On Saturday, April 19, 2025, Delaware Friends of Folk will present their monthly coffeehouse concert in the Dover Art League building at 21 W. Loockerman St. in Dover, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 7:00 and admission is $7 for members of Delaware Friends of Folk, $10 for non-members, teens are half-price, and those 12 and under are admitted free. Fresh-brewed coffee, baked cookies, and other snacks will be available. Seating may be limited.

The featured act will be Chicago native “Diamond” Jim Greene. He’s been playing acoustic blues for years, mainly on prewar National steel-resonator and 12-string guitars. When he was about 7 or 8 years old, Jim saw Blind Arvella Gray busking and playing a National steel-resonator guitar on Ellis Avenue near 63rd Street on the south side of Chicago. There was a large crowd of adults around him, and when he finished the song he was playing, the adults begged him to play it again. The crowd filled his cup with quarters, and he played it again. “It was a chrome, steel-bodied National, and I haven’t been the same since,” he chuckles. Jim started playing acoustic guitar in the early 1980s and has been in a number of bands and performed solo all over the US and Europe. He sees country blues as an ongoing tradition which should not be relegated to museum status. “It’s very powerful if you can keep the basic musical approach and use the same format,” Greene states.

Opening the evening will be Mark Groves and Walt Dabell, aka Mark.n.Walt. They have been playing as a duo since early 2023. They deliver an engaging performance that showcases their unique blend of musical backgrounds and personalities, and present a captivating repertoire of blues, rock, folk, Americana, and more. Their dynamic playing style and mix of genres create a memorable musical experience. Mark is from the Elkton, Md./Newark, Del. area. Beginning in the early 1960s, he played in the northern Delaware and Philly region with bands "Loose Goose" and later with Johnny Neil, opening for acts like Joe Cocker at the Brandywine club, and Huey Lewis in Hartford, Conn. Mark now makes his home in New Castle County and considers himself a guitarist first, but also plays keyboard, bass and drums. Walt is from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and has been playing locally since the mid-1970s. Walt met Lonnie Field and joined SandCreek in the mid-1980s. He has been involved in Delaware Friends of Folk since it formed and has performed on their stage solo, and with bands Sandcreek, Shore Grass, The 3/4 Ton Band, and more recently as Mark.n.Walt.

Links:

www.delfolk.org; Email: delfolk@gmail.com; (302) 257-2356

https://diamondjimgreene.net/; email:fingerpicker@sbcglobal.net

https://www.facebook.com/mark.n.walt

tim_spong@yahoo.com; (302) 422-2347