From his opening rendition of Roger Miller’s “King of the Road” to his final song of the night, The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” Marc Black presented an entertaining and informative program, “’50s and ’60s Through Popular Song,” featuring a slideshow, narrative and song, at the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library Wednesday evening, July 26.

The hour and 20-minute show outside the library began just before sundown, and as the stars became visible, between 40 and 50 people had gathered on the lawn, as the music drew several people who were just “out on the town.” Black, a New York Blues Hall of Fame inductee, encouraged the audience to sing along with the songs; during several songs he would stop singing and playing his guitar — which he's named Claudette — so the audience could finish a verse, or in the case of Otis Redding's “Dock of the Bay,” finish the whistling part!

Black, who grew up in Brooklyn, New York, helped form the band, the Blades of Grass, while in high school. The four-member band had one Top 40 hit, “Happy,” which the entertainer had some fun with during his program at the library.

“We were kind of like the band, ‘The Association,’ and toured with the likes of The Doors, Van Morrison and Neil Diamond,” said Black, who has also performed and recorded with Art Garfunkel, Richie Havens, Taj Mahal, Pete Seeger and other well-known musicians.

“This program is more of a personal journey. There's nothing scientific about it,” said Black. “It is about two powerful decades of music and history.” The program is one of several different programs Black performs throughout the country. A variety of slides showing pictures of entertainers and memorable moments from the two decades added variety to the show.

Some of the topics (and songs) covered in the show included: cowboy music by Gene Autry and Roy Rogers (“Happy Trails to You”); television entertainers Dean Martin and Perry Como (“That’s Amore and “Catch a Falling Star”); rock 'n roll roots forming in Texas and Tennessee featuring Bill Haley and His Comets, Buddy Holly (“That’ll Be the Day”), Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins (“Blue Suede Shoes”); and black entertainers such as Fat Waller and Fats Domino; to the groups and duets of the early ’60s, such as the Everly Brothers (“All I Have to Do is Dream” and “Bye, Bye Love”), Dion and the Belmonts (“A Teenager in Love”); singles influenced by the space race, such as “The Purple People Eater” by Sheb Wooley; the women's rights movement (“Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini”); the civil rights era and Vietnam protest songs, such as Bob Dylan's “Blowin' in the Wind” and “The Fish Cheer” by Country Joe McDonald; and the British invasion, wrapping up with a trio of Beatles songs.

"What a great time," said Joanna Breen, executive director of the library, after the show. Black's programs are popular in the public library circuit and Breen booked him for this performance after he contacted her.

For more information about Black, go to his website at www.marcblack.com