Category: 2007

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of raving about my absolute favorite performers on the national folk music scene. They’ll have you rolling with laughter in one song and trying to hold back tears in the next–okay, maybe they’ll slip a little toe-tapper in-between, but you get the idea. Their songs have humor and heart, irony and compassion, sarcasm, intelligence, wit, and all in the right places. This is their fifth time playing at the cabin, and every show in the past has been sold out, sometimes before I’ve even had a chance to announce it. If you’ve never seen Rich Prezioso and Jacquie Manning perform before, you really won’t want to miss this one!

Buddy has one of those names that has come up so many times in music circles that I feel like I’m supposed to know him. And once I started looking into his bio, I was really surprised! Let me share just one paragraph, and you’ll see what I mean…

When Buddy made his first trip to Texas Guy Clark heard him singing one of his songs under a tree at the Kerrville Folk Festival and liked it. So Guy went back to Nashville, opened the door and said, “listen to this kid, he’s good!” A publishing deal and a U-Haul headed south soon followed. People were starting to pay attention. In 1987 he was a New Folk Award Winner at Kerrville and he released his first album called “On the Line.” David Wilcox recorded “The Kid” on his first record for A&M. Buddy did some writing with this other new kid in town named Garth Brooks (they had the same manager). Janis Ian heard him singing at the Bluebird Cafe and asked him if he’d like to write with her. Their song “Amsterdam” got recorded by Joan Baez. Nanci Griffith asked Buddy to sing on a show she was taping for Irish television. She ended up liking that song so much that she recorded “Comin’ Down In the Rain” on her Grammy Award winning collection “Other Voices, Other Rooms.” Garth became a star and “Every Now and Then” ended up on his album “The Chase.”

With a bio like that, you can imagine my surprise when Buddy’s booking agent contacted me. I thought we’d be too small a venue to even consider, but I guess our reputation as a venue with a great audience is playing in our favor once again. Thanks, everybody!!

Every once in a while, we get lucky, like when Simon Mayor had to be in Nashville for a radio show, and just happened to be free the Saturday night before that. And the result of that luck is that we get to have a performer play for us at the cabin who is simply too good for such a small venue. “Too good” definitely describes Chris Proctor, who is known among fingerstyle guitarists as a master of the craft. Chris has 10 CDs under his name, a Taylor guitar with his name on it, several books that teach his music, Homespun instructional DVDs, and probably much more that I’m forgetting at the moment. Chris is the consumate teacher, writing for many of the guitar magazines and teaching workshops wherever he travels. In Evansville, he’ll be teaching a workshop at The Guitar Lab on Thursday, October 4th at 7pm. If you’re a student of the guitar, don’t miss this great chance to learn from a master! Then, come to the cabin on Friday and catch a great Chris Proctor performance!

Hailing from Detroit where she’s cut her musical teeth on the bar scene, Jill Jack has developed a strong following and a long list of credits as an opening act for some big name stars. I fell in love with her voice, and her CD is still playing in the truck as I drive to work and back home again. Here’s a quote from Billboard Magazine– “Jill Jack has all the makings of a major talent. She’s got the stage presence, the voice, the ability to interpret songs passionately … there’s a lot of soul in what she does”. I’m really excited to bring Jill to Evansville.

I heard about Hunter Moore about five years ago, and thought to myself, “wow, this guy is good, we should see if he wants to play in Evansville”. Then, as with so many things that get left unfinished if you don’t pick them up right away, I never followed through. As fortune would have it, Hunter contacted me and I seized the opportunity to set a date when we could bring this fine songwriter to the cabin. I am sure you’ll really enjoy this show!