The first will be given at 1 p.m. for the elementary students of Norwood-Norfolk Central School. Students from Madrid-Waddington and Potsdam Central Schools have been invited to join the elementary school audience.

The second concert for the general public will demonstrate the duality of Chapin’s wide ranging career, both as a family audience and adult audience performer.

Expect to hear several of his brother Harry’s iconic pop songs as part of the concert. In either format Chapin’s infectious songs, sterling musicianship and personal warmth consistently shine through, whether he’s performing on record or in a concert hall, an outdoor festival, a school, in front of a symphony orchestra, or in an intimate coffee house.

Looking ahead, KTX will perform Thursday, June 16, at 7 p.m. They perform a variety of music including funk, R&B and pop genres across many decades.

In a career that spans five decades, 23 albums and three Grammy awards, multi-talented singer/songwriter/guitarist Tom Chapin has covered an incredible amount of creative ground. In addition to his work as a recording artist and concert performer, Chapin has acted on Broadway, as well as working extensively in films, television and radio.

The New York Times, called Chapin “one of the great personalities in contemporary folk music,” while Billboard called him “the best family artist around” and described him as “totally captivating.” Parents magazine stated, “Nobody today is writing and performing better kids’ songs than Tom Chapin.”

Tom grew up in a family that encouraged artistic pursuits. He began performing professionally as a teenager in the early 1960s, playing in Greenwich Village folk clubs along his siblings Harry and Steve as The Chapin Brothers. In 1971, he began a five-year run as the host of the Emmy and Peabody award-winning ABC-TV children’s series Make a Wish. Chapin and his songs were also featured in the seminal 1970 documentary Blue Water, White Death, for which he spent six months sailing the Indian Ocean searching for great white sharks.

Other highlights of Chapin’s career playing the lead role in the hit Broadway musical Pump Boys and Dinettes, working off-Broadway as musical director of both Cotton Patch Gospel and Harry Chapin; Lies and Legends, and serving as host of TV’s National Geographic Explorer. He’s also written and performed satirical topical songs for National Public Radio’s Morning edition, and had a cameo role as the Vice Presidential candidate in Jonathan Demme’s 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate.

He branched out into family music with his 1988 album Family Tree. He’s since released twelve more family CD’s aimed at post-toddler, pre-teen listeners and their parents, comprised of original songs addressing such issues as family life, positive self-image and respect for the environment.

“Writing family music,” he observes, “has been a wonderful course in songwriting. You have a dual agenda: keep it understandable and fun for kids, but well-written and intelligent and music enough to keep adults listening as well. Within these parameters, we’ve found an enormous number of topics and approaches and musical feels that continue to excite us to keep coming back and doing it again.”

Chapin also serves as narrator of a series of children’s books, three of which, Mamma Don’t Allow, There Was An Old Lady who swallowed A Fly and The Train They Call The City OF New Orleans, have won 3 Grammy awards in the Best Spoken Word Album for Children category.

In addition to his varies musical and media endeavors, Chapin is also a powerful advocate on behalf of a variety of charitable causes He is an active board member of WHYHunger, the organization which the artist’s older brother, the late singer-songwriter/activist Harry Chapin founded (as world Hunger Year) in the 1970’s. He also remains active in a variety of environmental causes, as well as efforts on behalf of music and the arts in public schools.

“I’m at a place in my life where I follow what interests me. I still love the guitar, a good song, a good recording, and a good concert. I feel blessed to be my own boss, creating my own material and performing for so many different audiences, ages and generations.”

Admission is free. The series continues to take donations by check. They can be mailed to: Norwood Village Green Concert Series, 3 Bicknell Street, Norwood, NY 13668. All contributions are tax deductible. Norwood Village Green Concert Series are free but there is a “pass the bucket”.

More info, nvgcs.org or 353-2437.