house concerts and 21st century touring

O.K. - Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit. However, it’s hard to find another artist who’s worked their way into hearts of so many house concert hosts, and who’s inspired so many to get started. I’m delighted to welcome Jack to the CIYH family, and couldn’t resist the opportunity to have him share his experience with our community. — fran

1. This might be tough, but where/when was your first house concert? Any chance you’d remember how it came about?

I don’t remember my first house concert, how it came about or how it went. I’ve only been a part of the folk music community for about 20 out of my 50 professional touring years, and there were occasions, long before the current house concert movement, that I played my music in private homes for assembled friends, neighbors, families - and for pay.

I’m constantly amused by the fact that I often hear people speak of house concerts as being a “new thing” or “the latest trend”. In fact, it has been the quintessential “folk” music venue for centuries. My wife, Judy, found a great magazine photo from 1946, of Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly, seated side by side on stools, performing in a white, middle-class Kansas home, before an attentive gathering of friends, neighbors and families.

In the early 1800’s, musicians like Franz Schubert presented music in his “salon”. Around 1000AD, the first Troubadours of what is now southern France roamed from city-state to city-state, with a lute and all their belongings, staying at the pleasure of each court. I guess I’ve been doing “house concerts” for 50 years!

2. I know you do more than 50 house concerts per year. After that, what is your most common type of gig?

No bars at all anymore. 30 years was enough - although I developed many “chops” on that circuit. Probably my next most common gigs are the “coffeehouse” concert series’, most often in rooms provided by music-friendly churches. By far, the majority of these are the U.U.’s, Unitys, and occasionally other more open-minded sects. I have not yet played a concert in a southern Baptist church.

I play for a few festivals each year, but I prefer smaller audiences. The festivals are basically “showcases” where a folkie may find further employment among the listeners. They’re also great places to cross paths with and spend time with other touring artist-friends.

3. What do you enjoy most about house concerts?

Intimacy. Up close and personal in a non-glitzy, non-show-biz way. What you see is what you get - usually unplugged. I love being able to look into the eyes of the listeners as I perform, and then talk with them at a break or afterwards. For a self-booked artist like myself and some of my colleagues, the house concert circuit also provides a decent living for those of us without a “team” (manager, agent, publicist, cosmetician) which can provide more “high-end” gigs for its artists, in the large halls, before many hundreds or thousands of paying customers - with the artists at a distance from their audience.

My performance approach changes, by necessity, when I’m on the festival stage. I have those skills, to “paint with a broader stroke” for a large, disconnected crowd, but I much prefer the more personal house concert setting.

4. Aside from putting on a great show, what’s been your most effective way of cultivating house concerts?

I wouldn’t call it a “way”, since it’s just part of my nature: I love the people in the folk community, and I’ve enjoyed meeting them in 46 states and 8 countries. My “way”, then, is the enjoyment of getting to know my hosts personally, making the “business” a pleasure. Of course, there’s a strong grapevine on the house concert circuit which has served me - and other artists who favor this most personal of venues - extremely well.

Almost all of my hosts have been folks who are still enthusiastic about life, music, music-makers, and everything that lies above the cheesy realm of commercial media. Over the years, many have become dear friends with whom I share more than just an annual concert. I love this community. My wife, Judy, who has a PhD in immunology and who left the stagnant corporate-science world for life on the road, also loves this community. This has become “neighborhood”.

5. The price of gas is influencing everybody’s bottom line, but is it affecting or changing your touring plans?

Yes. In a big and frightening way. I love my job and I’m now facing changes I don’t want to make. We’ll hang in there to see how we do, even though it’s a certainty that we’ll begin earning less annually, unless I just play more often on each tour. The problem with this is that I’m approaching 65 and I don’t have what it takes to play 300 dates a year anymore. I don’t fly to gigs and I drive from 50,000 to 70,000 diesel-miles each year.

The options include “localizing”, that is playing only within a short drive from home. This would be devastating to me, since part of the love for my job is getting to see every square inch of this country and to meet so many new people.

I also have far fewer venue-contacts in this region (NW Arkansas) which is still new to me - we bought a home here only three years ago. I enjoy teaching and do it frequently at retreats and festivals, and it may become a more important element in my work - teaching more locally, and booking more music workshops along with concerts. The final option is to stop touring. I’m in my prime and I’m having a ball. I’d rather stop breathing.

6. You’ve been a touring act for a long time… how do the past few years measure up for you? Is this the most challenging time you’ve ever seen for touring artists, or just a blip in the road?

I really don’t see it as any more or less challenging than any other time in my career. The past few years have been the best for me in my career - but that seems to have more to do with the fact that I’m just better at what I do now. I can’t speak for other touring artists, as to how challenging it is for them.

I think this is like any other job: “When I works, I works hard. When I plays, I plays hard. When I worries, I sleeps.” Artists who aren’t extraordinarily talented, lack originality in their presentation, lack diligence in booking/publicity-work, aren’t enthusiastic and efficient while hard-travelling or just don’t love their job, are going to face the toughest challenges. At this unfortunate time in U.S. history, though, one of the biggest challenges facing us all is the rising cost of fuel for touring. As for Judy and me, we’ll ride this pony until he falls down.

7. What’s the most common mistake that house concert presenters make?

Hmmmm. There are a few that come to mind, and it’s hard to say which is most common! It may be that some hosts operate under the misconception that their home-performance-space must somehow be made to seem a “grander” venue. The building of a stage, the assembling of extravagant lighting, the addition of a stadium-sized PA system, and the placing of the audience at a distance from the “stage” and from the artist - these are the things which can derail the most vital aspects of a house concert and diminish the intimacy.

First and foremost, it’s a concert in someone’s living space, not Carnegie Hall or Newport Folk Festival! Speaking for myself, I love that about it. I love it that people may seated right under my feet, on the floor, on pillows and soft things. I love it that they may be scattered into adjacent rooms, sitting on the staircase, or dangling their feet from a loft. I love it that a simple floor or table lamp may be the only lighting. I love it that the audience isn’t seated in total darkness while multi-colored lights illuminate me and a (sometimes) unnecessary microphone. I love it that I’m standing or sitting not much higher than the audience’s heads, rather than on a stage which causes me to “loom” over the folks. I love it ’cause it ain’t show-biz!

For me it’s a pure and simple form of direct communication, without smoke and mirrors - and distance - of a commercial-style concert. It’s a concert in your home.

8. I couldn’t have said it any better. Thanks Jack.

To book Jack Williams, email him directly or visit his profile on concertsinyourhome.com

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