Bill Staines was our first house concert performer, in March of 2019. Over 50 guests attended that concert, and we had to turn folks away for lack of sufficient seating in our living room. He'll be joining us again. Reserve early to guarantee seating this time!

Composer David Amram once described Bill Staines as "a modern day Stephen Foster. His music will be around a hundred years from now."

Staines has over two dozen published recordings, and has written over three hundred songs, many of which have been recorded by the likes of Peter, Paul, and Mary, Tommy Makem and the Clancy brothers, Nanci Griffith, Glen Yarborough, and Jerry Jeff Walker. His music is sung at campfires and folk music gatherings, in homes and churches, all around the country. He's a New Englander who dreams of open plains and vast, Western skies, and damn his soul, he writes better cowboy songs than anybody in the Southwest. -The Houston Post

"I am well aware of how easy it could be to get involved with simple semantics by saying that all music is music of the people, and therefore folk music, but many of the songs being written today are, rather than songs of the people, songs of the individual performer. They do not have the depth or the universality to make their way in the world much beyond the writer."
-Bill Staines, The Tour

YAMPA VALLEY STEVE, the Cowboy Irish Tenor, or just Steve Jones, is beginning his third year as a solo artist. He brings enthusiasm and energy to the stage with an audience friendly show. He performs cowboy/western, folk, classic country and Irish cover, traditional and original songs.

He has performed at the prestigious 3 Forks Ranch, which straddles the Colorado/Wyoming border in the beautiful Little Snake River valley. He has appeared solo at the Arizona Folklore Preserve, Cochise and Durango Gatherings, Steamboat Pro Rodeo series, county fairs and many other public and private events. As a member of the Yampa Valley Boys, he has also performed at the the Cochise, Durango, Encampment, Nebraska (Valentine, NE) and Colorado Cowboy Gatherings. During the winter, he is most often found at the Bar Lazy L Family Ranch sleigh ride venue.

Cowboy music is about the human condition, western version. Steve worked as a cowboy some years ago and he taught history for many years. His repertoire consists mostly of working cowboy songs. He also incorporates yarn spinning into his act in the tradition of folks like Will Rogers or Woody Guthrie. Some of his yarns are actually true! Most of his stories are informative historical anecdotes. Steve is as much an actor as a singer, which is what makes his act so refreshing.

John Coinman is an award-winning singer-songwriter who grew up on the Kiowa Grasslands in Clayton, New Mexico. He has recorded five solo albums and had numerous songs in films and on television. John is the bandleader for Text with Kevin Costner & Modern West (KCMW) and he was the Music Supervisor for the film Dances With Wolves. He has been touring with KCMW since 2006 and has recorded 5 albums of original songs with the band including the companion CD to the award winning miniseries Hatfields And McCoys. He has collaborated with many notable artists including John Densmore of The Doors, James Intveld, Michael Blake (the writer of Dances With Wolves), Amy Rigby, Tony Gilkyson (of Lone Justice and X), Teddy Morgan, and 4 time grammy winner Alfonso Rodenas. John's latest solo album Under The Sun was released in October, 2019.

A fine finger-style guitarist with a precise baritone, Van Kirk has a Ph.D. from the University of Alaska. After five years of living in his van and playing music across the US and Canada, he thought that a career in the sciences might be a bit more secure than playing music for a living, especially as a single parent. Eventually, however, he realized that he liked writing songs more than statistical models, and he put aside his computer, picked up his guitar, and set out again.

He's not your average crying-in-your-coffee singer-songwriter. "We are driven by myth and the seasons of the heart" he says. "Science comes later. We need new stories and new myths for a very complex 21st century so that everyone, absolutely everyone, regardless of creed, color, gender, sexuality or anything else, can listen and look and see themselves on the Hero's Quest."

Thus his songs: Thunderbird resurrects the Phoenix in an empty desert diner somewhere in the American Southwest (yes, the Phoenix drives a Thunderbird), The Queen of Elfland plucks Thomas the Rhymer from the English-Scottish border in 1250 and drops him, along with the Queen, into a subway car, and The Midnight Commander has an insane old man leading the city of New York to take up arms (and underwear) against hatred.

Of this charming, Quixotic, and decidedly eclectic performer, the Borderline Folk Club in New York wrote "it is what every singer-songwriter should aspire to."

Dan McCorison cut his teeth in the thriving folk music scene of his home town, Denver Colorado. During his high school years his family moved first to Detroit and then on to North Carolina which allowed him to experience first hand, some of the great roots of American music. Shortly after college Dan returned to his native Colorado where he and a couple of new friends formed his first band, Dusty Drapes and the Dusters. Known for sure fire country music and Western swing, The Dusters were soon touring, headlining packed shows and opening for the likes of Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Flatt and Scruggs and Linda Ronstadt. Along the way, Dan was discovered by Chris Hillman of The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers. Shortly after leaving the Dusters, Chris arranged for Dan to be signed to MCA Records and produced the resulting album featuring Emmylou Harris' Hot Band. Dan's trail finally led him to Nashville where he lived for twenty years writing and recording with some of the finest writers and musicians in country music. He has played all around the USA as well as in Japan, Australia and Europe. Dan is currently living with his wife, June and their trusty dog, Daisy in Arizona. He is a proud member of the International Western Music Association and the Pro Cowboy Country Artists Association.

Award winning singer/songwriter Randy Lewis Brown, despite being well past his prime and having an early bedtime, can still take an audience on a magical journey of discovery with his story telling and songs. Hailing from what he describes as the Upper East Side of Texas, his songs are tightly packed with sadness, wonder, joy, humor, philosophy as well as a tiny tad of that subtle southern smart-ass. With guitar, mandolin and voice alone he will guide you through his rich inner world and you will find yourself in the exact spot where the wide open spaces of the West meet the mossy confines of southern pine forests and mysteries are laid bare. Randy Lewis Brown's previous pair of albums, Dream Big (2007) and But Wait, There's More (2013) drew crowds during his traveling shows, creating core fans along the way. His newest record, Red Crow (2019) has received critical acclaim both in the US and Europe, charting on both Americana and Texas Charts as well as considerable airplay. Brown has been a repeat winner of songwriting awards over more than two decades: including the New Traditions Award (2007), TIME Songwriting Competition (2009), Poor David's BW Stevenson Songwriter Contest (2014), FTR Willows by Water (2017), South Florida Folk Festival (2018), and he was the regional finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival in 1995 and 2009.

Filled with rich harmonies, genuine, heart warming (and breaking) lyrics, Manitoba Country Music Association's 2019 Roots Artist of the Year, Two Crows for Comfort spins stories into songs and songs into stories. Accompanied by their two pups, Frankie and Elliot, the wandering duo hit the road in support of their latest album "Show Me Light". "Their show stands out as one of the most loved concerts I have ever had - people are still talking about them! Erin and Cory are super sweet and personable, have beautiful harmonies and are great storytellers. As human beings, they are lovely, and as musicians they are magic." (Julie Epp, Concerts for Claude)