“The Corps of Discovery comes to life through stories and song”

Michael McDonald, performer, songwriter, and world traveler will bring his Songs of the Discovery Corps to the Betty Strong Encounter Center September 22, 2:00 p.m. Admission will be free with reception to follow.

Growing up on the bluffs overlooking the last natural stretch of the Missouri River, Michael F (MAC) McDonald became acquainted with the story of the Corps of Discovery at an early age. The Boy Scout troop he belonged to in Yankton SD marked a Lewis and Clark Trail that circled Lewis and Clark Lake (above Gavin’s Point Dam) back in the middle 1960’s; and from that time on he has had and maintained an interest in the expedition.

McDonald served in the US Navy aboard the USS KITTY HAWK during the first half of his hitch; but after returning from a WESTPAC/INDIAN OCEAN cruise July of 1974, McDonald was transferred to the US Navy Band Sea Chanters. The Navy and the United States were celebrating their respective bi-centennials during the two years that McDonald was with the Sea Chanters; so McDonald became well-versed in tailoring his musical interests to US historical events. Thirty years later these musical and cultural experiences became the basis for McDonald’s work of turning stories into tunes and making the Corps of Discovery come alive with both song and story.

Mr. McDonald is a presenter for both Humanities Nebraska and the South Dakota Humanities Council Speakers Bureaus. He has literally performed all over the globe.