CRYSTAL FALLS – Crystal Theatre celebrates the forgotten folk songs from Michigan and the Great Lakes region Friday, June 23 at 7 p.m. CDT.

Six stringed instrumentalists, calling themselves Michigan-IO, have been re-imagining and rearranging these great songs in a sound and style true to the original songs and pleasing to our contemporary ears.

In the 19th century, while the lumber and mining trades prospered in Michigan, so did the folk tradition. That’s owed mainly to the workers themselves. After a hard winter spent felling trees, or a dangerous voyage in a freighter heavy with iron ore, exhausted workers turned their pain and adventure into music.

These songs were sung throughout the Great Lakes region for decades, yet, despite their popularity, were rarely written down. They might have been lost for good had it not been for the work of a young song collector named Alan Lomax.

In 1938, the Library of Congress sent Lomax through Michigan and Wisconsin for the sole purpose of documenting the folk tradition there. After three months of travel, interviews, and recording sessions, Lomax returned home with hundreds of vinyl field recordings, photographs, and even a few black-and-white video clips. Together, they compose the largest single collection of the folk music and storytelling tradition from Michigan’s early statehood.

The Michigan-IO ensemble consists of guitar, mandolin, banjo, bass, harmonium and fiddle, with full vocal harmonies gliding on top. There are hundreds of songs from this collection to work through and a couple dozen of them have been recorded and released on two separate LPs (Michigan-IO and Once More a Lumbering Go).

Michigan-IO exists to give voice to these incredible tunes and to celebrate the folk music tradition throughout the Great Lakes.

Advanced tickets for Michigan-IO may be purchased online at thecrystaltheatre.org or by calling 906-875-3208. Tickets will also be available at the door.