A house concert is a special musical experience. There is no stage and no amplification. It’s profoundly intimate. There is no barrier between the music and the audience, and we all feel that connection in the room. Musicians love it. I love it. It’s pretty much the only way I want to experience the music I adore.

I have been hosting house concerts for 10 years now. I’ve produced 75 concerts, I’ve fed and hosted world class musicians in my home, and I’ve built a community of trad music lovers around my series. I’ve often had my musical heroes play in our home, stay with us, and I get to know them on a deeper level. My home has developed a reputation as a great place to play, so I have my pick of touring musicians who have heard about me and generally make the first contact.

By necessity, the house concert scene is under the radar. We are not public venues. It’s largely an informal network of who you know, both for someone looking to attend a house concert and, for the performer, trying to find one to perform at. There just aren’t a lot of venues for folk and traditional music acts, and there’s considerable overhead for the artists in those spaces. House concerts end up being a significant support system for artists, as they get 100% of the door. I feel like my series serves as a critical component of an ecosystem.

I sense that there are two kinds of house concert hosts. There are folks like me who have regular, frequent shows (8-10 times a year), and have a well-worn routine of how to do it. Then there are folks who have occasional, casual gatherings for their musician friends, who may or may not be otherwise connected with a larger music scene. The mechanics of pulling off a show aren’t that different. Either way it’s basically a house party with chairs. Here’s some advice I can share for the casual host, who may or may not want to become a regular.

Start small, start local. If you’re getting this newsletter you likely have friends who perform and would love to put together a house event with you. Keep the expectations simple. Invite your friends. Make it a house party. Borrow chairs (one occasional host here calls his series the Bring-A-Chair House Concerts). Don’t try to make it a ticketed event if you don’t want to, just have a basket for donations (and make it an expectation that people contribute a certain amount).

A fabulous resource is Fran Snyder’s outfit, https://concertsinyourhome.org. He has great guides for how to get started.

As I got going, I developed ways to expand my series. I got on the email lists of my favorite musicians so I could track their touring schedules. I would see who was coming to the Northwest for the folk music festivals and reach out to them directly. I started building an email list from my attendees. I used my social media to advertise my events.

Over time I became more discerning about who I wanted to host. I say now it’s virtuoso custodians of traditional genres, largely Celtic and Celtic-adjacent, but I’ve had African Kora, Brazilian Choro, Scandinavian, Quebecois, and, occasionally, Old-Time. I don’t host singer-songwriters or Americana roots music. I have an audience that trusts my judgment and will come to hear artists that they’ve never heard of. I’m a curator as much as a host.

My current project is to develop a network of Pacific Northwest house concert hosts (BC to N. CA). Right now it’s a Google Group, and we share tips, announcements, and artist inquiries. If you’re a host, I’d love to add you. We’re a little too under the radar, and I’ve love to get us talking to each other more.

Get in touch. I’m at houseconcerts@dougplummer.com I have a Facebook page for our events at https://www.facebook.com/DougandRobinHouseConcerts/

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