Featuring:

The Rainmakers

The Skeletons

Blackberry Winter

RH Silverwood

Kasey Rausch

and Winder Lyons

$20 donation gets you into the festival. Gates open at 3:30

(see end of this email for the music schedule and musician’s bios.)

Kids welcome! Puppets curtsy of Flying Heart Theater: www.joannmcmillan.com

Bring your lawn chair and a cooler with your favorite beverage!

The Feast (complimentary from the Rock House):

Smoked pulled pork and grilled chicken (let us know if you’re vegetarian, we’ll have something special for you!)

Dinner will also include: Potato salad, cold slaw, baked beans and homemade cookies. We will begin serving at 6:00.

The Rock House is located in Downtown Reeds Spring at 41 High Street (corner of High and Main St). Parking available across the Street or anywhere downtown. Also, a short walk from at City Hall (park toward the back) and the Reeds Spring Farmer’s Market

Donations:

This year we are supporting our local no-kill animal shelter. www.tri-lakeshumanesoc.org There will be a drop off at the bottom of High Street for donated dog and cat food or at the gate of the festival. We will also have “Doghouse” fans for  $1 at the gate. All proceeds will go directly to animals in need.

Lodging:

Motels within 5 miles: Reeds Spring Motel(walking distance)-(417)272-3833, Colonial Mountain Inn- (417)272-8414, Econo Lodge-(417)272-3326, and Lakeview Inn-(417)272-8195

Limited camping on grounds so call ahead!

An RSVP is required

For more information contact Bruce or Jeanette, (417)272-8386 or jbair@centurytel.net.

Please help us spread the news and make this the biggest Rock House Music Festival so far!

We hope we see you here!

Music Schedule and Bios:

3:45 Winder Lyons

I’m a folk musician heavily influenced by the funk/jazz New Orleans music scene ( my home town ). My mother was a concert pianist, so I also have a strong classical heritage. While I worked extensively as a professional musician in my younger years, my current “style” has developed over these last years from playing for my dog and cat, or just out in the tool shed.

4:30 Kasey Rausch

Kasey Rausch has been making acoustic music around the mid-western and southern states for more than 20 years. In 2012, her focus will be on “occupying” homes with music by way of house concerts. Apart from solo and Kasey Rausch & Friends endeavors, she also plays upright bass with the Kansas City based rustic-folk band Buttermilk Boys.

5:15 RH Silverwood
Randy and Robin Hoover formed RH Silverwood in 2010. A blend of Randy’s guitar with a Brazilian influence from his upbringing and Robin’s love for the flute, they play songs Randy has written over the years. Many of his songs reflect his life’s experiences. It is an eclectic blend of folk rock and blues. His songs have been played at the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas and recorded by artists such as The Hiser Brothers and Not The Band. Angelia King joined them 9 months ago. Angelia has been featured in Branson shows and toured Japan and several other countries with her soulful, smooth voice. She also adds her skills of percussion and vocal arranging to the group.
They have been playing festivals, wineries and various other venues in Missouri and Arkansas the past two years and look forward to continuing to develop their unique sound and entertain people of all ages.

6:00 Dinner is served

6:30 Blackberry Winter

During location scouting for the movie “Winter’s Bone”, West Plains MO native and folk singer/storyteller Marideth Sisco was asked by producer Debra Granik to assemble musicians to play the soundtrack for this spectacular film set in the Missouri Ozarks. It took top honors at Sundance, and went on to receive numerous awards in the US and overseas, among them a Golden Globe and 4 Oscar nominations. The band coalesced into “Blackberry Winter”, producing a widely acclaimed soundtrack CD of authentic music from the Ozarks Hills. Their live performances include a mix of original and traditional tunes featuring honey-sweet harmonies sprinkled with tasty pickin’ from the veteran local musicians. Current band members are: Marideth Sisco, Bo Brown, Tedi May, Van Colbert, Linda Stoffel and Dennis Crider

7:45 The Skeletons

Based in Springfield, Missouri, the Skeletons formed in 1979 as a touring band assembled by Steve Forbert. Following the tour, they
decided to stay together, releasing their own records when they weren’t touring either as their own entity or as a supporting group. In 1987 they released their first American album, Rockin’ Bones. Over the next 10 years, they remained busy, particularly backing artists like Syd Straw and Dave Alvin, releasing three other albums — In the Flesh! (1988), Waiting (1992) and Nothin’ to Lose (1997). The currentline up consists of Lou Whitney, Bobby Lloyd Hicks, Joe Terry and newest addition, Mark Bilyeu.

9:00 The Rainmakers

The Rainmakers are a Kansas City, Missouri-based original rock band, fronted by Bob Walkenhorst, which had a small string of hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the United States and Europe, especially Norway.

The Rainmakers were formed in 1983 as a three-piece bar band called ‘Steve, Bob and Rich,’ which “quickly became popular throughout the Midwest,” according to one Amazon.com review. They released one album, Balls, under this name. The addition of drummer Pat Tomek allowed Walkenhorst to switch to guitar and assume the role of frontman. The band changed their name to The Rainmakers when they were signed to Polygram by A&R man Peter Lubin.

The band’s self-titled 1986 debut album received positive reviews in the U.S. entertainment media including Newsweek magazine, which dubbed it “the most auspicious debut album of the year,” and reached #87 on the U.S. Billboard album chart. The band made a fan of horror writer Stephen King, who quoted the band’s lyrics in his novels The Tommyknockers and Gerald’s Game. The album, however, achieved its greatest commercial success overseas. In the United Kingdom, the single “Let My People Go-Go” broke into the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart.

Their follow-up album, 1987′s Tornado, peaked at #116 on the U.S. chart. The Rainmakers released one more studio album, 1989′s The Good News and The Bad News, and one live album, 1990′s Oslo-Wichita Live, which were successful in Europe.
However, Scandinavian interest in their music remained high, so they reformed and released a new album, Flirting with the Universe, in 1994. The album achieved the equivalent of gold record status in Norway in one month. One more album, Skin, followed in 1996 before the band broke up for good….or did they?

After returning to his old stomping grounds in Norway with the duo project Walkenhorst & Porter in 2010, Bob Walkenhorst saw that his music hadn’t been forgotten by the old fans. 2011 would mark the 25th anniversary of The Rainmakers’ debut album, and Bob saw the possibility of making it a special　celebration with a reunion of the band.

With all but one original member onboard -Steve Phillips is too busy with his band The Elders–and new member Jeff Porter taking over the guitar duties, the scene is set for a grand celebration with a brand new album “25 On” and tour dates in both Norway and the US. And as the cherry on top, on March 5 2011 The Rainmakers were inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame.

The six members of Blackberry Winter Band paid a social call on the staff of Harrison, Ark.’s Hometown TV station and its program 726 This Week on Wednesday. They visited with staff members and played a few tunes from their touring repertoire, according to band leader Marideth Sisco.

Harrison’s Digital Channel 26.2, which also broadcasts on Cox Cable channel 843 and Ritter Cable channel 22, hosts a morning show where visitors are welcome to talk about events of interest to the community. The band dropped by to offer a musical plug for their appearance August 20 at the Eureka Springs, AR Bluegrass Festival. Blackberry Winter Band is the headliner for the three day free outdoor festival at Basin Spring Park.

The program runs at 7 p.m. Friday in Harrison, and at 7 a.m. Friday in the Mountain Home TV market. Or watch the interview and performance at www.youtube.com/user/hometowntelevision.

Hope to see you all at the Eureka Springs Bluegrass Festival in Basin Park August 20 at 7:15 pm!

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More photos soon right here.

My apologies for not posting in a while. Sarah and I have been locked away in a dark room (not really, there are windows) working on the evidently endless details of arranging a nationwide tour for six marginally geriatric hillbilly musicians. It's being reall … Read More

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Marideth Sisco

On the porch.

Dennis Crider and Gary Due

May 20, 2011; Columbia, MO - Blue Note

May 21, 2011; 2011; Springfield MO - Randy Bacon Gallery

May 30, 2011; Denver, CO - Hi Dive Lounge

May 31, 2011; Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge

June 2, 2011; Seattle WA - Triple Door

June 3, 2011; Vancouver BC - Waldorf Cabaret

June 4, 2011; Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater

June 6, 2011; San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall

June 7, 2011; Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Forever

June 8, 2011, Phoenix, AZ – Mesa Arts Center/Piper Repertory Theater

June 10, 2011; Austin TX - Central Presbytarian Church

June 11, 2011; Dallas, TX - The Loft

Top; Van Colbert. L to R; Marideth Sisco, Dennis Crider, Linda Stoffel, Bo Brown, Tedi May

Still in recovery from the marathon studio sessions, but likewise overjoyed at the results. Only have the rough mixes so far, but very few warts (most of them mine. What? I'm not perfect? Again?) and I'm currently veering off of persnickety and leaning toward philosophical. A word to those wishing to record their music using professionals in a professional setting. You can't do better than Steve Peters for a producer. And if you're anywhere in th … Read More

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Hello to all and long time no blog – It's Monday night and I'm just in from the studio with a report on the status of the album. It's all over but the mixing, mastering, licensing and pressing. We hope to have it out by the … Read More

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