Sangamon Songs: A Musical Play. Adapted by John W. Arden from the 2012 album by Tom Irwin.
The play features John Gifford Irwin as Harry Glen Ludlum, the boy who wrote the diary in 1893 and Tom Irwin as narrator. Both Tom and John sing and perform songs accompanied by Owen Thomas Irwin on acoustic guitar and Polly Launay on violin. The two-act play also has a slide show that depicts scenes related to the songs as well as actual diary entries.
We've performed the show in Petersburg, Springfield, Skokie, Carbondale, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri since debuting in 2019 (with 2 years off during the pandemic). Please contact Tom with any booking ideas or requests.
We will be back on stage in 2024!
Tom reading Harry Glen Ludlam's diary that was the foundation of Sangamon Songs. In the background is the pie-tin cabinet that held the diary for over a hundred years.
C.A.M.P Show #1 -Themes of Americana
Interview by John & Tom on NPRIllinois about our debut show
“I like your shirt... and your music, too. ”
— Willie Nelson, after opening for Willie & Family at Illinois State Fair, August 2001. I was wearing a Hank Williams, Sr. T-shirt.