Maybe it's hearing The Threshers rehearse
one December day and discovering
their music in every room
of the house that started it all. Maybe
it's the spirits of those straight and smooth lodgepole pines
from Mt. St. Helens transported
to Pleasant Plains
in Central Illinois that set off
the idea of home harmony. Maybe it's the love
of music itself that began
the downbeat across
the back roads of America
to their Cabin Concerts. Maybe it's a melodic mix
of all three that creates wholesome music
in their house like none other
in the Middle West, and the notes are spreading
as if each log
were a guitar string
strummed by the whispering breezes off
the blue highways
to their log cabin turned concert
crossroads. Their two-story home resonates
like an acoustic nirvana. Position yourself anywhere
and the music lives. Even the wooden canoe hanging down
the wall plies its own stream
of chords. No wonder a naprapath
and a psychiatrist make a duet
of their music and mind. No use to label the rhythms as bluegrass or folk or country. It's beyond these inside their living room
on Friday nights that inspire the soul
to move outside
on Sunday afternoons to the grazing sheep
and strutting peacocks, listening lake and trees. Nature
listens well and always wears
a welcoming spirit. You listen to
the guitar, ukulele, fiddle, mandolin and banjo ,
and welcome every song,
every musician as every guest heads
to this house near Springfield
just by hearing
the first notes playing from the Cabin Concerts.
