Email to Terry Spencer of South Dakota Public Radio

...I wanted to reiterate why we feel SDPR, Houseblend
and Bob Swinson are so important, to explain our somewhat extravagant hero worship. Partly I was thinking of general background material for you and your team. If I had had this available, you could have saved some time this afternoon. Perhaps it will help with the article for the Program Guide.

Partly I was thinking of those who oppose public media. There is a great story here about how and why SDPR was and is uniquely able to support this broad effort, in partnership with the venues and songwriters.
Barb

LAST YEAR, or How it all happened to happen

I called Bob to discuss sending a CD to him. He was so wonderful, interested and easy to deal with, and I ended up planning a series of concerts so that Bob could record several people during a single trip to the Hills.

I contacted a couple of venues about recording their open mic nights. They loved the idea and readily agreed to the extra work. The venues are all fairly small and scattered throughout the Hills. A handful of the musicians are well-known but most are not. Most of the music community didn't appear to know much about Houseblend. We weren't expecting much, but we figured the words "statewide radio" would get enough musicians to sign up.

We had originally planned 3 concerts, with 1/2 hour sets, 2-3 hour concerts. We added a venue and went to 15 minute sets, 3-4 hour concerts. The media coverage was great. Then we added a fifth venue which filled rapidly. We still had people who didn't get to play.

The concert series was a surprisingly huge success - we had no idea it was going to get so big - and we ended up with almost 60 musicians, and standing-room-only crowds for several hours at each venue save one. More importantly and somewhat surprisingly, virtually all of the songwriters were good to very good to great.

Bob was no small part of its success. The appeal of possibly being on the radio is undeniable. Bob generously agreed to a difficult recording schedule and made a point of being supportive of any new work we created for him.

He was absolutely a trooper, recording every concert and maintaining an alert expression through 20+ hours of taping. He was gracious and charming to everyone, looked excited each time someone handed him a CD, and just generally was nice. We experienced no significant problems and the fallout has been all good.

Steve Thorpe, the RC Journal reporter for acoustic music, says the Songwriters Invitational was  key turning point for the scene here. Steve's been reporting on music here for four years or so. He has repeatedly credited Bob and Houseblend in print articles for Panache and and the RC Journal. (I may be able to find a couple of those articles for you.)

In other words, because Bob is such a great guy - so
supportive, enthusiastic, willing to do the work - and
Houseblend is such a great show - open format, emphasis on live recording at venues, not limited to a particular format - we were inspired to do the work to make this event happen.

Then the events were individually much bigger successes than anyone thought was possible. People came to venues they'd never visited. Most of those concerts were absolutely stuffed with people the whole time.

And finally, the icing - people hear themselves on statewide radio AND so do other people. For musicians, nothing is quite like having someone tell you they heard you on the radio.

It's been an amazing year

People ask to have original music acts at their events, ask to get local CDs stocked in their store, the Journal adds Steve Thorpe as a regular columnist reporting on the original and acoustic music scene. People are visiting here from other places, play an open mic, and then never leave. We have people coming back here who left years ago to play in LA or Nashville. 

A booking agency in Arizona, with a website indicating they do MTV specials and Waylon Jennings concerts, calls here to book entertainment for a 3-day, 48-hrs-of-stage event. Some people in government, media and business, even some in the official arts community, now seem to recognize the existence - and even the potential importance - of an original music / folk / acoustic scene and tend to recognize the names of the venues.

More bars book original music acts. Before a TV interview for a Labor Day concert, the reporters comment on the extensive scene and how they intend to cover it more. Someone gets a call from a record company. More open mics are added at new venues, people who stopped playing out 10 years ago are out again, someone releases a CD practically every week. Panache decides to do a second compilation CD.

The X decides to add an original regional music show on Sunday evening, Biff's Beat.

OF COURSE

Not everything that happened this last year was directly due to the Songwriters Invitational. We have dozens of people in performing, recording, business, media and the community involved in different ways. But last year's event was certainly an important moment, one which helped everyone - musicians, venues, others - gain confidence in our collective talent. A powerful thing.

Long-time observer Steve Thorpe would tell you that we saw, for the first time, the breadth and depth of the talent here, and were amazed.

THIS YEAR

This year, five additional venues will hold concerts, a
total of 10 concerts over six days. I expect 10 musicians at 10 venues, 20 minute sets; Thorpe fears 12-15 musicians, 15 minute sets. Either way we get 30+ hours of concert from at least 100 songwriters. Attendance estimates are ranging from 150 to 700.

Everyone I check with says they've never heard of anything even close to this size, and so I believe that this year's Songwriters Invitational will be "the biggest original music event in the history of the state."

Cool.