Lake County Folk Club performs in Lindenhurst

Scott Engstrom and Cath Kasmer will perform at the Lake County Folk Club concert.

Updated: July 8, 2012 3:26PM

Plenty of good music will go ’round and come ’round when the Lake County Folk Club performs July 11 at Engle Memorial Park in Lindenhurst.

“It’s a unique first-time event for us,” said Cath Kasmer, an accomplished guitarist and folk singer,
also the club’s publicist.
“A lot of us do the opening spots for the regular club’s concerts, but this is a gig
for us to play. We’ll perform ‘in the round,’ and each will do three songs. We’re all good friends so it will be fun too.”

Kasmer, Merv Collins of Algonquin, Scott Engstrom of Libertyville, Carolyn Meadows of Evanston, Jim Schramm of Lindenhurst, and Chuck VanderVennet of Mundelein, will be on the covered band shell.

“It’s a very nice spot,” said Kasmer, “and we’ll play a wide variety of styles, from traditional folk to originals and fingerstyle instrumentals, mountain music and bluegrass. Our club has so many wonderful musicians.”

Casmer, now of Mundelein, hails from the Ann Arbor, Mich., area where she grew up and later attended the University of Michigan. Music was in the home and available close by via long-running folk venue, The Ark.

“There was a Joan Baez songbook on our piano, we sang in church, and I was able to walk to The Ark to hear so many great artists, everyone from Odetta to Dave Von Ronck, Michael Hedges, Patty Larkin, David Bromberg. And when I lived in Ann Arbor, The Ark was in an old warehouse with folding chairs. The music was really an education and a huge influence.”

Casmer showed musical talent as a child, and by 10 was learning guitar from a public television show with Laura Weber that covered all the classic folk tunes.

She also took lessons from Shari Kane (who had been a student of Rory Block), learning the Delta Blues style, and performed acoustic blues music while in college and also at open stages. Since becoming involved with the Lake County Folk Club, Casmer has opened for two top folk acts, Mustard’s Retreat and Claudia Schmidt.

She had special words of praise for Merv Collins, who is a well-regarded local fingerstyle player and composer. “Merv is one of my best friends in the club, and he taught me how to use the microphones. Merv knows everything about music!”

And, she added, with the club now in its 20th year, there’s plenty to know.

“There’s such a dynamic folk scene in the Chicago area,” said Casmer. “I knew about it peripherally, then fell in love again with the folk music. I studied jazz for a while, played some rock ’n’ roll, but have come full circle back to folk. There’s such a strong tradition here, everyone is so great, so encouraging and helpful.”

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