Page 11 Loading... Tips: Click on articles from page |
  The Cabin Concerts return to Springfield
When Ann Bova first began the Cabin Concert music series, the idea of friends playing songs in her home and then inviting other friends to come listen seemed a given, a very natural thing to do. From a childhood immersed in acoustic music and a lifetime of performing, listening and absorbing all kinds of music, she developed a deep love and appreciation for song. Through this vital sense of how music touches, heals and bonds the human spirit, she shared her vision with hundreds of listeners through various music performers during the three-year run of the extremely popular series that began in 2004. After the concerts’ demise, Bova satisfied her musical desires performing on standup bass with local entertainers and instigating jam sessions with numerous cohorts in the music world as frequently as possible. She attended concerts and helped to present local music shows, but nothing fulfilled that space of musical expression quite like hosting the Cabin Concerts.
“Music is my natural habitat. I love what music does, how it connects people,” she said. “It helps us realize our sameness and our differences melt away. It’s a universal language that I love being a part of and one of the reasons I wanted to start the Cabin Concerts again.” The original setting for her intimate, acoustic music shows came into being while living in rural Pleasant Plains at the spacious, log cabin home of her then-partner Joe Bohlen. As Bova tells the story, while she rehearsed with her old-time folk music band, The Threshers, for a First Night Springfield show, Bohlen commented on how good the music sounded in the cabin. Then came Bohlen’s momentous, offhand comment of, “Too bad we couldn’t do live music here,” to which Bova quickly replied, “We sure can.” From that spark the Cabin Concerts burst from idea into reality. The first show featured Bova’s high school friend, singer-songwriter-performer Wil Maring and her bluegrass-based band, Shady Mix. The entire experience was such a resounding success, what could be done but to book more shows? The first year she hosted mostly friends, including the husband-wife duo of Jeff Barbra and Sarah Pirkle, and the bassist for Alison Krauss, John Pennell, and his band, Troubled Water. Building on that success she then planned for the second year, scheduling six concerts, three each in the spring and fall, with the performers playing two shows per weekend. She often added educational workshops to fill out the weekend for the artists and give local performers a chance to learn from the accomplished musicians.
“I never read the rules on hosting house concerts until years later,” Bova said. “When I did, I found out I did it all wrong.” In a thoughtfully accidental way she had stumbled upon a national phenomenon of having music shows in the home, or house concerts, as they are popularly called. Promoted as the saving grace of live music shared in intimate settings, house concerts enjoy a mythic charm for the majority of self-promoting, working-for-aliving artists who inhabit a marketing space below the major concert and theater level but above the coffeehouse and bar/club scene.
Acoustic singer-songwriters and traditional oldtime players especially blossom in house concerts and listening-room environments, where subtlety and nuance are integral parts of the
|
