish Pub song, share the sly joke in classic old ballad, follow along to a soft instrumental air or vigorous dance tune from the Emerald Isle. Follow the Irish across “The Big Pond” with songs of Irish immigrants, as he celebrates with an anthem honoring those who labored to build the Illinois and Michigan Canal, or traditional tunes from the Beaver Island settlers and more..

The Christmas Tree Ship Concerts

A holiday concert commemorating the turn-of-the-century tradition of carrying Christmas trees to ports on the lower Great Lakes. This was the final cargo of the season during the lumber schooner days, after the last of the logs from the northern forests were hauled south to build the cities of the Midwest.

Murdock’s song about one of these tall sailing schooners, the Rouse Simmons, is the centerpiece to this concert, a story and song of hope and tragedy, of loss and renewal, as the famous ship struggled into a raging winter storm in November of 1912, where she was lost with all hands. 

The Rouse Simmons was but one of many ships hauling this cargo, though perhaps the most famous and beloved ship of her day, especially in the port of Chicago, where she docked at the turn of the Century to allow the public to step aboard and pick out their own freshly-cut trees.

The Annual Christmas Ship Concert rotates each year to a new venue in the Chicago area, and often includes special guests including “the dock wallopers,” Lee’s a capella sea music ensemble, or a pick-up band.

In addition to the annual Chicago gala event, Lee books solo concerts around the Great Lakes states, including one-hour shows for libraries and smaller venues.

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Every year on the first Saturday of December, the US Coast Guard Icebreaker Mackinaw arrives at Navy Pier in downtown Chicago, with trees lashed to her deck, in a remembrance of this holiday tradition Chicago’s Christmas Ship, which benefits Chicago families. Lee is a part of the morning ceremony, performing his song outdoors as Coast Guard helicopters fly over, and Navy/Coast Guard Auxiliary volunteers arrange a holidy gift for Chicago families.

https://www.christmasship.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Mackinaw_(WLBB-30)