Summer concert with Peter Karp

On Friday, July 1, at 7:30 p.m., the Sparta Summer Concert will feature Peter Karp, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboard player, at George Dykstra Park. Admission is free. Karp resides in Nashville and New Jersey, and anyplace in between, thanks to his trusty R.V. Once, while playing ball with his traveling companion, Delilah Dog, an ash-heavy cigarette dangling from his lip and a beat-up guitar propped against the idling R.V., a passerby asked, "Sir, are you a vagabond?" Karp replied, "Well, I'm a songwriter and musician, so I guess the answer is yes." By bucking the trend, and taking his lyrics as seriously as his music, Karp has carved a niche for himself as a contemporary Americana blues/roots artists. According to Karp, whose describes his songs as poignant, funny, irreverent, romantic and true to life, "Lyrics are where it begins and ends." Blues Revue magazine concurs, comparing him to "John Prine and Jackson Browne, with a healthy dose of blues, too." The Asbury Park Press calls him "the future of blues/roots music." The Gannett Press calls him "a great writer and performer whose songs are driven by verbal word play and insights into the human experience." Karp has shared the stage with The Stray Cats, George Thorogood, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Don Henley, Richie Havens, and many more. The summer concerts are presented admission free by the Sparta Cultural Affairs Committee, in conjunction with the Sparta Township Recreation and Parks Department. Funding for the concerts is provided by Sparta Township and through the generous support of local businesses and local patrons of the arts. Sparta Summer Concerts are held Friday evenings, June 24 through the end of July, in George Dykstra Park (behind the Sparta Public Library). In the event of inclement weather, they are held in the Mohawk Avenue School Auditorium (adjacent to Dykstra Park). For further information, visit the website www.spartaarts.org.