And the adventure continues! To Canada! And beyond!
This was our second trip allllll the way up to Bighorn, Alberta, just east of the Canadian Rockies, to do a concert at the home of a woman whom we’ve come to cherish the last few years. What a treat it was to see this crew for the second year in a row and to start to know them better, dig a little deeper with them. We can’t wait to return.
It was a beautiful evening in the backyard of our host in Kalispell, Montana. There are some members of this community whom we’ve gotten to know over the last three years, and we are so grateful for how they have steadfastly encouraged us and lifted up what we do. It feels risky sometimes, bringing our work, bearing our souls for crowds of strangers in the hope that we’ll make some connection, and these folks have been a buoy.
One of my favorite moments of our show in Pocatello, Idaho was getting to meet in person a friend I’d known for a while from Facebook. When his mom told him she was going to a friend’s house to see a house concert by some artist named Shannon Curtis, he said, “Hey! I love her music!” and got himself an invitation. It was a fun and random coincidence that ended up being a meaningful connection for all of us that night.
Our host for this Salt Lake City, Utah show is a blast from my past: years ago, when I was traveling with my rock band (I had blond and pink hair; it was this whole other thing, lol), our host did live sound for us at several events in and around the SLC area. Fast forward to now, he and his awesome wife have a beautiful home designed especially for hosting house concerts — something they do often! — and we got to join their community there for what ended up being a really magical evening.
This is the scene in Aurora, Colorado that was set *before* the thunderhead moved in on the evening and forced us to move the concert indoors. But the beauty is always in the people, never the setting. And how cool is it that we were invited to play a concert in celebration of our hosts’ wedding anniversary? So cool. We’re honored to be invited into people’s personal lives in this way. I mean, what a privilege.
This night’s show, in Eagan, Minnesota, was special for us because it was hosted by a dear friend of ours, whom we met through music, with whom we’ve developed an abiding friendship in the last few years, and who has had a heck of a challenging and painful year. This summer, we got to spend an evening in the backyard of her new home, a place where she is planting new roots with her children and her love. Again, to be invited into a person’s life — especially into the messy and hard parts of it — is an absolute pleasure and privilege that we don’t take for granted.
This night in St. Paul, Minnesota remains a favorite of mine in that I believe it was one of the most richly-diverse and eclectic group of guests from any house concert this year. There were people gathered there that night from so many different backgrounds, a rainbow of skin colors, disparate economic statuses, and varied life experiences — and we all shared food and music and a meaningful moment together around the idea of lifting up our shared humanity. It was like a living, breathing representation of what fills the space between, and it was beautiful.
The setting for this afternoon show in Wadena, Minnesota was absolutely magical: we were on a natural preserve / sculpture garden beautifully maintained by a couple on their personal family property, and which they keep open to the public for the community to come and walk, be silent, explore, create, and be. It was a smaller crowd on this day, but I felt a deep and substantive connection with every soul present there. It was special.
In Downer’s Grove, Illinois — a pretty tree-lined suburb of Chicago — we shared a really wonderful and intimate evening with a new group of people. Our host is himself a musician, and he turned his personal music studio into our venue for the evening. Some of our own friends from a variety of connections who live in the area joined us, along with our hosts friends and family, and it ended up being a beautifully diverse gathering. We hope to get to go back there again next year and continue to build relationships with these people.
Next update coming sooooooon …