Tom VandenAvond is one of these wheel guys. They may not be the flashiest of artists, but when you sit back and study the music, you find these wheel guys are essential to it in so many ways; how everything seems to revolve around them. They are the trunk from which so much other music grows. Trace the veins of the music and you find that their songs and work create foundations and inspiration.
As the new music reality continues to take shape, where one big mono genre serves the masses and micro genres crop up to serve the rest, the shape of the way live music is delivered to people is adapting as well. House concerts have gone from a kitschy trend to a legitimate way for artists to connect with attentive fans. For the upcoming festival season of 2012, a new trend is emerging: the micro festival.
Like I always say, music is just the excuse. Saving Country Music is about people and community. And I can’t think of a better example to illustrate how you can create community through music than Weber’s Deck, the brain child of Casey Weber, who lives in the small town of French Lake, Minnesota, pop. 22. A few years ago Casey started a seasonal, weekly event