FAIRHOPE, Ala. — While several local spots offer live music on a regular basis, Fairhope does not have anything approaching the active music scene that's available across the bay in Mobile.

Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion bring their folk, country, old-time, rock and blues act to a Thursday night show at the University of South Alabama Baldwin County Performance Center in Fairhope. Local favorite Grayson Capps will open the concert with a solo acoustic set. Photos courtesy of Dr. Music.
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But during the past year, a number of special concerts have occurred, with little fanfare or publicity, which some people only learn about after the instruments have been packed and the musicians rolled on to the next town. Some of those acts have appeared at the tiny venue of Dr. Music on Church Street, where a number of national touring musicians have dropped in for an intimate evening of live music.

Thursday night (Dec. 10) offers a unique chance to catch some live music with deep roots in American folk music, when the granddaughter of Woody Guthrie and youngest daughter of Arlo will perform in a slightly larger venue at the University of South Alabama-Baldwin County Performance Center in Fairhope.

"Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion will break from a tour with Arlo Guthrie to show off their infectious mix of old-time music, country, folk and blues, " said Wade Wellborn of Dr. Music, which is sponsoring the show as a joint venture with USABC. "Sarah Lee and Johnny have a chemistry that brings out the best in each other. Her love for country and folk and his rock and blues interests mesh into an entertaining mix of guitar-playing prowess and purity of voice."

The musicians are friends of local musician Grayson Capps, who will open the show with a solo acoustic performance. Capps recently released his first DVD, "Live at the Paradiso," and tours nonstop, Wellborn said.

"The fact that he is breaking free from his band, The Stumpknockers, for this show is a real treat," Wellborn said. "Who knows what to expect besides a great evening of storytelling via song and spoken word."

Guthrie is the granddaughter of Woody, whose song "This Land is Your Land" has entered the national consciousness, and daughter of Arlo, whose Alice's Restaurant" was played in its amusing rambling storytelling entirety at noon this Thanksgiving Day on 92ZEW radio.