I was trying to find the home on a hot Friday afternoon in June, weary after driving straight through from an assignment in Nashville, Tennessee in a driving thunderstorm. I was already running late, my GPS wasn’t recognizing the address, and then, to make matters worse, the local sheriff decided to pull me over even though I wasn’t breaking any laws, to find out what I was doing driving through his little town in Missouri in a motorhome.
The reason he gave for stopping me was that he thought I had an expired license plate. He realized that he was wrong once he got closer and saw the current sticker on my license plate. After a long series of “twenty questions” and a computer check of all my information, he sent me on my way with an apology. I think he had been watching too many episodes of “Breaking Bad” and his imagination got the better of him. Anyway, I was now way behind schedule, and was starting to feel a bit stressed and worried that I would be losing my light soon.
When I finally pulled into the driveway leading to the house and barn I relaxed a bit because the property was absolutely beautiful and tranquil, with rolling hills leading up to the red barn and house .
When Pam answered the door and asked me in, I immediately felt more at ease, even though we had never met and had only talked on the phone briefly a couple of times.
She gave me a tour through the house as we discussed options for different angles for the photos and for the food that she was going to prepare for photos of the kitchen and dining areas. It became obvious to me that she loved people and loved to entertain. In fact, she and Jerry built the timber frame home on land that had been in his family for many years to serve as a sanctuary for friends and family to come and get away from the fast paced life in the city.
The kitchen was definitely not just for show as Pam prepared one of the best Mexican meals ever and then set up a beautiful photo with fruit and pastry dough in her baking area. After capturing a few interiors, I set up lights for evening exteriors.
The house just seemed to glow after the sun went down with the interior lights showing through the large banks of windows. I marveled at the gorgeous reflections across the water as I worked my way around the house to capture exterior photos in the waning twilight.
The next day, I was up at dawn to get some early morning exteriors and then moved inside to meet up with Pam and a welcome cup of coffee. As we worked our way through the inside of the house, I noticed a banjo case tucked behind the desk in Jerry’s office. Since I play banjo, I inquired about it I found out that he plays the banjo and that Pam and Jerry had considered having musicians come to their home to play concerts for friends, but weren’t sure how to get started.
Ironically, many years ago, I used to have a music show on a local NPR station and one of the things that we did was to promote concerts for traveling musicians. Many of them were house concerts. I gave Pam a list of all of the musicians that I knew that might be interested in coming to their home, and a few suggestions on how to get started. I spent the rest of the day finishing up the interior photos. When I was packed up and ready to leave, Pam gave me a hug and said “this has been so much fun, I’m really sad you have to go!” She also handed me a bag of freshly baked cookies for the road. She promised to keep in touch and to keep me posted on whether anything worked out with the music shows.
Just this week, I was happy to receive an email with photos and a report of a terrific house concert they had with musician friends of mine from Michigan, Red Tail Ring! They had a great turnout and many of the attendees have promised to return and bring their friends along with them. Pam and Jerry have named their venue “The Red Barn Rhythm House” and have shows scheduled well into 2020. I have entered their schedule into my calendar and am planning to make it to a show next time I am through that part of the country.