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Lake Zurich fundraising concert planned to help rebuild Tennessee homes

For a second consecutive year, local guitarists and singers will perform a benefit to help defray costs of an annual church mission, this time to rebuild homes in fire-ravaged Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

The folk rock fundraiser concert begins at 7 p.m. Saturday at Peace Lutheran Church, 1050 Old Rand Road in Lake Zurich. Admission is free but a freewill donation is requested.

Visitors can expect to hear music from the '60s, '70s and '80s including covers of songs from artists like James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Jimmy Buffet, Bob Dylan and Dan Fogelberg.

The show will feature seven sets of about 15 minutes each, according to organizer John Trumbull, who will emcee and sing.

"We're going to do a Grateful Dead song and there will be a few Beatles songs," he said.

Last year, the performance raised about $1,000. Trumbull, a church member and Lake Zurich resident, organized the effort as a thank you to the church for letting his meetup group jam and socialize there once a month at no charge.

Proceeds will help with transportation and other costs for about 35 volunteers from Peace Lutheran and Living Lord Lutheran church in Bartlett for the Gatlinburg mission trip from June 24 to 30. The cost of renting vans and buying gas for the trip can exceed $3,000, according to Lia Brilando, a coordinator from Peace Lutheran.

Gatlinburg was devastated by five days of wildfires in November 2016. Volunteers will help with drywall, paint and general reconstruction in cooperation with Appalachia Service Project and Mission Tennessee, Brilando said.

"It is our experience that we want to go to a location that has had some time to organize all the needs of the people in the area that were affected and also that is not too far of a drive for our team," she said.

"We go there to work and we want to work every day," Brilando added.

Trumbull started Northwest Guitarists and Singers about five years ago as an opportunity for songwriters, guitarists and singers to get together, share music, perform, collaborate and make friends with like-minded people.

Membership has grown to about 340 who encompass "every different level of expertise," he said.

Members are encouraged to participate in open mic performances at local venues that are posted on the club's calendar. The group also has done similar fundraiser concerts for nonprofits in Crystal Lake, Trumbull said.

Guitarists and singers raised $1,000 last year at a folk rock fundraiser concert at Peace Lutheran Church in Lake Zurich. Courtesy of John Trumbull
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