Written by Ryan Hanson ~
When OBA President, Pam Brown, first reached out to me about an OBA-Sponsored Residency for Tuesday String Band, I was thrilled to learn that this kind of opportunity even existed. As she explained her vision for the residency to me, I felt relieved to hear that I’d finally be getting some help with booking performances and teaching engagements for our group, all without without having to pay for management! Pam explained that, in addition to performing and teaching throughout rural Central Oregon, we’d be getting paid for dedicating our time to writing and rehearsing in Shaniko, where we’d be able to enjoy a getaway from our daily lives and focus on our craft. I honestly thought it sounded too good to be true and started asking questions, wondering if there was a catch.
Fortunately, the offer was truly a gift and a Godsend. The band had been gigging so heavily for the past three years that we’d hardly had any time to write and rehearse our own original music. I felt myself becoming overwhelmed as the manager of the band, facing the challenge of booking enough shows to generate sufficient income for three people to pay their bills. This pressure drove me to book us nearly 200 shows in over 50 different cities in one calendar year. We all started to feel like we were being overworked, and had perhaps lost sight of why we’d started the band in the first place.
When we accepted the Artist-in-Residence offer, it became our light at the end of the tunnel. We finally had something to look forward to; a time to get back in touch with our creative selves and to explore the potential of the band as writers. The vision for the residency also dovetailed nicely with our band’s 3-part mission:
To make a modest living as a full-time Bluegrass band
To educate the next generation of pickers
To build community through Bluegrass music
In Shaniko, we found ourselves meeting new people around the fire, singing together, and visiting with new friends over music and good food. The small, tight-knit community took to us quickly, and I felt welcomed there. We had time to breathe, time to explore, and time to learn. We were also well-received when we performed for the good people of Spray at the Spray General Store, where folks fed us before the show and invited us to the only bar in town afterwards.
One of my favorite memories from the whole residency was our trip to Condon, where we brought over a dozen stringed instruments to give to kids who signed up for our workshop, courtesy of the Shaniko Music Sanctuary. We took the time to tune up, re-string, and service instruments that needed some repairs before Pam loaded them up and transported them to the Liberty Theater in downtown Condon, where we’d be teaching and performing. We visited several local businesses and the public library during the day, and it seemed like most of the town knew about our upcoming workshop and performance that evening. The kids and their parents who came were attentive, enthusiastic, and appreciative, and it was so rewarding to watch all those kids walk out the door as the proud new owners of guitars, mandolins, fiddles, and ukuleles. The Condon Arts Council was a collaborator for this event, and, as someone that taught music in a rural school district that had never had a music program before, I was inspired by what I learned about the things they’ve done to keep the arts alive in their community.
Our performance at The Riverside in Maupin was intimate, and the small crowd was highly involved in the show. The final performance of the residency, at the charming and historic Balch Hotel in Dufur, took place on a peaceful patio where every table was occupied and everyone seemed enchanted by the music. We were invited back by our hosts at every performance during the residency, and we intend to honor those invitations and keep these relationships alive.
I’m so grateful to have had this experience, and I hope that the residency program continues. It accelerated some positive changes for our group, and may very well have kept us from going down the road to burnout. Five new original songs developed during the residency, many new friends were made, and spirits were lifted.
Thank you OBA for making it all possible!
