house concerts and 21st century touring

South Florida-based singer, guitarist and songwriter Rod MacDonald has achieved practically everything but fame during a 35-year career filled with detours not usually associated with musicians.

MacDonald has a history degree from the University of Virginia; a law degree from Columbia University, and experience as a correspondent for Newsweek. All fuel his thought-provoking lyrics, which helped his ascension in the Greenwich Village folk scene throughout the 1980s. He’s released nine CDs; toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe, and has more songs, 27, in Smithsonian Folkways’ compiled recordings of its Fast Folk Music Collection than any other songwriter.

In essence, MacDonald, 59, has done everything but become a household name. However, he’s become more than a name in numerous households during the past 15 years, during which time he speculates he’s played more than 100 house concerts.

“I do them all the time now, both in America and overseas,” he says. “For the last three or four years, I’ve probably averaged between 20 and 30 per year, and I really like doing them. They’re popular with people who really just want to sit and listen to the music; people who aren’t concerned with the ’scene’ of standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a rock club. House concerts are a great setting for a singer/songwriter, and being a member of an organization like ConcertsInYourHome.com is also a great way to get a list of the names of people who organize house concerts.”

MacDonald is one of the few singer/songwriters who are able to make a living playing original material while based in cover-happy South Florida, partially because he’s always seen the big picture musically. More than two-dozen other artists have covered his compositions, resulting in additional royalty checks. He sees house concerts as a lasting phenomenon, not a fad.

“House concerts have become popular because they work,” MacDonald says. “They offer an audience for acoustic music something they really can’t get anywhere else — a really quiet environment, and an intimate musical performance, as opposed to a club. Plus, they’re sometimes staged in places where there’s no possibility of there being a club. I often play in really small towns with 30 or so people, and they have a concert a month. Those towns can’t sustain a club. There’s not enough business. So house concerts allow those people to have live music without having to travel an hour to hear it, and it gives them a stronger sense of community through music.”

Now based in Delray Beach, Florida, MacDonald was born in rural Connecticut in 1948. A natural troubadour, he’s since lived in Virginia, Michigan, Georgia, Washington, D.C.; Chicago, New York City and Italy. His wide range of talents took him to separate career crossroads at both the University of Virginia (which he graduated from in 1970) and Columbia University (1973).

“Newsweek hired me to cover the 1969 peace march on Washington, D.C.,” MacDonald says, “and I worked the following two summers for them in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. I started hanging out in the Village while I was attending Columbia in the early ’70s, and was playing in coffee houses all over the city while I was in my last year of law school.”

MacDonald never took the bar exam after graduating from Columbia, deciding to switch his focus to music, the road, and eventually house concerts.

“I spent three of four years hitch-hiking around the country, dropping in on New York occasionally,” he says. “In the late ’70s, I moved back and actually got an apartment in the Village. I was living there when I played one of my very first house concerts, if not the first, in the Log Cabin Concerts series in New Jersey in the early 1990s. A couple there started putting on occasional shows in an old log cabin house, and I was one of the very first people they asked to play. They charged $20, and only allowed 30 people to come, with no microphones allowed. They stopped the series a couple years ago, and by that time, they were up to two shows a day.”

Before relocating to Florida in 1995, MacDonald spent more than 15 years as one of the prolific singer/songwriters in New York City. He co-founded the Greenwich Village Folk Festival; wrote epic compositions like “American Jerusalem” and “Sailor’s Prayer,” and released the classic albums No Commercial Traffic and White Buffalo.

MacDonald hardly came to Florida to retire, though. He formed the Bob Dylan cover band Big Brass Bed in 2002; was a finalist in the 2003 USA Songwriting Competition, and has taught songwriting courses for several years at Florida Atlantic University. His latest two CDs, Recognition and A Tale of Two Americas, have featured politically-charged favorites like “My Neighbors in Delray” and “Terror” that sound right at home in concert next to his earlier gems.MacDonald says that house concerts are the perfect vehicle for such lyric-driven material.”

House concerts have no background noise,” he says. “They’re very quiet, and usually unamplified. It’s very natural; like going to someone’s house where they bring out their guitar and say, ‘Hey, let me play you a song.’ Everybody’s listening, as opposed to a bar, where there’s a built-in level of noise that makes it hard for people to catch the musical subtleties.There’s also casual aspects of a party built into a house concert, which is part of the popularity, I think. There’s often a pot-luck dinner before the concert, and the food’s usually really good. And that gives the patrons the opportunity to meet the artist beforehand.”

MacDonald has also found other value in his house concert experience.

“I was playing a gig recently in Middletown, New York at a place called The Mansion,” he says. “It was for a concert series that takes place in a beautiful old oak lobby of a literal mansion. Great acoustics, and a very nice PA system. But I played three songs, and their PA died. So I stepped away from the microphones, and played and sang totally acoustic for 90 minutes. I think my house concert background made that easy for me to do.”

Perhaps MacDonald’s favorite value in house concerts, though, is the bottom line.

“House concerts generally pay as well or better than club gigs,” he says, “partly because they don’t have any overhead costs. You don’t need a PA; nobody’s paying any rent or selling drinks, there’s no background noise or ASCAP fees, and people sit right in front of you and get what they want — to be able to listen to music without being distracted. And as an artist, you get all the money. The organizers don’t tend to keep any of it, because they don’t want to deal with taxes. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. I think house concerts have filled a legitimate niche in the music business.”

– Bill Meredith, regular contributor to the Palm Beach Post, JazzTimes and Jazziz.

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Message from Fran:
Thanks to the first newsletter and the newly added YouTube video channels we saw a big jump in visitor traffic last month. Video will be an increasingly important part of this site in the future. I’d like to thank the hosts and artists who’ve shopped our new store, and purchased some of our nice house concert shirts and hats. Tis the season after all.

CIYH stats and developments:
At the end of the month we had 282 hosts and 420 artists. The site had 17,000 visitors in 30 days. We added 25 new hosts and 32 new artists. We also removed 8 hosts due to inactivity. Please give a “shout-out” to Bryan for creating some nice new banners for your websites and myspace pages.

New CIYH Hosts: (active artist members receive these by email)
Our Kind of Folk, Echo Park, Andy and Chrissy, Wilder Lodge, Las Alturas, Cooter Brown, Crazy Cow, Magic Room, Lockwood Lounge, Millions for Music, BobCat, Spencer, Bandon, Vardagsrummet (Finland!), Sunday Jammers, Small Stage, Wild Stage, Michelle’s Mineral Mountain Music, Casa de Linda, The Front Room, Rosie’s Cafe, Lake Floyd, Rendezvous Farm, Hill Country, Top o’ the Hill,

New CIYH Artists: (A big thank you for your support.)

Alex Kash, Buddy Wakefield, Casey Desmond, Chad and Jeremy, Dana Agnellini, David Glaser, David Payton, Elliott Ranney, French toast, Genevieve, Janet Bates, Jeff Holmes of The Floating Men, jill knight, Joe Gee, Kris Searle, Kristin Markiton, LynnMarie & The Boxhounds, Mark Cool, Mended Vessels, Michael Brandmeier, MJ Bishop, New Territory, Robert A Johnson, Ryan Price, Siobhan Quinn & Michael Bowers, Sky Nelson, The Comforters, The Stereofidelics, Tim Bays, Tom Glynn, Tracy Newman and the Reinforcements, Yvonne Blasy

Renewed Artists: (A HUGE thank you for your continued support!)

Robby Hecht, Michael Mucklow, Ronny Elliott, Chance Haven, Jon Roniger, Bill Toms, Eric Roberts, Tim Miller, James Casto, John Williams, Lisa Torres, Sonia Lee, David Theroff, Stryngs

Schwag of the Month:
Ladies-cut long-sleeve shirt featuring our new slogan, “Your living room was made for live music.” - We think it’s a great way to spread the word and show the curves. 8^)

Artist of the Month: Mojácar Flamenco is a dynamic group of flamenco artists led by guitarist Stephen Dick and dancer Katerina Tomás. Together, they offer a virtuosic tour-de-force in which music and dance weave together in tight interplay.

Mojácar offers flamenco concerts, workshops and lecture-demonstrations, bringing the power and passion of flamenco to all audiences. Mojácar was formed in 1997 when Stephen and Katerina returned from an extended visit to an artists’ retreat in the village of Mojácar on Spain’s Mediterranean coast. While there, Stephen wrote much of the music that became Mojácar’s core repertoire - a blend of traditional Flamenco with Contemporary Latin Jazz.

“Fierce Dance and Spanish Guitar.” L.A. Weekly
“A Kind of Visual Poetry” San Diego Union

Since then, the group has toured the U.S. and Canada, performed in Spain, collaborated with artists from all over the world, and released a CD featured on NPRs Morning Edition.

If you’d like to have a house concert that people will talk about for years, this group (duo or band) provides a wonderful opportunity. Stephen is also available for solo instrumental performances.

See Mojacar Flamenco in the third video player here:

Host of the Month: Selia Qynn - Habitat House Concerts

One of the fun aspects of being in touch with so many different house concert presenters is finding house concert series’ that are held in unique settings. One such setting is “Habitat House Concerts” in Houston, TX. Created by singer-songwriter Selia Qynn in 2004, the series is held in her backyard, which, despite the urban setting, was certified by the National Wildlife Federation.

Artists perform under a wisteria-covered gazebo, with pillowed benches that seat 65-70. White doves from the aviary “coo-along” with the music, along-side the more silent bunnies, finches, and button quail. The traveling accommodations are also first-class, with the next door property (which shares the backyard habitat) being retrofitted as 3 very quaint apartments.

Selia is a captivating performer as well, and often performs “in-the-round” with the acts she books for the series. The series was inspired by her frustration with performing in bars, and her desire to share the beautiful habitat she created with her community. If you find yourself traveling near Houston, Habitat House is well worth the visit, even if it’s just to see the birds.

Tip for Artists: Easy Promotion

How many emails do you send out a week? What if every email you send could plant a house concert seed? This could happen automatically if you update your email signature. Here’s mine - you can do the same.

Fran Snyder
http://fransnyder.com - terrible music unfit for human ears
http://concertsinyourhome.com - your living room was made for live music

Another tip? Add one of the new banners - to your website!

Click here for more easy promotion tips.

Tip for Hosts: Send us your schedules.

Not only might it get a few extra visitors inquiring about your next show, but we are keeping track of artists who appear in our state calendars, and how many times each artist appears. We’ll do a top-10 artist list at the end of the year, so promoting your shows is a great way to promote the artists you love. And golly, it’s free. http://concertsinyourhome.com/hostdates.html (bookmark it!)

Live Review: Hans York

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Hans York perform live at several Folk Alliance conferences. After Hans starts playing, it takes less than 3 seconds to know that you are in for something unique.

He simply can’t sit still when he’s playing. His nimble hands create rhythmic grooves on the guitar, and his legs seem as captivated by the sound as the vibrating strings. Then, the subtle melodies always seem to prepare you for the coming vocal.

Hans has a soothing voice that is a perfect match for the sometimes-spiritual, always-enriching songs he performs. His recordings are diverse, but favor a balance between new-age, progressive, and folk.

York’s character, stories, and great songs are ideally suited for house concerts - which is why we often see him on our calendars. His latest CD, “Young Amelia” will be available in just a few weeks. Visit his website for details.

Hosts! Send us your Rave Reviews of any CIYH performers - if we print yours, you’ll win a free shirt.

Trivia Question:
Name 2 of the 3 pages (URLs) at CIYH where we play artist videos. (Hint: one was mentioned above.) Send your answers here…

One winner will be chosen at random from the first 10 correct responses. The prize? A free shirt. Last month’s winner…Matt Kramer! Here he is… patiently waiting ——–>

This website is sponsored by: Artists!

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concertsinyourhome.com “CIYH” is a growing community where artists and music fans can find each other to create small, private concerts in people’s homes.

Our goal is to advise, promote, and to create tools to help these artists and fans create fun, memorable house concerts.

Why?
Because today’s music fans want an intimate concert experience. House concerts provide an atmosphere with few distractions, and the opportunity for the audience to really get to know the artist.

Also, original artists find it increasingly difficult to make a reasonable wage by performing in clubs and traditional music venues. Today, most clubs can’t survive on music alone, and the distractions they add (TV, pool tables, etc.) usually distract from the concert experience. To survive, these clubs have to book acts that help sell alcohol. That’s great for cover acts - not so great for original artists.

We believe the value of music is best measured by memories - not alcohol sales. We also believe that house concerts are the best way to enjoy live music today.

You do not have to be a member to use this site - learn and look around as much as you like. Our efforts are funded by the artists you’ll find on the artist search page.

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