How 'bout your house?

We hit the wall. Having a concert once a month in our house was getting a little too crazy. Not that being two working parents of a four year-old isn't enough.

We love having these parties, but the turn around time, the clean-up, the prep, and the loss of normalcy ... it all adds up.

So we're back to a concert every other month at our house.

But a few of you have approached me about doing these things in your house.

I actually tried this back in August in Seaside, and it worked.

The next concert will feature Berkley Hart in our house on Saturday, November 21st, but the last one of the year will be at another house here in Carmel Valley on Sunday, December 6th, featuring former Wayback Steve Coyle.

It's a win-win for everyone. I have more performers contacting me than I can book, and you all want to try this house concert thing but don't have the experience.

As always, drop us a line is you're interested in hosting a house concert with a fabulous performer and an attentive audience. I'll do the marketing, bring the chairs, set up the sound, and record the interview. All you have to do is open your doors.

The Rayburn Brothers (wrap-up)

By Greg Pool
Host, TreeHouseConcerts.org

Here's a wrap-up of the visit by The Rayburn Brothers to Tree House Concerts (pictures and after-show interview/encore):

* Originally I booked the show as just Craig Rayburn. Later, he had me throw his brother Keith in the billing. He came with dobro, guitar and harmonies. At the show, they let me know they're billing as The Rayburn Brothers now.

* It was a five-piece band, with bass, guitar, drobro, lead and backing vocals. That's the most we've had since Jimmy Chickenpants in 2006. But we've never had three-part harmony, much less the blood harmonies of Craig and Keith. Nothing better.

* That was Keith Rayburn's son, Keith, on the bass. Eliza James provided backing vocals, and Nick Heinz was on lead guitar.

* I first met Craig and his wife Leslie in 2007 at a Keith Greeninger show in Big Sur, at the Henry Miller Library. And Keith, a two-time Tree House performer, was one of the producers on Craig's latest album, Coyote.

* Laura Cohen has everything to do with Craig and Keith dropping by. I grew up next door to Laura, who is one of my sister Kelli's best friends. Laura is friends with the Rayburns and handed me Craig's CD during a visit last spring.

* Laura's parents were there, too. I remember as a kid being able to hear Jerry and Madeline's house parties in the 70's, with people playing songs in the backyard, right beneath my bedroom. It was wonderful to have them here, if only to return the favor.

* If you didn't get to talk to Laura's father, Jerry Cohen, you missed a brush with history.

* And yes, that was Laura's husband, John Siletto, singing that last song, Tres Pinos, with the band. John wrote it, and Craig put it on the album, with full credit. If you missed it, just reading the lyrics doesn't do it credit.

* We had people coming from as far as you can in California to see this show. Craig and Keith's sister came up from LA, and their parents came down from the Shasta area.

* The parents play in a string band up there, and are now inspired to host house concerts, too!

* It was amazing to learn that Craig is a third grade teacher in the Santa Cruz area but even more amazing that one of his peers who teaches kindergarden came to see him perform, too!

* One of the cutest moments was right after we finished recording the encore/interview. My niece, Elsa, poked her head out of the closed door to the family room and asked what was going on. "I thought I heard some music," she remarked to the 20 folks in the room.

* It was a super extended encore performance we recorded after the show. The band did three originals but the crowd had some requests, so we left everything on and up. Five songs total!

Lila Nelson (wrap-up)

By Greg Pool
Host, TreeHouseConcerts.org

Here's a wrap-up of the visit by Lila Nelson to Tree House Concerts (pictures and after-show interview/encore):

* I first saw Lila in 2006 at Ron Sandidge's house concert in Aptos. She was in Ron's back yard, too, but had to compete with some landscaping equipment nearby.

* Lila recognized lots of names on the backs of chairs, including friends and Tree House artists Brian Joseph, Kenny Edwards, Mark Erelli and Peter Mulvey.

* In his 2005 after-show interview (at 15:50 in), Brian mentioned Lila as someone "wonderful, really bizarre, quirky, beautiful, perfect."

* Kenny Edwards co-produced Lila's latest album, Letter Home. He used to play with Linda Ronstadt and still plays with Karla Bonoff a bunch.

* Was is me or was it hilarious when Lila sang the last line of Dirty Magazines ... in our back yard: "Don't you know they make it hard...for the girl next door not to be hardcore when she's in her own back yard."

* Lila is so laid back that she and tour manager Shiloh decided to head off into the sunset and camp out that night before their next show in Santa Cruz on Sunday.

* For what ever reason, we had a hard time filling the house in August. I looked back and found we had only booked August twice before (emith and Molly's Revenge) and did well. But what I failed to learn was a band that's on our own Wish List, the Duhks, played in nearby Sand City that afternoon, at the West End Celebration. I've liked them all the way back when they were Scruj MacDuhk. Hey, I would have been there, too.

* The after-show encore/interview was too much fun, probably because it included the enthusiasm of Christy, Tracy, Steve, Mike and Paul playing the part of studio audience (picture).

* Also in the encore, Mike (and Pete Seeger) was responsible for that "turn around" folk maneuver Lila used in "American Miracle." And yes, that was Mike at the end, boldly finishing Lila's lyrics (much to her delight).

* Lila's husband took a class at the Panetta Institute at CSU Monterey Bay, where our guest Steve Henderson had worked. Steve is now the Dean of Student Life at the new high school at Chartwell School.

* And another guest, Paul, and my father, Allen, both learned they had teaching overseas in common. In 1973, I lived in New Dehli, India, for a year while my father was principle of the high school at the American embassy.

* And while BBQing the tri-tip, Juliet had a bite that got stuck in her esophagus. Long story short, we ended up going to the ER at 1 a.m. and getting it taken out early the next morning. Long night, lots of napping the next day, but Sonoma never woke up the whole time. Don't try that at home, though!

WORTHY: Jason Harrod

By Greg Pool
Host, TreeHouseConcerts.org

LISTEN: Interview and encore with Jason Harrod, recorded on August 13, 2009. [ show notes ]

It was a two-fer tonight in nearby Seaside, California, as Tree House Concerts went remote to cover the birth of a brand new house concert venue and the visit of singer/songwriter Jason Harrod.

The hosts were Esther Hobbs and Dan Weinstein, who opened their doors to 25 people, many of whom had never experienced an evening of live acoustic music in one's living room.

Jason was raised in North Carolina and lives in New York City. His music touches folk, country, bluegrass, pop and rock, and tonight he played a guitar and harmonica in an hour-long set.

Esther had only heard of Jason through a Boston friend, who suggested Esther catch Jason's act on his West Coast tour. Instead, Jason was able to convince Esther that she could do a house concert. I pitched in with chairs from our concert series and the small guitar amp that we've used for outdoor concerts and indoor (e.g. Peter Mulvey in 2004).

Afterwards, I set up for a special interview and encore performance with Jason in front of the remaining crowd at Esther and Dan's house, and Jason knocked out some intimate versions of his original material.

Beth Wood (wrap up)

By Greg Pool
Host, TreeHouseConcerts.org

Here's a wrap-up of the visit by Beth Wood to the Tree House (pictures and after-show interview/encore):

* Beth came all the way from Texas by way of Oregon, where she and her husband are living these days. It means we'll see a lot more of her on the West Coast.

* I first saw Beth at a house concert in Salt Lake City, when she was living in Colorado.

* Beth has Mark Erelli to thank for this gig. I was in Utah to interview Mark at a music festival, and my friend, Hope Jensen, suggested we go to something called a house concert.

* Beth asked how we knew Mark, and I played her the recording Mark made at our 2004 house concert, where I proposed to Juliet at the break, surprising everyone except Mark, who then sang his song, "Before I Knew Your Name."

* Leon and Jeanne (plus Wayne!) came only because they had seen Beth Wood on a Cayamo Cruise, and became a big ol' fan. He was surprised and thankful Beth was coming to his area, and drove down from Aptos to see her. Now Leon knows there's a local house concert series in Aptos, too!

* Troy and his date came because they heard Beth on the radio on Friday morning with Clytia Fuller on KZSC in Santa Cruz. Thanks, Clytia!

* Beth mentioned specifically it was her first playing with chickens in the audience. She tried to form the band "Beth Wood and the Mother Cluckers" but the hens didn't learn their parts and became victims of downsizing by management.

* Beth played the Freight & Salvage up in Berkeley on Thursday, opening for Hans York, then the day after our concert she returned to Berkeley, to Casa de Linda House Concerts with Linda Oliver & Tom Mongomery, who saw her on that same Cayamo Cruise.

* Beth's mother grew up in Breckenridge, Texas. Juliet's maiden name is Breckenridge, so we had lots to talk about, and Beth drank from a Breckenridge brewery glass during the show.

* This was our first concert outside (all 29 have been inside, either here in Carmel Valley or Pacific Grove. We almost had an outside concert with Keith Greeninger in May, but it was about 10 degrees color than today (80) and cooled off quickly.

* Local singer/songwriter Jennifer Filzen dropped by and even accessorized Beth with the addition of Jennifer's hat, when the wind picked up.