Starved Rock Country’s Secret History As A Folk Music Capital

Starved Rock Country resident Keith Clark lived something of a double life. By day, he worked as a teacher and coach at Ottawa high school, bringing numerous victories to their famed track and field program, between the years of 1949 and 1962. But on the weekends and during the Summer months, Clark was a prolific folk singer, traveling across the midwest, collecting stories and melodies during the early days of the American Folk Revival.

Radio broadcast legend Studs Terkel once dubbed Keith Clark “the unofficial poet laureate of Illinois”, and that was a well earned title for a significant, if lesser-known, face of the Folk Revival movement.

Clark’s passion for folk music was ignited during his time at the Middlebury Bread Loaf School in Vermont, where he pursued a doctoral degree in English. There, Clark was instructed by (and played softball with) famed-poet Robert Frost, who encouraged him to take up the guitar and pen stories about history, and his beloved hometown. Like Carl Sandburg before him, Clark began conducting exhaustive interviews and collecting meticulous historical research, to use as the foundation of his music.

Clark’s hard work paid off. In 1957, he cut his first album at New York’s venerable Folkways Records (now an imprint of The Smithsonian). The result was “Ballads of La Salle County, Illinois”, a record packed with historical information, dramatic stories and Clark’s signature piping vocals.

This collection of 10 diligently researched historical ballads tells the stories of some of Starved Rock Country’s greatest triumphs (‘The Lincoln Douglas Debate’) and defeats (‘Cherry Mine Disaster’), as well as some fascinating historical tangents (‘The Magnetic Doctress’).

You can hear samples of the album over on the Folkways website, or purchase your own digital/physical copy.

[coastweekend.com - Clark Family Photo]

It should come as no surprise that Clark, with his passion for weaving history and song, struck up a friendship with fellow Folkways artist Pete Seeger.

Clark and Seeger would go on to take classes together at Harvard University, both continuing their study under Robert Frost. Together, the duo would pen countless songs and host legendary folk nights, laying the groundwork for what would become a lifelong friendship.

When Clark returned to his native Ottawa, Illinois, he took his passion for folk music, and new found knowledge of concert promotion, and decided to convert his family’s century old barn into a makeshift music venue.

Known simply as “The Barn”, formerly located on Ottawa’s Gentlemen Road, Clark’s cornbread concert hall attracted a cult following of locals and travelers, many of whom were willing to drive hours to see the big name folk, blues and country acts that Clark invited into his home.

The Barn was a rural bastion for both black performers, regularly segregated in rural performance halls, and those facing persecution during the McCarthy era. The legendary Odetta, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee all graced The Barn’s stage.

Another notable regular was, of course, Pete Seeger. For decades of touring, Seeger would be sure a week or two off after his concerts in Chicago to spend time with his friend Clark in Ottawa. The friends would write songs together and host word-of-mouth shows at both The Barn, and later Ottawa High School Assemblies, throughout the 50′s and 60′s.

[Ottawa Times File Photo]

After years of resistance from groups that sought to shut down The Barn, and the institution of ordinances that barred many of Clark’s regular musicians from staying in town, the family decided to leave their beloved LaSalle County and move to Palo Alto, California. There Clark continued to teach High School and coach tennis, until a position opened up at Stanford University.

Clark’s friendship with Seeger was a constant, he would hit the road with him during the summers, serving as a reoccurring member of his live band for many years, as well as penning many songs that would appear on Seeger’s children’s albums.

Clark passed away in 2016, at the age of 94, but his legacy still lives on. You can see rare film clips taken in The Barn and in Clark’s Ottawa-home on several of Pete Seeger’s DVD’s. His album ‘Ballads of La Salle County, Illinois’ was even given a reprint, which is available over on the Folkways webstore and on most popular streaming services.

Starved Rock Country is still home to terrific live music, venues like Tangled Roots, Red Dog Grill, Dockside and Star Union Spirits regularly bring nationally touring and rising musicians to the area for intimate performances. WRWO’s Song + Story, Tangled Root’s Story Tellers Studio Sessions and Red Dog Grill’s Harbor Stories series are all keeping the sprit of The Barn alive and well.

For more information on Keith Clark check out this interview with his son, Keith Clark Jr.

You can hear samples of ‘Ballads of La Salle County, Illinois’ over on the Folkways website, or purchase your own digital/physical copy.