FOLKLORIST AND SINGER BOBY DYER WILL PERFORM WEEKEND CONCERTS

Musician, poet, folklorist and teacher Bob Dyer will perform free concerts Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Dyer will play at 8 p.m. Friday in the amphitheater at Sam A. Baker State Park; at 7 p.m. Saturday in the amphitheater at Trail of Tears State Park; and at 4:30 p.m. Sunday in the picnic area at Bollinger Mill State Historic Site.

Dyer was born and raised on the banks of the Missouri River in the Boonslick region of Central Missouri. Now a resident of Boonville, he has spent much of his life delving into the history and folklore of his native state, and has developed a method of presenting them he calls "songtelling."

He has two recordings of original songs "River of the Big Canoes" and "Treasure in the River." He also has published books, and his music has been featured in the film "Tom Benton's Missouri."

He wrote and co-directed a film about the epic poet John Neihardt, entitled "Performing the Vision."

His folk-style ballads are about the Osage and Missouri Indians, pioneer settlers and politicians, legendary steamboats, ghosts, outlaws, frontier braggarts, Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham and Thomas Hart Benton, and Huckleberry Finn.

He recently completed a recording project involving Civil War songs from Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas.

For more information, phone the Bollinger Mills State Historic Site at 243-4591 or Trail of Tears State Park at 334-1711.

The concerts are sponsored by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.