Guthrie Center native, Chad Elliott, not only designed and painted a large mural for Guthrie County, he entertained the crowd at the dedication last October. He is a singer and songwriter who performs them with guitar and harmonica. The first public presentation of his “Song of Guthrie County” was at the dedication. 

The Guthrie County Arts Council commissioned Chad, a well-known artist with his own studio in Jefferson, to create a mural that would capture the essence of the county.

The mural, on the side of the fire station, is visible to those heading west down State Street in downtown Guthrie Center, Iowa.

Chad graciously allowed me to include a stanza and chorus of “Song of Guthrie County” in Meadowlark Songs: A Motherline Legacy. Of the seven generations in my motherline, five of them had deep roots in Guthrie County, including two who arrived in 1855 as pioneers, mother and daughter. Chad Elliott’s mural reminds me of those days.

Here is a snippet of the song:

No matter where I roam the sweetest peace I've known
In the Guthrie County I call home.

Chad Elliott is a singer, songwriter, painter, sculptor, illustrator, and author. He does solo concerts, and has teamed up with Kathryn Severing Fox on fiddle, viola, and mandolin as Weary Ramblers. Here is a link to their tour schedule. This is his studio.

Called Iowa’s Renaissance Man by John Busbee of The Culture Buzz, Chad is a 2025 Iowa Rock ‘n Roll Music Association Inductee.

Items related to the new mural are available at Art On State, which hosted the dedication. The gallery at 320 State Street in Guthrie Center also carries autographed copies of the “Leora books,” and this month copies of Meadowlark Songs will join them.