First Half of Summer 2025

AKA wish those tomaters in the garden would hurry up and ripen!

*LONG This post is better viewed at our hillbillyhaiku.substack.com rather than email.

Thought I’d better send a midsummer update on what we’ve been keeping busy with, so you don’t forget us completely before the Autumn season of house concerts rolls around!

We last saw those of you who were lucky enough to join us at Hillbilly Haiku on April 12 with Jack Klatt opening for Ed Snodderly. We got great feedback about Jack and since we agree, he will be returning to headline this Fall! All the details for our Fall season are nearing completion, so expect that announcement post soon. Excited!

We finished out April with a couple road trips for music. First we drove up to Streetsboro Ohio to attend a Honky Tonk House Concert with Linda McRae and Amelia White, touring as the Tennessee Twisters. Jay and Tammy who host Honky Tonk House Concerts are dear friends who caught the hosting bug about the same time as we did. We hadn’t seen them since before the pandemic shutdown. We managed to surprise them and Linda and Amelia by showing up unexpected. It was a great reunion and so fun to surprise them.

Then towards the end of April we drove to Texas to visit our friends Dana and Andy, whose Cuervo Acres House Concerts started this whole house concert obsession for us, and to attend the Blanco River Songwriters Festival headlined by Shinyribs. We were so fortunate to get to host Kevin Russell of Shinyribs and his bass player Mason at Hillbilly Haiku last November. Shinyribs generally consists of an 8-9 piece band, but this festival was going to be just Kevin and Mason again, and we knew firsthand how great it would be. So we spent a couple days with Dana and Andy, then ventured South to the Canyon Lake area. We were not too far from Devil’s Backbone Tavern, so we spent one evening there and heard the Damn Quails, a band out of Oklahoma. Then on Saturday afternoon we headed to Fischer Dance Hall in Fischer, TX. It is a historic German dance hall, originally a one-room school house, that is now used for special events. Several scenes from Willie Nelson’s movie “Honeysuckle Rose” were filmed on location there. The interior of the Hall is an architectural wonder with beautiful old hand-hewn beams and rafters. Throughout the afternoon, we enjoyed sets by Kelley Mickwee, Walt Wilkins, and Emily Gimble. Kevin and Mason were outstanding, acknowledging us from the stage and sending a Michael Hurley song out to us. I’d have driven twice as far, to not miss that.

First half of May was quiet at home, but then midmonth we took our RV to Owensboro, KY to attend the 2025 South East Regional Folk Alliance (aka SERFA) Conference. I formerly served on the Board of SERFA and was happy to support their move to Owensboro, which was necessitated by damage from Hurricane Helene at their prior conference site in North Carolina. We saved some $$$ by staying at a nearby RV park rather than the conference hotel. Daytime sessions, private evening showcases, and meals were held at the new Convention Center. Official evening showcases were held at the Woodward Theater in the Bluegrass Hall of Fame. We hosted a Hillbilly Haiku showcase room for two evenings and enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new. And we flirted with sleep deprivation, as always happens at these conferences!

Returning from Owensboro we caught up on sleep for a couple days, then headed out with the RV to Monterey, TN for Jammin’ At Hippie Jack’s festival. It was their first festival since the pandemic shutdown, and our good friends in the band Crossing The Caney were booked to open the festival. It was just a beautiful weekend, good music and camping with friends in a beautiful spot. Soul-restoring, happy-making, old friends-seeing, rejuvenation.

The first week of June, we celebrated our friends Garrett and Nicholle's wedding! It was beautiful and we so enjoyed meeting their families.

Then in mid June we took a long roadtrip to SW Colorado to visit our friend Shane and attend a Shinyribs concert with him and his friend Jessica. We stayed in Cortez and the concert was at the Dolores River Brewery in nearby Dolores Colorado. We made it out to Cortez in two long drive days with an overnight in Wichita KS after day one. We spent a fun-filled couple of days that included dinner out with Shane and Jessica, a visit to a native arts trading post, an afternoon spent driving around the beauty of Mesa Verde National Park, Shane and Jess sharing some of their new songs in our hotel room, and of course Shinyribs! It is always great to reconnect with friends, and time together is always too short. Soon we were headed back over the gorgeous Wolf Creek Pass and eastward back to humidity. Cue C.W. McCall song memory.

We closed out June with some friends gathering at our place to share some tunes and enjoy the gift of being with people who help you remember this world is still a beautiful place. We look forward to September when we crank Hillbilly Haiku House Concerts back up and share the bond of live music medicine with y’all. Until then, try’n keep cool. I’d welcome hearing about your summer activities in the comments. Fall lineup announcement coming SOON!