Lonesome Traveler shattered box office records and
won multiple awards in its acclaimed premiere at
Rubicon Theatre in California. Authentic young
singer/multi-instrumentalists take audiences on a
journey down the rivers and streams of American Folk
music — from the hills of Appalachia to the nightclubs
of New York and San Francisco; from the 1920s to the 1960s.
Along the way, the performers pay homage to many legendary
folk musicians including Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Woody
Guthrie, Joan Baez, The Carter Family, The Weavers,
The Kingston Trio, The Limeliters, Gordon Lightfoot,
Ian & Sylvia, and Peter Paul & Mary; offering heartfelt,
moving renditions of more than 30 songs, including
“Lonesome Traveler,” “This Land is Your Land,” “Deportee,”
“If I Had a Hammer,” “Goodnight Irene,” “Tom Dooley,”
“Puff, the Magic Dragon,” ‘Someday Soon,” Early Mornin’ Rain,”
“All My Trials,” “Midnight Special,” “Turn, Turn, Turn,” and many others.
Celebrate the music that made history and the history that made music!
“My relationship with this music goes back to when
I was five or six-years-old.” My father was a child
of the Great Depression. He grew up in Oklahoma and
came to California during the Dust Bowl migration.
He was a ranch hand and later became the head of the
local retail clerks’ union and a union organizer. Woody
Guthrie and Pete Seeger were his heroes – my dad even
played the guitar a little. As I was growing up in the
late ’50s and early ’60s, our house was filled with the
sounds of the folk revival. Folk music is a declaration
of a particular kind of humanity – one that perseveres
through life’s difficulties and celebrates the idea of
respect and care for one another. The title of Lonesome Traveler
essentially comes from the idea that we all take a solitary
journey through life – we come in and out of this world alone.
“But music and storytelling are great unifiers – great healers.
They can help us feel a little less lost or alone.”
-Jim O’Neil