Carry On: Songs for Living

We can’t wait to present our fall concert, Carry On: Songs for Living, at the Englert Theatre on Sunday, November 13, at 3:00 p.m.!

Join us this Saturday, May 14, at 3 p.m. at the historic Englert Theatre for the spring concert of the Family Folk Machine! Sing a Song: To Noisemaking! will feature songs about the joy of singing together and will get you singing along. Hope you can be there!

We are so pleased to present a special collaboration with the Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre as part of the performance. Led by Monica Leo, the FFM kids will present a puppet shadow play accompanied by an original song by FFM teen Tessera Rippentrop.

The concert is family-friendly and free. Donations will be accepted with gratitude. If you can’t join us in person, you can tune in using this link:
https://youtu.be/eP68czIkSL4
either in real time or anytime after the concert.

You can also catch members of the FFM at the Iowa City Public Works open house, an all-day party on Saturday, May 21 at the new public works building at 3810 Napoleon Lane. Our set will be 11:00 to 11:30; find all the details here: https://www.icgov.org/news/upcoming-public-works-open-house-features-day-family-fun-─-roller-skating-quilts-more .

We’ll start our Fall 2022 session, Carry On: Songs for Living, in mid-August! Drop us a note if you might like to join us then.

The Family Folk Machine will present our spring concert, “Sing a Song: To Noisemaking!” on Saturday, May 14, 2022 at 3:00 p.m. The concert is free with donations gratefully accepted. We will be celebrating the joys of singing together in this song-themed concert. As a musical centerpiece, we will feature a puppet shadow play presented by the FFM kids under the direction of Eulenspiegel Puppets’ Monica Leo. The shadow play will be set to an original song by Tessera Rippentrop.

Hope you can join us on May 14!

The Family Folk Machine is having our first rehearsal for our Spring 2022 session, The Spark Between Our Hearts, this Sunday, January 9, at 3:00. We are going to hold our first few rehearsals on Zoom and begin meeting in person with safety precautions when local virus transmission levels are lower.

We have a great group of songs planned for the choir this spring! Lots of songs about singing and hope for the future. Would you like to join us? You can attend the first couple of Zoom rehearsals and check things out before making a commitment.

To join, or for more information, send an email to jean@familyfolkmachine.org. We’ll get you the Zoom link for rehearsals and all the other info you need.

Year in Review! Designed by Aprille Clarke.

Thanks to the readers of Little Village Magazine for voting the FFM the Best Community Music or Theater Group! You can check out all the winners in the 2021 Best of the CRANDIC here.

The Family Folk Machine seeks donations through our Annual Appeal to support our programming. Please consider making a donation today, by sending a check to

Family Folk Machine

P.O. Box 1421

Iowa City, IA 52244

or securely online. We appreciate your support!

You can view a video of the Fall 2021 Family Folk Machine concert on our YouTube Channel!

Join us Sunday, October 10, at 3:00 p.m. on the Riverside Festival Stage for “Never So Far,” the Fall 2021 concert from the Family Folk Machine! For our first in-person concert since November 2019, we’ll share a fantastic set of songs that meet our present moment, and we hope you’ll be there to sing along. Please wear a mask—we will be! The concert is free (donations will be gratefully accepted). Here’s our set list:

Call It Dreaming (Iron and Wine)

Road to Nowhere (Talking Heads)

When the Train Comes Along (trad. Black spiritual)

Hope (Ysaÿe Barnwell)

You Are Not Alone (Jeff Tweedy/Mavis Staples)

Nothing More (Alternate Routes)

Ain’t No Hole in the Washtub (Paul Williams)

I Wake in Joy (Deb Talan)

It Don’t Come Easy (Ringo Starr)

Never So Far (Greg Brown)

Cover Me in Sunshine (Pink)

Our fall Family Folk Machine session has supported by a grant from the Iowa Arts Council. Rehearsing and performing outdoors this fall has required some new gear and other expenses for us, and we’re so grateful to the IAC for their support of our efforts to keep everyone safe and healthy even while singing together.