The Canal Corridor Association will host an Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau presentation entitled “Forgottonia, An Intimate Portrait of Rural Illinois” by Chris Vallillo.

The performance will be 1 to 2 p.m. Sunday, May 14, at Lock 16 Visitor Center, 754 First St., La Salle.

Vallillo will perform his a one-man show, “Forgottonia,” featuring music he wrote in the last 35 years about Western Illinois, based on his experiences as a folklorist and songwriter in rural Illinois. The show combines music, storytelling and historically accurate narratives in a solo performance. Vallillo has spent the past 35 years documenting and preserving the heritage of Western Illinois: the land lovingly called Forgottonia.

Vallillo is an award-winning rural singer/songwriter, folk musician and folklorist with a natural affinity for American roots music. A master of bottleneck slide guitar, he weaves original, contemporary and traditional songs into a compelling and entertaining portrait of the history and lifestyle of the Midwest. In the mid-1980s, he was involved in documenting the last of the “pre-radio” generation of rural musicians in Illinois.