Sunday Street Concerts at LIM in The Gillespie Room


Sunday Street Concerts at LIM in The Gillespie Room

We are pleased to announce that our concerts will take place in the beautiful Gillespie Room at the Long Island Museum, Route 25A in Stony Brook Village. We’ll be able to accommodate one hundred people and will have soft drinks available at the shows.


Online ticket sales have ended for this event – tickets may be available at the door for $40 (cash only)


Sloan Wainwright
Sunday, April 19th, 5 P.M.

Over the past three decades as a songwriter, singer and performer, Sloan Wainwright has played the great concert halls, the most storied listening rooms and top music festivals.

She is a member of a storied family of artists, (including brother Loudon Wainwright, sister-in-law Kate McGarrigle, nephew Rufus Wainwright and nieces Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche), but since childhood Wainwright has always walked the artistic path all on her own.

Rufus Wainwright says of Sloan: “Due to the fact that our family has so many musically-talented members, each one is often dubbed certain titles. Sloan is most always crowned ‘The Voice’ and as well as owning this legacy full-throatily, her multifaceted work in song is an astonishing feat.”

We are delighted to welcome back Sloan Wainwright (‘The Voice’) to our series.

Advance sale tickets are $30.00, with any remaining tickets available at the door for $35.00 (cash only).

Purchase tickets via HUMANITIX here!


Bob Dylan’s 85th Birthday Celebration
Sunday, May 17th at 7 P.M.

With The Kennedys, Rod MacDonald, Russ Seeger, Jack Licitra, Steve Kaplan, and Tom Ryan.

At the height of his creativity in the 1960s, Bob Dylan released ‘Blonde on Blonde,’ an audacious double album, in June of 1966.

As we approach the 60th anniversary of that album’s release, we’ll feature songs from it as well as other songs from Dylan’s six decades as a songwriter and touring performer, in a full band show to celebrate Dylan’s 85th Birthday on May 24th.

The Kennedys, Rod MacDonald, Russ Seeger, and Jack Licitra handle the vocals, guitars, and keyboards, with Steve Kaplan (on bass) and Tom Ryan (on drums) rounding out the band.

Advance sale tickets are $35.00, with any remaining tickets available at the door for $40.00 (cash only).

Since this show always sells out, advance ticket purchase is advised.

Purchase tickets via HUMANITIX here!


PLEASE NOTE: The Long Island Museum does NOT handle ticket sales. The only place to purchase tickets is on Humanitix via THIS LINK.

Any further questions can be directed to Charlie Backfish: charles.backfish@stonybrook.edu.


The Sunday Street Series is a collaboration of WUSB’s Sunday Street Series, The Long Island Museum, and The Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council.

Please send any email inquiries to charles.backfish@stonybrook.edu.


Ian Tyson remembered on Sunday Street on WUSB-FM

Sunday Street is heard Sundays from 9 AM to 12 noon on WUSB, 90.1 fm and wusb.fm from Stony Brook, New York. The program is now in its 44th year. You can reach the program’s host, Charlie Backfish, at charles.backfish@stonybrook.edu

January 8th’s edition of Sunday Street was devoted to the music of Ian Tyson who passed away, at age 89, on December 29th. 

As the first paragraph in his obituary in the New York Times noted, ‘before Canadian musicians like Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, or Leonard Cohen, there was Ian Tyson.’

We shared some recently-recorded reflections from Tom Russell who co-wrote many songs with Ian Tyson along with stories and observations from Tyson himself, Sylvia Tyson,  and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. 

(Tom Russell did the painting of Ian Tyson posted with this playlist)

This program was pre-recorded on Saturday, January 7, 2023

Theme:  Dave Van Ronk, Sunday Street (SUNDAY STREET, Philo)

Opening set

Neil Young, Four Strong Winds (COMES A TIME, Reprise)
Gordon Lightfoot, Red Velvet (A PAINTER PASSING THROUGH, Reprise)
Bill Morrissey & Greg Brown, Summer Wages (FRIEND OF MINE, Philo)
Lucy Kaplansky, Someday Soon (OVER THE HILLS, Red House)
Fourtold, Four Rode By (FOURTOLD, Appleseed Recordings)

Set # 2

Ian & Sylvia, Wild Geese (SO MUCH FOR DREAMING, Vanguard)
Ian & Sylvia, Play One More (LIVE AT NEWPORT, Vanguard)
Ian & Sylvia, Farewell to the North (NASHVILLE, Vanguard)
Tom Russell on Ian & Sylvia and on recording an album of their songs
Tom Russell, These Friends of Mine (PLAY ONE MORE: THE SONGS OF IAN & SYLVIA, True North)

Set # 3

Sylvia Tyson on Ian & Sylvia and Great Speckled Bird (from a 2018 interview with David Ward via YouTube)
Great Speckled Bird, Rio Grande (GREAT SPECKLED BIRD, Ampex)

Set # 4

Jerry Jeff Walker speaks with Ian Tyson (television program 1991 via YouTube)
Jez Lowe & James Keelaghan, Four Strong Winds (live at The University Café 10/20/2013)
Great Specked Bird, Calgary (GREAT SPECKLED BIRD, Ampex)
Ian Tyson on Great Speckled Bird and his television program 2010 (via YouTube)

Set # 5

Tom Russell on great Ian Tyson songs post Ian and Sylvia
Ian Tyson, The Gift (Charlie Russell) (at the Cowboy Poets Conference 2014 via YouTube)
*Corb Lund, Montana Waltz (SONGS MY FRIENDS WROTE, New West) 
Corb Lund, MC Horses (THE GIFT: A TRIBUTE TO IAN TYSON, Stony Plain)
Michael Martin Murphey, Cowboy Pride (COWBOY SONGS, WB)
Ian Tyson, Fifty Years Ago (LIVE AT LONGVIEW, Vanguard)

Set # 6

Tom Russell, Old Cheyenne (PLAY ONE MORE: THE SONGS OF IAN & SYLVIA, True North)
Corb Lund w/Ian Tyson, The Rodeo’s Over (HAIR IN MY EYES LIKE A HIGHLAND STEER, Stony Plain)
Ian Tyson w/Nanci Griffith, Canadian Whiskey (OTHER VOICES, OTHER ROOMS, Elektra)
Cindy Church w/Ian Tyson, What Does She See? (CINDY CHURCH, Stony Plain)

Set # 7

Marianne Faithfull, Four Strong Winds (COME MY WAY, Decca)
Ramblin Jack Elliott, on Ian Tyson/ Will James (THE GIFT: A TRIBUTE TO IAN TYSON, Stony Plain)
The McDades, Smuggler’s Cove (THE GIFT: A TRIBUTE TO IAN TYSON, Stony Plain)
Gretchen Peters w/ Tom Russell, The Blue Mountains of Mexico (ONE TO THE HEART, ONE TO THE HEAD, Frontera)

Set # 8

Tom Russell on first meeting Ian Tyson
Tom Russell, Navaho Rug (COWBOY REAL, Philo)
Tom Russell on co-writing songs with Ian Tyson
Tom Russell, Claude Dallas (SONG OF THE WEST: THE COWBOY COLLECTION, Hightone)
Tom Russell, When the Wolves No Longer Sing (PLAY ONE MORE; THE SONGS OF IAN AND SYLVIA, True North)
Tom Russell, The Rose of the San Joaquin (THE ROSE OF THE SAN JOAQUIN, Hightone)

Set # 9

Tom Russell on his last co-write with Ian Tyson
Ian Tyson, Ross Knox (YELLOWHEAD TO YELLOWSTONE AND OTHER LOVE STORIES, Stony Plain)
Ian Tyson, Colorado Horses (CARNERO VAQUERO, Stony Plain)

Dylan

Ian & Sylvia, Tomorrow is a Long Time (FOUR STRONG WINDS, Vanguard)
Ian Tyson on Dylan and weed, 2013 (via YouTube)
Bob Dylan & The Grateful Dead, The French Girl (1987 rehearsal via YouTube)
Bob Dylan & the Band, Song for Canada (BOOTLEG SERIES V.11 :THE BASEMENT TAPES COMPLETE: Columbia)
Bob Dylan & the Band, Four Strong Winds (BOOTLEG SERIES V.11 :THE BASEMENT TAPES COMPLETE: Columbia)

(*indicates new release or recent re-issue)