Milwaukee Musicians Gather to Remember Larry Penn

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Most of us never get to meet the people who most inspire us, but Milwaukee’s Lil’ Rev not only had the opportunity but was also able to collaborate with that person. “Rarely a week goes by when he doesn’t come to mind,” the Milwaukee songwriter-performer says of Larry Penn. “He was my mentor and inspiration who became a dear friend.”

Rev will host the 8th Annual Larry Penn Tribute, a gathering of acoustic musicians honoring the man who was one of Milwaukee’s greatest contributors to the folk music revival of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Penn released more than half a dozen albums, including recordings for Smithsonian Folkways. His songs have been interpreted by many artists, including Pete Seeger, who said Penn’s songs were as good as Woody Guthrie’s.

While Guthrie’s legend endures, Penn was never widely known outside Milwaukee, where his memory has been sustained in part by Rev’s efforts. Unlike Guthrie who made a career out of being a plainspoken man with guitar and harmonica, or Sieger, able sustain his vocation in music, Penn was a burly Teamster who drove a truck for Central Steel & Wire. He was a genuine working man who sang about the working life.

“He was so unassuming, so modest. He exuded humility in all that he did,” says Rev of his friend, who died in 2014 at age 87. “He reported on an era of Milwaukee that has vanished,” performing, as Rev puts it, “at coffee houses and for causes.” He marched with Father James Groppi for desegregated housing in the ‘60s and sang at the Patrick Cudahy picket line in the ‘80s. Had he been mobile in his last days, Rev adds, “he would have been at the Capitol, protesting Scott Walker and Act 10. He grew up with Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker movement. The Catholic Church had an impact on how he viewed the world.”

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Penn also gathered a repertoire of train songs, leading to performances at railroad museums around the country, and IWW songs, which he performed at folk festivals. He shared the stage with major folksingers but never chased success.

For the upcoming tribute concert, Rev gathered old friends from Milwaukee, including Patty & Craig and Jym Mooney, as well as Bob and Diana Suckiel from Kansas City and Minnesota songwriter Bob Bovee. The 8th Annual Larry Penn Tribute runs from 5-8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4 at Anodyne Coffee Roasters, 224 W. Bruce St. Proceeds go to the Larry Penn Legacy Fund.