Local musician John Schindler will perform his folk music at the Congregational Church of Boothbay Harbor to support asylum seekers and refugees here in Maine.

The concert, which will take place at 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 14, is designed as a fundraiser to support ILAP, Maine’s Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, which provides legal support and representation of asylum seekers and refugees here in Maine.

Musician John Schindler was originally from Saint Louis, Missouri, where he was influenced early on by that town's rhythm and blues and his Oklahoma mother’s singing. This funky start was drastically tempered by a nine-year stint in a Catholic seminary where silence and Gregorian chant were his daily bread. After leaving the brotherhood, and armed only with his vow of poverty, John moved to New England and pursued the path of an itinerant musician, playing in sundry bands and bad barrooms. It was during this time, he realized, that his audience could not understand Latin!

Winner of both the 2003 Boston Folk Festival Songwriting Contest and the 2006 Rose Garden Coffeehouse Song Contest, John has also been a finalist in many other song contests. His CD “Memory Train” was CD of the Week on Chicago’s WFMT’s Midnight Special. His newest CD is “Two-Step Man.”

John now lives in Boothbay Harbor, with his wife, Jane, and Iko the cat.