Americana musician Lauren Sheehan performs Feb. 1 in Libby

The Kootenai Heritage Council presents another evening of entertainment on the Libby Memorial Events Center stage Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018 at 7 p.m. The Libby community can enjoy the delightful tones of Roots Americana musician, Lauren Sheehan who performs in the Elizabeth Cotten/John Hurt vein — a one-woman Americana jukebox. Her sensitive singing and fingerwork with Piedmont picking all sounds deceptively easy, which is a testament to her huge talent and hard work.

Sheehan took a chance when she was in her 40s. She quit her job teaching at alternative schools and began to pursue a musical career. She launched her recording and performing career in 2002 and has been sailing on to critical acclaim, national/international radio charts and encores at festivals, concerts and venues across the country and in Canada ever since. From fronting a nine-piece band to performing solo acoustic work, this vivacious songster delights audiences with the breadth of her material, evocative artistry and musicianship.

Sheehan clearly loves and inhabits the music she performs, shape shifting through the moods of the familiar and the obscure, howling with the werewolf and weeping with the willow. Her gifted guitar work, stylistic breadth and vocals are inspired by her study with elders, oral tradition and scholarship. With all of that tradition behind her, she re-creates the intimacy of a back porch, where at one time in the American culture, singing and playing were regular events.

Sheehan began playing guitar at 10, discovered traditional, social and dance music in her early 20s, then jumped into living acoustic blues up at Centrum’s Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival in her 30s, picking up mandolin and banjo along the way.

Numerous achievements and accolades — including recent appearances on National Public Radio; four CDs that charted in the top 20 on folk radio; a 2012 Portland Music Award for outstanding achievement in Folk; inclusion in the Library of Congress as part of the MusicBox project; and her most recent accomplishment as guitarist for the CD, “The Light Still Burns,” companion to the history book Kalamazoo Gals: A Story of Extraordinary Women and Gibson’s “Banner” Guitars of WWII — attest to her growing significance as an artist, performer and teacher.

While in Libby, as part of the Kootenai Heritage Council outreach program, Sheehan will be visiting area schools to share her experiences, knowledge and talents up-close-and-personal with students of all ages. After experiencing some time with her during the school day, students are invited to watch her perform her full concert at the Memorial Center. Students are always admitted free with a paying adult.

Tickets are only $15 at the door with the special presale price of $12 at local ticket outlets. Tickets are available at: Cabinet Books, Chamber of Commerce, Homesteaders Farm and Ranch, Rivermist, The Western News, Mountain Meadows and Rocky Mountain Music. Troy residents can pick up their tickets at Booze ‘n Bait.

Season passes are still available for only $50, which drops the individual event price down to only $10. These tickets may be used one punch per event or bring friends and use all the punches at one event.

This event has been made possible in part through grant support from Westaf, Montana’s Cultural Trust, Montana Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts and the Montana Performing Arts Consortium.

Patty Rambo is a Kootenai Heritage Council board member.