Celebrating our 40th Anniversary in 2025! The Folk Club is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to the appreciation of music and the preservation of folk traditions. Each Tuesday we host an open mic and/or special monthly events, including concerts and member showcases. Come join us any Tuesday. Whether you choose to listen, perform or both, you’ll find the Folk Club to be a friendly and enjoyable experience you’ll want to repeat.
Every Tuesday at 7:15 pm, Amphora Diner Deluxe, 1151 Elden St, Herndon, Virginia 20170
News, Notes & Quotes
Important Dates at a Glance
April 8: Showcase Night featuring Shenandoah Run!
April 15: Theme Night – Songs from the American Folk Music Revival
Tuesday, April 8th:
April Showcase featuring:
Shenandoah Run!
In the early ‘60s Bob Melissinos was a folk musician in Greenwich Village and shared stages with the likes of Cass Elliot (The Mamas and the Papas), The Highwaymen, and Robert Guillaume. As a member of The
Coachmen and other groups, he performed at the 1964 World’s Fair, The Bitter End and other clubs, and numerous colleges and universities. Eventually life intervened (he married, raised a family, and probably worked his tail off) and music took a back seat, even though he always loved it.
Then about 14 years ago Bob had a hankering to get back into making music, and inspired by The New Christy Minstrels and their song Today (his favorite folk song) he cast about for singers and players who could do the song justice, as well as other favorite folk songs. And that is how Shenandoah Run was born, and it evolved into a group whose aim is to bring back folk and Americana music and keep it vital and fresh.
It has been the key to the success of the band through the years. We pay tribute to both folk and Americana music, featuring soaring harmonies and top-notch musicianship designed to entice listeners to sing along with the band. Sharing the feeling of the music with everyone has been the goal of this band and our primary focus.
We perform at a wide variety of locations in the DC area and beyond. Many of these places have featured Shenandoah Run multiple times and we often play to large audiences. For outdoor spaces we have brought in some of the largest audiences the venues have experienced. Last year the current musicians of Shenandoah Run worked over a period of seven months to record and mix our third CD, Daughter of the Stars, which was released last October. All of us will be squeezing onto the Folk Club stage for our third Showcase: founder and manager Bob Melissinos (vocals, guitar), original members John Werntz (bass) and Joe Dickey (banjo), Renee Moyer (vocals, percussion), Jill Nelson (vocals, octave guitar, percussion), Leslie Smile Hoyle (vocals, violin), Ben Hamblin (vocals, lead guitar), Jim Johnson (vocals, guitar, mandolin), and Ron Goad (percussion). Sing along!
For more information, please visit our website at www.shenandoahrun.com.
Tuesday, April 15th:
Theme Night
Songs from the American Folk Music Revival
For April , we’re suggesting songs be from the American folk music revival (early 1950’s to late 1960’s). That is the period from roughly 1950 to 1969 where, as Ralph Lee Smith reminded us when we were in the Tortilla Factory, many folk singers and songwriters congregated in Greenwich Village in New York City, as well as other US artist colonies. Artists like The Weavers, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Josh White, Lee Hays, Lead Belly, Burl Ives, Odetta, Harry Belafonte, The Kingston Trio, The Brothers Four, Peter, Paul, and Mary, The Chad Mitchell Trio, The Limelighters, The New Christy Minstrels, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, The Freedom Singers, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Dave Van Ronk, Judy Collins, Tom Rush, Fred Neil, Gordon Lightfoot, Billy Ed Wheeler, Arlo Guthrie, John Denver, Harry Chapin, John Hartford, The Clancy Brothers, The Smothers Brothers, and many others.
