Folksinger Michael Smith performs in Oak Park

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Michael Smith

Michael Smith

Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake St.

7 p.m. Feb. 29, doors open 6:30 p.m.

Free and open to the public. First-come, first-seated

(708) 383-8200 or see oppl.org or www.michaelsmithmusic.com

‘Songs of a Catholic Childhood’

Michael Smith and Jamie O’Reilly, Chief O’Neill’s Pub, 3471 N. Elston Ave., Chicago; 7 p.m. April 19; 4 and 7 p.m. April 22; and 7 p.m. April 26

Music cover $20; dinner and dessert packages available

Reservations required

(773) 473-5263 or www.chiefoneillspub.com

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He’s known as one of the pillars of the Chicago folk scene, where he’s been a figure for some five decades. But Michael Smith has a long, varied resume that’s still growing. He’s recorded more than individual albums. He composed music for and performed it in the 1988 Steppenwolf production of “The Grapes of Wrath” that went on to Broadway and London, and created the long-running “The Snow Queen” musical at Victory Gardens Theater.

He’ll bring a selection of his own and other peoples’ tunes to a free performance on Feb. 29 at the Oak Park Public Library.

Because Smith suspects there may be a lot of kids in attendance, he’s going to have a flexible song list.

“When I was a little kid I didn’t listen to kid’s music. I liked Frankie Laine and I liked Cole Porter. So I’m going to go out there and I’ll just play what I play,” said Smith. The 70-year-old folksinger was speaking by phone from Missouri, where he’s on one of his many performance tours.

Real folks

Smith might also draw on his newest works, too. For the past year and a half, he’s been working in his own studio on a new album with a theme — the stories of real people.

“I thought it would be interesting to have an album full of real people being talked about or talking to you directly about their existence.

“I’ve never had a theme for a record before. Having a theme is kind of nice because it tells you what to keep out and what to keep in.”

Subjects of the new songs include that of convicted murderer and record producer Phil Spector, Western B-movie star Lash LaRue, movie legend Edward G. Robinson, and New York Yankee slugger Roger Maris.

Some songs touch on serious topics. “I wrote a song about Roger Maris about baseball players taking drugs to catch up with him,” said Smith. “I’m not a big baseball fan but I really related to his desire to try to be as good as he could, seeing as he was inundated with press attention.”

Smith might also perform one of the new songs he wrote that take a humorous look at growing up Catholic, like his “Pagan Babies.”

“I wrote that for a show I did last fall with Jamie O’Reilly called ‘Songs of a Catholic Childhood’ and we’re going to do it again in April sometime,” he said.

(That show is set for mid-April, at Chief O’Neill’s Pub in Chicago.)

New play

In June and July, Smith returns to the stage as the ship captain in the Lookingglass musical production of “The Eastland.” The play tells the story of the over-loaded excursion boat that capsized in the Chicago River with over 800 hundred lives lost in 1915, and Smith was moved by the tragedy of it.

“It’s the first time I have gotten an acting role where I wasn’t making the play happen myself. I was crying by the time I finished reading it.”

Though his long career has taken him onto stages all over the country, Smith still recalls one of his earliest inspirations.

His first song, written at the age of 16, was inspired by the Robert Louis Stevenson poem, “Requiem,” which is carved on the celebrated author’s tombstone in Samoa.

“It was a big deal that I had written a song. I didn’t write another one for a year. I was going around saying I have written a song and it satisfied my picture of myself,” he recalled.

But the urge to make more songs soon took hold of him, and hasn’t let go yet. Now he appreciates that drive, he said.

“In truth, it is only in the last 10, 15 years that I have come to understand how precious it is, the chance to create,” Smith said. “One is lucky to get to write songs and luckier still to make a living this way.”