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Juniata College

Campus News

Juniata College

(Posted January 4, 2007)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Tom Chapin, whose folk-singing background and prolific songwriting talent has brought him to the forefront of popular concert performers, will perform a wide array of contemporary songs at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 18 in Rosenberger Auditorium in the Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts on the Juniata campus. For tickets and information about the Juniata College Presents series, please call (814) 641-3608. General admission tickets for single performances are $20, except where otherwise noted. Single-show tickets for seniors over age 65 and children age 18 and under are $12. Juniata College students are admitted free with a student ID. Chapin, who has built a powerful reputation as a children\'s performer over the past two decades, will be performing music aimed at contemporary adult audiences during this concert. Chapin has recorded eight albums of folk-based music, an output that complements his thriving career as a children\'s entertainer. Chapin\'s work is characterized by material that is almost cinematic in its imagery, but also irresistibly melodic in the classic troubadour tradition. \"My heroes are people like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, who wrote and sang real songs for real people,\" Chapin has said in interviews. Chapin, whose brother Harry Chapin was an acclaimed performer as well (best known for his song \"Cat\'s in the Cradle\"), has recorded such adult-oriented albums as \"Common Ground,\" (2001) \"Doing Our Job,\" (1997) \"Join the Jubilee,\" (1996) \"So Nice to Come Home,\" (1994) and \"Let Me Back Into Your Life.\" His children\'s music career also is thriving. His most recent album, \"Some Assembly Required,\" was a 2005 Grammy nominee for Best Musical Album for Children. He also received several other Grammy nominations for his children\'s albums. He won the 2001, 2002 and 2003 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for \"Mama Don\'t Allow,\" \"There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly\" and \"The Train They Call The City of New Orleans,\" respectively. \"Hearing a quiet singer such as Chapin sing a quiet romantic song is still one of the more serene pleasures of pop music,\" wrote a critic from People magazine, while a critic from the New York Times wrote that Chapin is \"one of the great personalities in contemporary folk music.\" Chapin has had an eclectic career in music, acting as producer for his own albums as well as those of other artists. He also provides narrations for the Smithsonian Wild Heritage Collection and lends his storytelling talent to a series of animal stories sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States. He also has acted and performed on stage in \"Pump Boys and Dinettes,\" and was musical director for stage productions \"Cotton Patch Gospel\" and \"Harry Chapin: Lies and Legends.\" Chapin also is an activist for various causes and serves on the board of directors of World Hunger Year, a hunger organization founded by Harry Chapin.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.

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