Also this issue: Founding Fathers The experts at Philly's new Foundry label want to make good music and good money at the same time. -A.D. Amorosi Bringing It All Back Home Bob Dylan returns to Newport. -Nate Chinen Mixed Messages Electronic music pioneer Mark Farina puts it all together. -Sean O’Neal Tomas Jirku -Sean O’Neal The Catheters -Paul Burress

August 15-21, 2002

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Stephen Wade

A charming story spinner and persistent researcher of the roots of Americana, Stephen Wade performed his one-man show, Banjo Dancing, in D.C. for a decade. (The show still ranks among the top five longest-running off-Broadway shows.) No wonder the banjo man has since taken off an almost equal amount of time from performing. In recent years, Wade has dug deep into the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress. Some of his research resulted in the Rounder-issued A Treasure of Library of Congress Field Recordings, which includes 40 pages of history accompanying the great music. (He turned up facts like "John Henry" is the most-recorded American folk song. Listen for full disclosure on "John Henry" in Wade's NPR piece, airing on Morning Edition on Labor Day.) Wade's performance at the Art Museum this Wednesday is set to complement the current exhibition "Indivisible: Stories of American Community," a photo/oral history look at communities and the challenges they face. Who better than Wade, whose research led him to the genuine, living source of American music, to address these themes in song and story? Wade is spellbinding; don't miss it.

Wed., Aug. 21, 7 p.m., Van Pelt Auditorium, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 26th St. and the Parkway, 215-763-8100, www.philamuseum.org.

—Mary Armstrong

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