Seriously, what a year. We started off indoors at The Coffee Bar in Bennington during the last waves(?!?) of the COVID plague. Later in the year we ran a Kickstarter to fund an outdoor stage that we built within two weeks of finalizing the campaign and only six days of fundraising to reach our goal. Once again, sincere thanks to everyone who helped donate, share the news and do the work.
Later in the summer we hosted Billsville’s 150th show which is an achievement we are still knocked out about. We complained about the difficulty in booking bands yet somehow still managed to host 14 stellar shows, sell 1341 tickets and contribute $37,500.00 directly to musicians bottom lines.
Below are some video highlights for the year - thanks Nancy for many of these.
Hiss Golden Messenger at Billsville news!
Hiss Golden Messenger at Billsville news!
We realized after some counting that the Friday, August 26th performance will be our 150th Billsville House Concerts show - what a milestone! We are commemorating the two day run by printing a limited set of these 16x20 posters hand painted and lettered by Ethan. Proceeds from the sale will be split by the band and Ethan and 20% will go to the National Network of Abortion Funds to bolster the support Hiss is providing via the sale of their latest live record - Wise Eyes Live at the Neptune.
Reps from Vermont Access to Reproductive Freedom will be on site Friday as well.
We need to gauge print demand so if you want one of these and can pick it up in person before/after the show you can Venmo $25 (or more) to "@billsville" or scan the QR code. Make sure you leave your name and number of posters in the comments.
We also have a shipping option if you're out of town. You can also purchase online … it may be two weeks after the show before we get your order out so please be patient.
Three Shows In Eight Days
Wow, what a stretch. Billsville hosted three bands, one opener and about 225 attendees in the last eight days and it was incredible. We got two stellar sets from Hawktail, a staggeringly emotional headline set from John Paul White with a guitar mastery opener from Jordan Tice and a surprise #Superstar set from Billsville favorite Caroline Rose.
As always, we couldn’t do it without fantastic support from our crowd along with sound backup from Williams Seeders Mosheim.
Hope you had as much fun as we did!
Many more videos at Nanci’s YouTube Channel
Top 20 More Billsville Songs
Well, here are 20 more for you to discover.
Top 20 Billsville Songs
What can we say about Brown Bird that hasn’t already been said? The band played some of our most memorable shows before Dave’s passing and they were always accommodating and amazingly entertaining. “Fingers To The Bone” is the lead track to their “Salt For Salt” record and we were lucky enough to capture audio from this show.
Courtney Marie Andrews is now on everyone’s radar. Amazingly, a few weeks ago, Brandi Carlile decided to OPEN a show for Courtney as a show of faith and support. When Courtney hits the big finish on “May Your Kindness Remain” you can hear the audiences collective gasp - I’m getting goosebumps just typing this description up.
Andrew Combs came to us on the recommendation of our friends at Boston Concert Photo and what a gift that night was. Amazingly, Erin Rae was along as an opener and when they combined their voices for this great song we all knew what Nashville magic was about. Savvy viewers will spot the killer band who have their hands all over some of the most beautiful sounds around.
We were thrilled when Bridget Kearney brought her solo project to Billsville. imagine our surprise when Margaret Glaspy showed up to play lead guitar. You don’t have to imagine the beauty of this song by these two stellar performers.
The story of how we got Lake Street Dive to play for us when they were already too big is one of our favorites - but we like to do it in person! It’s thrilling to look back on this recording of the show. You can hear the background buzz of the crowed pick up as they move into “You Go Down Smooth” with it’s rising verses . . . just listen to the fun.
Grace’s week looked like this.
Day 1 : Open for the Rolling Stones in Minneapolis for 90,000
Day 2: Fly to Green Bay to play with Kenny Chesney for 120,000
Day 3 : Fly to Vermont to play for 75 of us
Day 4 : Fly to Dallas to open for the Rolling Stones and 100,000
Kind of magical - here was my one request.
It’s hard to pick a song from Lissie because so many of them are so powerful. This show took about three years to book and we’re thrilled that it happened because it so delivered. Why isn’t Lissie as big in the US as she is in Europe? Guess we’ll never know but we’re certainly fine with getting to see her up close like this.
Here’s the unknown, out of left field contender on the list. Something about this song, the brittle nature of JE Sunde’s voice, the fragility of it all is wrapped up in this performance.
Oh, father deer, what do you fear?
And are you aware the hunter is near?
Who shall mourn, when you collapse in the snow
And lay down your head, lay down your horn?
We knew we were going to include something from Caroline on the list and after considering “Soul No 5” and “Bikini” we went back to this. For awhile we were encouraging performers to cover a song by a former Billsville performer for “Billsville Does Billsville.” Not only did Caroline and Jer nail this HoneyHoney tune but the song/show marked the literal end of Caroline the Americana wordsmith and the beginning of her current vibe. Love these two dearly.
I asked Margaret to cover this song because the first time I heard her do it I don’t think I could breathe very much and I was a little woozy afterwards. We announced this Thursday show on a Monday night and were sold out by Tuesday with fans driving five hours to get here. While I love all of Margaret’s own stuff this tune just hits me in the emotions every time.
We took all the chairs out to have a dance party for this one. Really, the smile on Jer’s face as he watches Ethan play is the reason this is here.
What Ruby delivers here is emotion - raw, pure and simple. This is a haunting song and sometimes difficult to endure but holy hell Bob’s dark side really comes out doesn’t it. Brett Lanier lays down tasty guitar licks to make this song slide into your feelings.
We could randomly pick ANY song this duo performed and put it in the Top 20. When Rachael Price, one of the best singers performing today, stops by your living room with an expert craftsman like Vilray you know something special will happen. Here it is.
How often does a native Vermonter, three time Billsville performer and winner of 8 Tony Awards hang out in your living room and explain song and story structures. Stunning.
At Ali’s request we turned the lights down low for this show which delivered on the emotional stance staked out by “Tender Warriors Club.”
In your arms I understand all at once
My life has been building me up to us
In your hands I am mine, you take me to myself
The tenses I knew now they bring me to you
One of the best lyrical craftsman working today Joe Pug is still willing to perform this masterpiece of songwriting and Imagery. “I’ve come to test the timber of my heart.”
I’m not crying. Maybe. Four years of effort to bring Hiss Golden Messenger to town and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. We all knew how lucky we were to be there this night.
Perhaps our first foray into hosting a bluegrass band and we entered with a bang. Five women at the top of their game bring it home here.
The only song on the list I don’t have original video/audio for. This version is as close as I can get. Elizabeth opened her show with this and by the end a friend leaned over to me and said “I could end the night happy right now.” It’s a true showstopper.
So much from the Upstate performance menu we could pick but this song showcases the bands talent and keeps the Billsville up front with Ethan sitting in on guitar.
House Concert Economics
House Concert Economics: (UPDATED 2024 with new numbers)
We wrote this when we booked Courtney Marie Andrews for a Tuesday night in October a few years back. We were having some issues selling tickets, so I laid out how the money travels for one of these shows.
Hopefully this write up will provide some transparency to the cost structure of a house show. Hope you enjoy our slightly edited take . . .
-----------——————————————
Generally, we try to do weekend shows because it seems that our audience has more travel and scheduling flexibility on Friday’s and Saturdays. That said, we occasionally do “off-day” shows when we simply love the artist in question and can’t manage to find a date that would work otherwise. This happens more frequently with bands that aren’t from New England who can’t often “risk” a weekend house show when – at best – their east coast tour is probably a break even affair. They may have an anchor date in Boston, NYC, Burlington or Portland, ME that they book first and base the rest of the tour on. That said, Billsville shows often do better for the band financially than a sparsely attended show in a larger city but everyone is trying to balance this equation.
In this case of Courtney had already booked and announced the tour, a pretty brutal 13-day swing starting in Washington DC that headed south before swinging back to the upper Midwest as far as Minneapolis followed by Detroit, Toronto and then Brooklyn. The Billsville show snuck in between Toronto and Brooklyn because well, because we asked nicely. It also snuck in because it’s rough out there economically for a touring musician and unless an artist needs a day off to rest, they’ll often say “yes” to us based on our reputation and sheer economic reality of life on the road. I now know from talking to her about it that Courtney would rather play than take a day off whenever possible. That’s true with many musicians, if they are away from home they want to be working.
Here’s what Tuesday night off would mean to the band:
Find a place to stay in Toronto (expensive) for five musicians and all your gear. Unload into a friend’s house or worry about leaving an unprotected van full of your livelihood out on the street. Since you’re worried, maybe you hit the road – Toronto to Brooklyn is about a 9-hour drive so you’ll go halfway and maybe find a cheap hotel in Scranton.
Your van gets 20 MPG and Brooklyn is 500 miles away, so you’ll need 25 gallons of gas at $3.50 a gallon. You’ll need the hotel for $400 on Monday night and you’ll have to feed five people two or three meals so you’re out another $100 if you eat cheap unhealthy road food.
You’ve spent about $487.50 of your money if you scrimp and you’ve spent the night in a Super 8 Motel trying not to die.
*We left off daily rental costs to the van you are driving so maybe add $100/day.
Here’s what a Tuesday night at Billsville means to the band:
Rather than driving to Brooklyn the band can drive to Vermont. It’s a 7-hour drive but that means they can conceivably wake up Tuesday and make it all the way here. Did you know that we provide lodging? We’ll feed everyone snacks when they arrive and dinner before the show. We’ll feed them a second dinner after the show and breakfast in the morning. Rather than spending $200 on lodging and $100 of food the band gets that for free. So far it only costs the band the gas to get here.
We were doing $10 tickets (HOLY CRAP) for this show and all the money our audience spends on tickets goes directly to the band except for a small amount we give to the sound person. All the money you spend on merchandise goes directly to the band. We’ve invested (with our supporters help) in a fantastic sound system, a portable stage and lights. We own 60 folding chairs for cripes sake! Now if only 50 of you come out to the show the band will get $500 in payments, a comfortable house to stay in (with a dog!) the opportunity to make new fans and sell merchandise.
EDIT: We now offer $25 tickets per standard and $30 “Music Lover” tickets because damn it these shows are worth it. THANK YOU for buying the more expensive ticket, it really makes a difference.
Bottom line – rather than “losing” $487.50 a Billsville show will generate something between $1200 and $1800 for the band making the net change $1600-$2200.
Wait, what about your big for-profit business?
Here’s what happens on our end. Billsville spends our own money on food and drinks for the band. We spend our own time cleaning our house and setting up for 75 guests and 5 overnight visitors (EDIT: These days friends with a local AirBnB often donate housing but we pay the cleaning fee). I don’t even want to think about our overworked septic system, rapidly deteriorating carpeting and the various bumps and scrapes our place has suffered over the years. Booking, marketing and digital ops for every show probably takes 3-4 hours. Day of show Caroline and I spend about 10-12 hours each setting up and hosting. We’re looking at about 30 hours of volunteer work from us. While we do accept donations the truth is that it’s rare that we don’t lose money every night. I fondly remember the show we broke even!
If Will or Ethan is doing sound they shows up at about 3:30 and works until 10:30 (at least). Sound folks remain underpaid but we couldn’t do it without him.
Summary:
For a sold-out show bands will walk out with $1400 - $1800 which is AMAZING. For some bands, it’s literally the most they have ever made in a night. For other bands payouts are a wild fluctuating series of numbers in which we lie somewhere in the middle. We pass the hat for openers and generally the audience has been very supportive.
Thanks for reading this far. What do we get from it? Well, after giving Courtney a Tuesday night show in Halloween she came back when she was “too big for the room” and those of you who were here know what an incredible night that was right? We get that many many nights and that, my friends - well, you can’t put a price tag on that.
#MusicIsGood #MayYourKindnessRemain
Twelve months of Billsville
12 months of music
2018 Year In Review
Looking back, we would have to declare 2018 as “The Year of the Woman” at Billsville. We didn’t plan it that way, it just worked out and in reflection it was a great year to make it a central theme. In general, our motto is “we book talent” - gender isn’t an issue for us - but this year that talent was generally female. Some of our bookings were serendipitous (Mipso, 10 String Symphony) and some of them we’ve been working on for over a year (Nicole Atkins, Erika Wennerstrom) but as always we were simply thrilled with the talent that came to town. We hosted our 115th show this year which is kind of phenomenal - thanks for being with us!
We started our 2018 schedule on a cold Tuesday night in January with Rachel and Vilray. Rachel is Rachel Price - dynamic lead singer for Lake Street Dive and truly one of the best vocalists performing today. Vilray is Vilray Bolles, a gifted guitarist, vocalist and whistler as well as a writer/arranger for music that harkened back to the 30’s while managing to remain contemporary and exciting.
Seven Days Vermont came to this show and wrote an article that really captured the vibe of what we are all about. You can read it here.
“When Rachael & Vilray reached the end of "Do Friends Fall in Love," the duo lovingly locked eyes on the final, closely harmonized notes. As their dulcet tones evaporated into the ether, a hushed pause took over the room. Then, from an older gentleman in the back, came an audible whisper: "Holy fuck."
Everyone in the room was thinking precisely those two words, even if they lacked the temerity or the degree of awe-induced absentmindedness to say them aloud. It was a perfect response to a stirring moment in an evening full of them — moments aided in no small part by the unusual setting. Indeed, the older gentleman's foul mouth could have been a simple product of heightened relaxation, of feeling at home — Doug Hacker and Caroline Schneider's Manchester Center home, to be precise. “
After a few years of asking, Nicole Atkins agreed to come to Vermont. Her new record “Goodnight Rhonda Lee” was on a bit of an endless loop around here and our buddy Eric said “it’ll never happen” which is always a good challenge! Nicole and her amazing band thrilled us all on a night we won’t soon forget.
We’ve been big boosters of Twisted Pine for awhile now. They are one of those bands that can make fans from just about anyone who sees them live. Performances here and later at the new Green Mountain Bluegrass Festival should cement their cred in the area.
Erika Wennerstrom from Heartless Bastards brought the raw emotionalism of her songs to our space for an incredible, heartfelt night. We weren’t crying - you were crying!
Courtney Hartman and Taylor Ashton are each remarkably talented musicians and together they brought a sense of playfullness and sweet friendship to Billsville.
Mipso was the only band rained out at the GMBR Festival so we were thrilled when we could work out a date with them. Nancy’s SD card bit it after this show so we’ve only got this Facebook live stuff for sharing but - the house was full and so were our hearts.
10 String Symphony with Carling & Will. Bluegrass and strings were not really our “thing” but somehow we luck into all the talent so we’ll roll with it. The cadence of the music makes for a mighty enjoyable evening.
Lula Wiles with Mary-Elaine Jenkins. We ended the year with some powerful women. Lula Wiles is ready to release a new record on Smithsonian Folkways and Mary-Elaine has a wonderful future ahead of you. A great way to tie it up.
2017 In Review
Lady Lamb
Madaila
Anais Mitchell / Reed Foehl
Andrew Combs / Erin Rae
Bridget Kearney / Fit Club
The Revelers
Parsonsfield / Carling & Will
Caroline Rose / Hammydown / Ethan & Ellie
Lilly Hiatt / Erin Cassels-Brown
Courtney Marie Andrews
Upstate Rubdown
Twisted Pine
2016 - The Year In Review
In the middle of “Not Dark Yet”, a Bob Dylan song that Ruby Amanfu performed for us this summertime, Ruby steps back from the microphone to let Brett Lanier take a heartfelt emotional solo. The passion in the playing and the feeling that the musicians on stage had for each other is evident in the “secret video” linked down below. What most of you don’t know is that Ruby met Brett in person at 4:00 that same afternoon. Performances like these are built on years of practice and performing but they’re also built on trust – something that our community continues to give us. You trust us to bring in acts that you love. We sell out shows for artists who have never played anywhere near Vermont. We wanted to thank you for that trust you’ve given us, it’s very much appreciated.
Thanks to everyone who came out to shows, donated money to help us out, brought some food to share and generally participated in making this thing what it is. Thanks to every member of our family who spends hard hours making this happen. Thanks to Nancy for many of these videos and images. Thanks to Sparrow for the image in the email. Finally thanks to the musicians who keep coming and keep putting their hearts on stage for us.
Sometimes in life you find dark places, and the only thing that can give the dark places light is to give voice to it.
Thank you for giving light!
— Ruby Amanfu at Billsville
Della Mae
The year started off with a huge show. Grammy nominated Della Mae decided to drop by thanks to a nice connect from a friend. This show sold out in about four hours for very good reason. Della Mae has so much talent on stage it’s hard to know where to look. Late night jams with Courtney and a lesson on feminism from Kimber made it a night to remember.
Margaret Glaspy
Margaret was signed to ATO Records late in 2015. The label paired her with Rayland Baxter as his opener and I literally begged her to join the show with him. Even though she was feeling a bit under the weather she delivered a mesmerizing set of songs from a record that when on to appear on many end of the year “Best of” lists.
Rayland Baxter
Rayland and his band just got better and better as the year went on. It was fantastic to watch this group of talented players fit their jammy rock songs and whimsical ballads to our space. Later in the summer I would see Rayland play 3 times in 24 hours but this was still my favorite.
Joe Pug
Joe Pug was the first act ever to play Billsville way back in 2011 and we were thrilled to have him back. His word craft and characters continue to thill.
The Huntress and Holder of Hands
Mesmerizing. This show was packed with emotion for us as MorganEve Swain returned for the first time without Dave Lamb. What a night of close harmonies, hypnotic riffs and heartfelt emotion on stage.
Parsonsfield
This band continues to be one of our favorite acts. They’ve always had the musical chops but their showmanship and the expansiveness of the sounds they can put on stage continues to improve.
Lula Wiles
Lula Wiles were a quick crowd favorite and know wonder. Each member is brimming with talent but they are the rare type of band whose personalities and skills combine perfectly into something fresh and fun.
The Revelers
Even a severe hail storm couldn’t keep us from enjoying this amazing band as much as all of us did. Dancing and moving to another Grammy nominated band with a world of talent was a great way to spend a night.
Lissie
Lissie returned for her second performance with us. She’s an international star with a huge voice who recently made some great personal and professional decisions to help her be in charge of her own career. So thrilled that we can benefit from that.
Ruby Amanfu
I fell in love with Ruby at this years Newport Folk Festival and simply begged her to come and play for us. Folks, sometimes begging works. This was one for the books with Ruby bringing her amazing talent to our room while backed by our favorite guitar player Brett Lanier.
Muddy Ruckus
A band out of Maine with huge potential. We see great things in the future for these folks with their songs, style and on stage connection. Ryan and Erika can bring the noise with the best of them.
Syd Straw
Musical icon Syd Straw entertained us with a night of songs, storytelling and her unique off kilter sense of humor. Here’s a few minutes of Syd with one of our favorite musical guests
Upstate Rubdown
Perennial Billsville favorites returned with a new vocalist and a space for dancing. This show is what Billsville is all about. Big band, big fun and great feedback from the community. This one features Ethan on guest guitar.
Brett Hughes
Vermont musical stalwart Brett Hughes ended the year with a night of fantastic songs and music. We wish him well as he preps to record an album in Nashville.
Grace Potter and Jen Crowell duet on "Nothing But The Water (I)" at Billsville
Last June, Grace Potter dropped by to play a one of a kind show for us – our 75th as a venue.
From what we can tell – this is the smallest “non-promo” show Grace has played in about eight years. We had to keep this one on the down low for obvious reasons. Grace spent the month opening for the Rolling Stones, sharing the stage with Mick Jagger on “Gimmie Shelter” and playing with Kenny Chesney in Green Bay for about 80,000 people. In the middle of that whirlwind she spent two hours on stage at our house sharing her talent along with Benny Yurco and Matt Burr. This one will be hard to replicate – what a night!
The final song of the set was a duo with long time tour manager/friend Jen Crowell on “Nothing But The Water (I)”. We’re thrilled to be able to release this one of a kind performance. Enjoy!
To make sure you don’t miss our one of a kind shows in a one of a kind place – subscribe to the email list at the bottom of this page!
2015 Year In Review
Looking back on the list of shows we hosted in 2015 we can’t help but be amazed by the level of artistry that has passed through our series in the last 12 months. We’ve hosted two genuine international stars along with a stellar lineup of musicians that can only be described as incredible – big sounds in small towns indeed. Thanks go out to all the musicians who are willing to travel to Vermont to connect with crowds and share a sense of musical community with all of us. Our biggest thanks go out to all of you who come to these shows – without your attendance it would all be impossible. Here’s to a wonderful year, looking forward to the next one!
January
The ever amazing Anais Mitchell started the year for us in January. I can’t think of an artist who has been as consistently brilliant in the last few years. Her trio of releases “Hadestown”, “Young Man in American” and “xo” are consistently beautiful and amazing. She stands alongside a handful of others as the best songwriters working today. Here she is with Ben Davis doing our request of “Flowers” from “Hadestown”. So surreal to see Anais, with her tattoo of Eurydice on her arm in front of the original woodcut of the album art by Peter Nevins on the wall.
February
In February Jeremy Quentin (Small Houses) came to town. I suppose the winter months lead us into contemplative songwriters and Jeremy really brings a poets voice to the stage.
Jeremy was joined by the effervescent Sophie Lane who at age 14 has without a doubt an amazing future in front of her. Here she is scoring big Billsville points my covering Pearl and the Beard’s “Voice In My Throat.”
e was joined by the effervescent Sophie Lane who at age 14 has without a doubt an amazing future in front of her.
April
In April, Heather Maloney stopped by with her brand new band. Heather’s popularity is soaring as her strong stage presence and clear exuberance wash over audiences who come to see her play.
At the end of April we hosted Upstate Rubdown in what would prove to be their first of three shows with us during the year. Why? Unbridled fun and joy on stage is why. It’s hard to think of another band that is as immediately likable as these folks.
May
Haunt the House joined us in May as one of their last shows before an appearance on the Newport Folk Festival stage. Will Houlihan brings a spirituality and passion to his music that’s palpable. Rarely has music felt so right for us.
June
What can we say about an evening with Grace Potter that can describe what we all felt? From what we can tell – this is the smallest “non-promo” show Grace has played in about eight years. We had to keep this one on the down low for obvious reasons. Grace spent the month opening for the Rolling Stones, sharing the stage with Mick Jagger on “Gimmie Shelter” and playing with Kenny Chesney in Green Bay for about 80,000 people. In the middle of that she spent two hours on stage at our house sharing her talent along with Benny Yurco and Matt Burr. This one will be hard to replicate – what a night!
August
Arc Iris brought serious musical chops and a Bowie/Zappa flavor to Vermont in August that helped us break out of our Americana highway rut. This band can play anything from spaced out jams to Dixieland to Alt-Country, truly an amazing show.
The next day the band hung around and worked up a version of Hall & Oates “Rich Girl” from scratch in the living room. How wonderful to be witness to this kind of artistic creativity.
At the end of August we built an outdoor stage in our backyard to host Parsonsfield. Their infectious brand of sing-along participation drew the whole crowd in on a beautiful late summer night. Most of all, the band has clearly decided that it’s cool to be “entertainers” and we wholeheartedly agree! Note the Vermont and Bernie/EnoughIsEnough shirts on the band.
September
We partnered with the crew at Earth Sky Time Community Farm and built a stage out of hay bales and plywood for a magical barn dance night with Spirit Family Reunion, Upstate Rubdown and The Horse Eyed Men. We printed #Bernie T-Shirts and ate amazing good. Seriously, we can’t think of a better community event than this one. We were all so busy singing and dancing that we’ve got very little media from the night. Horse Eyed Men were a great fun opener and Upstate Rubdown showed up for a smoking late night set. Spirit Family Reunion were, as always, the personification of the reason we all love music in the first place.
There is a pretty rocking video on Facebook for you.
October
We’d been hoping against hope to get Lissie to stop by for about four years now and somehow we were able to pull off not one but two shows! Lissie spends much of her performing time in Europe selling out venues everywhere so a show at our place was really a special treat. We had folks drive three or four hours for this one and it was well worth it. I remember listening to Lissie’s first Daytrotter sessions back in the day and being enchanted with her voice. To have her sing in our living room was otherworldly.
November
Hard to say no to Upstate Rubdown who wanted to come back for a fall show. So many folks were impressed with them at the Spirit Family Reunion show that we just had to bring them back. Here they are doing a version of Mountain Man’s “How Am i Doing?”
HONEYHONEY closed out the year by once again delivering a stellar show. This one sold out four hours after announcing it and we had a waitlist of 50 people. Sorry we couldn’t get everyone in but those of you who were there no what it was about. Classic tunes, amazing talent and an incredible finish to a stellar year.
Didn’t hurt that they brought Sonya Kitchell to open – her sweet passionate singing is always a treat.
Special thanks to Nancy for many of these videos – she created a YouTube Billsville Playlist where you can while away the hours watching videos from our series.
Pitchfork Magazine Article
Of course, artists and fans don’t need a network or a website to do a house show. Some fans are hosting islands, operating on their own terms. Doug Hacker lives in southern Vermont and found it hard to travel to larger, nearby cities for shows after he had kids, so he started the Billsville House Concert series in 2011, hosting bands like Strand of Oaks, Field Report, Anais Mitchell, and Zammuto in his living room for about 65 people. Hacker’s 15-year-old son runs the sound (a full PA with monitors and 16-channel mixer) and his other son works the door. Tickets run about $15, and the band gets 100% of the door, minus $75.
Read the Pitchfork Magazine Article
We Lost More Money Than Pomplamoose
Billsville House Concerts just finished our 68th show. We’ve produced an average of one show every three weeks since April of 2011. It’s been awesome, we’ve hosted artists we love and shared music with our entire community while making lots of new friends. We’ve had so many nights that we’ll never forget that we’ve started to lose count.
One question we never get asked is “what does it feel like to have ‘made it’ as a venue?” Though it’s a fair question to ask a series that has hosted bands like Lake Street Dive, Lucius, PHOX, Hurray for the Riff Raff and Brown Bird the thought of Billsville House Concerts having “made it” is, to me, ridiculous.
Spirit Family Reunion
Before I write another sentence, it’s important to note that our entire family feels fortunate to not be making a living on music – because that would be hard and we’ll leave that to the musicians. Having the opportunity to host these amazing bands is a dream come true but the idea of having “made it” doesn’t describe Billsville at all. We’re always “making it” and we occasionally bust our asses while still managing to lose an impressive amount of money. You’re welcome.
Being a house concert venue is a never-ending, rewarding, scary, high-loss small business. In order to get where we are today we had to make a multitude of investments. A sound system, lights, microphones, stands, white towels, lasagna recipes . . . the list goes on.
Caroline Smith & The Good Night Sleeps
All of this equipment required an upfront investment from our family. We don’t have a bar lending us “alcohol sales support”. We put those purchases right on our credit cards – sometimes debit cards but hey, cash flow! We planned to make that all back in, well, we have no plan. What we do need to say is that we like to host both full bands and solo performers so we have to be ready (gear wise) to support everyone.
Here’s how our expenses broke down:
Sound and Production Gear (rough guesses) :
2 JBL PRX715 powered mains and 1 JBL PRX718 powered sub – $3000
7 Shure SM58 Vocal Mics – $700
4 Shure SM57 Instrument Mics – $400
2 Behringer some kind or other monitors that used to be mains – $300
2 Kustom monitors – $300
Allen & Heath 16 channel mixer – $600
15 Microphone Stands – $150
4 Instrument Mic Stands – $200
25-30 XLR Cables – $500 (probably more)
15-20 Instrument Cables – $200 (probably more)
DI’s – $200
Drive Rack EQ – $200
Chauvet Lights and Stands – $500
A bunch of stuff I didn’t list like a stage snake, extension cords, other mics and stuff we broke and replaced.
Total : $7250.00 – I’m sure I left some things out
Day of show expenses:
Arrival food “I just rolled out of the van and I’m hungry” – $25
Dinner “Often Lasagna, always vegetarian” – $65 (with salad!) – we use good organic ingredients, don’t get all “Prince Pasta” on us.
Drinks – $30 (average, sometimes more)
Total : $120 / show
Other expenses floating around:
Audio Engineer – $75 this number comes out of the bands end. Sometimes we need help and bring in two others at the same price for a total of $225.
Promotion – $20/show? We run Facebook ads to promote shows because we like it when they fill up. We print posters, we do the things promoters are supposed to do. Some shows sell out and we don’t spend much, other shows don’t.
Venue rental – $150 – $200 when we need to rent a place, if the show is at our house this is $0.
Fire Marshall – $160 when we need to rent a venue. There are laws!
Transportation – $50 you think hauling all that gear around to a non-permanent venue is free?
Billsville Gear Fund – People do contribute some money here are there. Over the years I’d say we’ve been given about $1000 to offset expenses by friends who love music and love what we do. The truth of this statement is that most of that money came from two people.
Sponsorship from Grain Audio. Thank goodness for Grain Audio! They gave us some great speakers to give away, one to keep for ourselves and an affiliate program that would pay us back 20% of all sales made through our marketing efforts. Our take to date? $0.00. Well, you could argue that we made the retail value of their excellent PWS system which would be $249.00.
The Bottom Line
Add it up and you get a $7,250 initial investment with a loss of ($120 × 68 shows) $8,160.00 so far. We’ve been given $1000 so . . .
Total losses $14,410. We lost more money than Pompmaloose!
But this isn’t a sob story. We knew it would be an expensive endeavor, and we still chose to make the investment. We could have just driven to a local venue and passively watched shows like everyone else but we had a drive, a determination, to bring in the kind of music we wanted to see and above all SUPPORT artists who struggle enough on their own.
We have not “made it.” Nor do we ever see a future of having it made. Maybe it’s a foolish expensive hobby but those nights when we’re in our house, watching music played by incredibly talented, giving musicians . . . . Well, I take it back. We’ve made it.
NOTE 1 : What about ticket sales? We give 100% of our money back to the bands for a true house show. Full disclosure, the bands pay our genius sound engineer out of their end. He’s fifteen years old so we think he deserves it. If we have to rent a venue with expenses we take those off the top and try to give as much back to the bands as possible. We have never made a profit from ticket sales. Have the bands been happy? We’re pretty sure they have, they talk to each other and they keep coming back. In general our payouts are better than most equivalent small clubs and the atmosphere, merchandise sales and hospitality are at another level all together.
NOTE 2 : This article is a well-disguised ad to help us fund our ultimate dream business, a permanent venue. That said we haven’t figured out how to monetize this thing yet. We’ll let you know when we do.
NOTE 3 :We’re glad that Pomplamoose wrote the original article. While we’re not interested in critiquing expenses or choices – it’s their career after all – it’s nice to get broad exposure for the “creative class” that shows that even relatively successful bands aren’t on easy street out there. Also, we totally copied Jack’s format when writing this #parody #fairuse #lazywriter.
Ark Life - Our first show in Vermont
We were a little stunned to realize that our last actual “house” show was over two years ago in Williamstown. Since then we’ve hosted plenty of shows at spaces like the Vermont Arts Exchange, The North Adams Elks Club and The Inn at Willow Pond. We were really looking forward to returning to our roots and we couldn’t think of a better band than Ark Life.
The weather was perfect, the house was full and the band? Well, the band delivered everything you could want. Wildly talented, engaging and above all just plain locked into a groove of fun. Here then are a few (iPhone quality) videos to give you a feel of the house vibe that we enjoyed so much. Thanks to everyone who came out to the show and, if you missed it, we’ll see you at the next one!
“Have To Leave You Now”
“She”
“Sweet Revenge” – John Prine Cover
Parsonsfield and PHOX in Billsville
Words and Images by Christian ThorneParsonsfield – Friday July 25th
We know that one of the ways the country music rejuvenates itself at its margins it by absorbing the forms and styles to which it is superficially opposed. The Violent Femmes bring Appalachian punk rock to the streets of Milwaukee. In Uncle Tupelo, Mike Watt covers the Carter Family. The Band existed in an alternate universe in which Merle Haggard was a Staple Singer. So the thing about this great band with the not-so-great name is that while you can still hear those earlier recombinations in their set — all of them: Band, Femmes, Tupelo — their own anchor points have drifted gloriously; they’ve planted their starting points far enough away that you could almost convince yourself no-one has ever done this kind of thing before. Not country & western exactly, but folk music of the kind putatively abolished by Dylan, close harmony singing, intimations of shanty, the sound that fishermen’s sweaters make when they think that no-one is watching. And add to that gypsy punk, its habit of doubling already quick tempos, its knack for shouting melodies you’ve only ever heard crooned, its off-kilter intrusions of the bass drum. The last time they came through these parts, they seemed like a Greenwich Village nostalgia act — the re-Weavers. But last night made a person think not that Dylan made a mistake by plugging in but merely that he needn’t have bothered.
PHOX – Saturday, July 26th
Phox just played Newport, sometimes get called “folk,” but actually deliver rock’n‘roll played at a circumspect hush. A guitar wells up like someone singing in a library. A mid-tempo feels like a calisthenic wind sprint after all the lulling and the loping. Factor in, too, the only really good version of “Stormy Weather” I’ve ever heard live, solo, on a ukelele neither strummed nor ironic. Nakedly anxious Monica Martin already knows what it took Cat Power entirely too long to figure out: that a band makes the stage way less lonely — three guys would do; six are better.
Eef Barzelay in Billsville
Here’s Eef’s show at the Story Studio at The Vermont Arts Exchange
[wpaudio url=“http://www.emojo.net/audio/EEF.mp3” text=“Eef Barzelay / July 26th” dl=“0”]
Thanks to Ethan for another stellar live recording.
Lake Street Dive // Billsville at the Vermont Arts Exchange
1/19/2013
Recorded at the Vermont Arts Exchange by Ethan Hacker
Digitally recorded to Logic Pro with MOTU Ultralight Interface MKII with 2 Rode NT5 matched condensor mics
Lake Street Dive with Billsville
First published in The Berkshire Eagle – January 17th, 2012
Lake Side Dive: Finding its moment
By Jeremy D. Goodwin, Special to The Eagle
Lake Street Dive really took off once its members figured out the band was founded on a bad idea.
The four undergraduates in the jazz program at the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music sat in a room and drew up plans to create a new genre — “free country,” an amalgam of Ornette Coleman and Loretta Lynn, as the band’s bassist Bridget Kearney has explained.
Once they started gigging together and recording demos, though, it became clear that other musical voices were clamoring to break through.
“We’d done a couple tours out in Iowa and were driving around and realized we all shared a love of a lot of the same pop music. That was also sort of a sign that we should forget the whole free country idea and get moving on some nice little three-minute songs,” recalls drummer Mike Calabrese.
The emerging sound was a neo-soul stew with the raw energy of a garage band and plenty of 1960’s-era pop inflections, built from Kearney’s unflaggingly dexterous touch on acoustic bass, Calabrese’s very musical drumming, singer Rachel Price’s soulful croon and Mike Olson’s bright trumpet lines and grounding guitar parts.
Nine years, three albums, one EP and one immensely popular YouTube clip later, the band might be finding its moment. The video clip, of the band playing a smoky, sexy rendition of the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” live on a street in Boston, was posted last May and has logged over half a million views. When it returned to its old,
cozy stomping grounds of the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge this month, it did so with a four-night run.
For the first time, the band has signed a manager, and has played tours opening for national acts like the Infamous Stringdusters and Yonder Mountain String Band. (Their set at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom in support of the Stringdusters earlier this month earned a favorable notice in the New York Times, within a review of the headliner’s performance.)
Lake Street Dive plays Helsinki Hudson in Hudson, N.Y., on Friday, and then a sold-out show the next night under the aegis of Williamstown’s Billsville House Concerts at the Vermont Arts Center in North Bennington, Vt.
“You go to jazz school and you take on a persona almost and part of your identity is being super into jazz and talking about it all the time. I think a lot of people are afraid to admit that their musical background is a lot more diverse and rooted in mainstream music, which is totally normal and fine,” Calabrese says wryly of the band’s early development. “Once we were traveling outside of school and discovering [we like poppier music], we said this is safe ground we can finally admit it.”
The 2011 covers CP “Fun Machine” includes Lake Street Dive-ified takes on tunes by George Michael, Hall and Oates and Paul McCartney, among others. There, and on its albums of original material, the band manages to sound like a very effective, small-group spin on the neo-soul movement, but with the low-overhead flexibility and interplay of a string band or jazz combo. As it’s proven, it can conjure the romance of a smoky nightclub through four minutes of intense performance out on the sidewalk in mid-afternoon.
“We’ve been getting a lot more gigs, a lot more press, a lot more attention on social media. It’s been super exciting,” observes Calabrese. Though the band hones its organic interplay through plenty of solo gigs, the opening slots have demonstrated the band’s sound can meld with a variety of other musical styles.
“When we get an opportunity to get in front of a bunch of people who aren’t necessarily in our scene but may enjoy it, we’ve really enjoyed the fruits of doing that.”
The hip, candlelit dinner-theater vibe of Helsinki seems an ideal setting for Lake Street Dive. But Saturday’s show in Vermont may be a little more off-the cuff. Though it’s at more of a proper venue than usual, it’s the latest in Doug Hacker’s informal concert series. Launched in April 2011, the Billsville House Concerts have featured more than 40 shows, Hacker says.
“One of my favorite musicians in the world was playing for me and all my friends, and I was sitting on the couch four feet away,” Hacker recalls wistfully of the debut concert, featuring singer/songwriter Joe Pug.
Typically located at the Hacker family’s home in Williamstown, but sometimes at friends’ barns or other larger sites, the series has included such rising acts as Sean Rowe, Brown Bird, and many others who’d typically play Helsinki or other, larger venues.
The Hackers can squeeze in about 50 people at their home, and keep in touch with their regulars through email announcements. All of the ticket money goes directly to the artists, who are also fed and housed for the night.
“We’re not running a business of any sort; in fact, if we were running a business, we would close it, because we lose money every time we do something,” Hacker says. “But at this point we have a pretty stellar reputation, and people will take a risk and pay 10 bucks if they know the money is going straight to the artist.”
2012 Billsville Videos
Here’s a compilation of videos shot at Billsville shows this year. In general, I don’t like to point cameras at people so the collection is somewhat sparse. That said, we think these are awesome.
Liz Longley – “Unraveling”
Joe Fletcher – “Every Heartbroken Man”
Jonah Tolchin – “Rocks and Nails”
Plume Giant – “Strawberry Fields”
Ellis Paul – “Kick Out The Lights”
Chamberlin – “Down By The River”
Spirit Family Reunion – “100 Greenback Dollar Bills”
Hurray For The Riff Raff – “What’s Wrong With Me”
The Daredevil Christopher Wright – “The Birds of the Air and the Flowers of the Field”
Joe Fletcher and the Wrong Reasons with Brown Bird – “Too Many Doors”
Brown Bird – “Bottom of the Bottle”