house concerts and 21st century touring

Bev Barnett and Greg Newlon - CIYH Hosts of the Month, January 2008

One of the key ways I encourage artists to create house concert opportunities for themselves is to create opportunities for others. Creating your own house concert series is more than a good Karma deposit - it’s enjoyable, and it usually creates desirable results that you never expected.

There are some wise and talented artists who took this advice long before I started running my house-concert-promoting mouth. Bev Barnett and Greg Newlon run a well-known and much appreciated house concert series in Campbell, California.

They started TrueWind Music as a concert series at the Espresso Garden & Café in San Jose. Through the Spring of 2006 when the Garden closed its doors, TrueWind Music presented more than 60 small, intimate concerts at the cafe.

Barnett and Newlon had hosted a handful of house concerts during this time, when a favorite performer was coming through town and the Espresso Garden was already booked with another concert. So when the Garden closed, it seemed natural to move the series to their home in Campbell.

Barnett and Newlon now host 8 - 10 concerts in their home per year, balancing the house concert schedule with their own performance and recording schedule - not to mention raising four teenagers. They’ve created a comfortable, respectful environment for musicians and audience alike. Many guests come to each and every concert, knowing that whoever is playing, it will be a great show!

“In a world of fast food and empty calories, Bev and Greg are real food. Their songs speak their truth - and do it well. Tuneful and talented.”
- Cosy Sheridan

Bev Barnett and Greg Newlon– check out “Now Is What We Are”

Barnett & Newlon create and perform their own music as well as hosting the TrueWind Series. With the release of their new CD Any Doorway Will Do, Bev and Greg are getting out of their own living room to tour the West Coast.

They are also busy creating more opportunities for friends they’ve met along the way, with a new Sunday Afternoon Potluck and In the Round format kicking off in April where they will swap songs with a another local songwriter and a touring songwriter coming through the Bay Area.

“Since we came from a presenting a concert series at a venue, it just didn’t occur to us to perform as part of our own house concert series. That wasn’t our original intent,” said Greg Newlon, who books performers for the series. “But after awhile, friends like Freebo, Jan Garrett & JD Martin and Brad Colerick, who’ve asked us to back them up in their performances, suggested that we ought to be sharing the stage.”

Now Bev and Greg are experimenting with both styles of house concerts - those where they will stay in the background to provide sound support and hospitality (and the occasional lead guitar riff), and this new format where they will perform in the round with a local and a touring songwriter to open up more opportunities for artists to be heard.

Bev adds “in the end, its always about expanding the audience for great independent music - and as they say, a rising tide raises all ships.”

They are wonderful to know - I hope you have the pleasure.

Related Posts:
What house concerts are about
5 ways to get more house concert bookings

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