"The Valley of Shadows" - Presented by Write Out Loud and the Friends of the Villa Montezuma. Before pianist, Spiritualist, and writer Jesse Shepard became a world traveler and performer he was an immigrant boy growing up on the Illinois prairie in the time of comets, religious revivalism, and anti-slavery conflicts. Hear stories and song as he recalls scenes from his youth as the young United States of America reckons with its own sense of Self and Union. In a unique and lyrical series of vignettes, Jesse Shepard, writing under his pen name "Francis Grierson," paints an optimistic and enchanting picture of a people and place shimmering on the brink of change. Performed in the gorgeous Music Room of Jesse Shepard's own Palace of the Arts - the 1887 masterpiece Villa Montezuma. Local non-metered street parking in the residential neighborhood. Please note that the Villa Montezuma Museum is a historic structure with no elevator. No internal recording or photography. Visit: https://writeoutloud.ticketspice.com/the-valley-of-shadows