David LaMotte loves his job. No surprise, considering it involves traveling the world and writing and performing folk guitar music. The surprise is, come January, he'll give it all up.

LaMotte lived the past 17 years as a professional musician. His beginning was humble, playing in smoky bars to the backs of people's heads while they looked the other way - at the TV. Slowly, people started turning around.

Listen to music from LaMotte at the bottom of the story.

A few thousand concerts and 10 CDs later, his fan base spans the globe. He has even founded a nonprofit organization with his wife called P.E.G. Partners, which works with Guatemalan schools to improve learning environments.

It was a tolerable run, at any rate.

Soon, LaMotte will be heading back to school. He is pursuing a master's degree in peace studies at the University of Queensland, Australia, through a Rotary World Peace Fellowship. But not before his first, and last, visit to North Dakota as a professional musician.

Appearances include a workshop at 11 a.m. Thursday at the University of Mary called "World Changing 101," a private house concert Friday and a children's program at the Bismarck Public Library on Saturday. The workshop and library program are free and open to the public.

"Music is a language that I speak - the gifts that music has given to me are innumerable and huge. I don't intend to stop playing," LaMotte said. "I'll stop performing."

Between touring the world and founding P.E.G. Partners, LaMotte managed to visit all but five states. North Dakota remained neglected until University of Mary professor and longtime friend Jamie Ridenhour began planning in August to bring LaMotte north.

"One of the reasons I wanted to bring him to campus is I think he's got something to share with people: the idea that individual people can make a positive influence on the world. That seems an important enough thing to spend an hour on," Ridenhour said.

He first met LaMotte 15 years ago in Asheville, N.C., where he had traveled primarily to become a folk singer. Ridenhour ultimately chose to pursue a career in academia instead of music. He said hearing about LaMotte's plan to retire from music was a bit surprising.

"It's not like his musical career wasn't going well. It's probably the pinnacle of his career. … I don't think (music) defines who he is, but it is the most obvious mark of his soul in the world. And not just his music, but the effect of his music on others," Ridenhour said.

There was a time when LaMotte thought his career would be over much sooner.

About a decade into his career, LaMotte experienced a medical crisis similar to a stroke that left him semi-paralyzed and without the ability to speak. It happened while he was on tour in Texas and only lasted a few hours, but caused him to experience a shift in focus.

"When that was all over and I was able to reflect on the fact that my hands and voice had been taken away and given back, I felt some sort of mandate. I thought, 'OK, so these were given back. What are you going to do with them?'" LaMotte said.

The easy answer was to continue to make music.

But LaMotte could not stop there. For him, the goal continues to be making the world better, if even for one person. He says it is not about fixing the world. It is about changing it. LaMotte says that individuals are not powerless.

Evidence of this are Eric Keen, 22, Malabar, Fla., and Jason Haney, 21, Melbourne, Fla. The two plan to bicycle west to east across Canada June 21 through July 31 to raise funds for P.E.G. Partners.

"The connecting factor between what we are doing and what he has done and is doing is the translation of life-passions into positive change. Music is not supposed to actively build schools. Bike riding is not supposed to directly fund the purchase of textbooks, desks, etc., but because of David's work in connecting his music to real-world change, we were able to attempt the same with bike riding," Haney said.

"I think we dumb it down when we tell our kids 'you can do anything.' I think what's stopping most of us is our beliefs in limitations that don't exist," LaMotte said.

The Thursday workshop, "World Changing 101," will be held at 11 a.m. in Heskett Hall. Subjects include the civil rights and peace movements and stories from LaMotte's teaching experiences from Bosnia to Belfast, as well as founding and leading P.E.G. Partners.