Back Again: Singer Songwriter Wednesdays
It is a 1:15am on what is technically Thursday morning. I am finally winding down after another evening at The Mill, enjoying the first Wednesday of the month’s Singer Songwriter event. If you haven’t caught our previous posts about this event and location, check out Our Favorite Places page, or the blog post Even on a Wednesday. But back to tonight’s experience…
FYI, our blog editor (and daughter) is preparing for her capstone presentation for her master’s degree this weekend. So, I (Zeek) am writing this for the most part. It is gonna be a bit of a music geek entry, lots of details about the songwriters who performed tonight! You’ve been warned.
Tonight's showcase included Ian Jones, whose name you may recognize from Bluesfest. He was the Sunday Opener for the 2022 spring Bluesfest. Also on stage was Dillon Warnek, who will be playing at the Cantina on Thursday for the Sunbanks Country Fest.
Rounding out the set was none other than our personal favorite, Billy Stoops! It was certain to be a great night of music.
I (Zeek) am scheduled to get off work an hour early on the 1st Wednesday of every month through the rest of the year, in hopes of getting there in time to get a good seat. This usually isn't a problem, as Barb and Milo tend to get there early and save us a great spot. Barb and I texted today, and sure enough that was the plan again!
When Barb got there early, the place was already most of the way full, and our favorite spot to sit was already taken. Not to worry though, Barb found a couple of smaller tables next to each other on the side, and secured seating for her and Milo, Stephan Stoops (Billy's brother), Denice and I, and Darin... another regular who was part of our Sunbanks house group.
Due to road construction and the typical South Hill traffic, we didn't arrive until nearly 6:30, but that left just enough time to order some grub and greet everybody (including our favorite waitress at the Mill Kristy.. I tell ya, she's the best). Kristy told us that she was out in her car a little before her usual shift start when one of the other wait staff came out to get her because the place was filling up so fast. This night was turning out to be a party in the making!
The Singer-Song Writer showcase started with Billy introducing the line-up, thanking the Mill for hosting, and telling a few stories (like he always does) about how he knows the evening's performers.
Dillon kicked off the show. Dillon is a PNW native, currently living and recording in Nashville. He has a style that could be described as a modern Arlo Guthrie (showing my age a bit with that one I guess), with “Story Songs” from his experiences over the years. Due to his upcoming performing at Sunbanks Country Fest, he was without a guitar, so he and Billy shared one. It was quite entertaining to watch as Dillon tuned the guitar on stage, talking to the crowd and saying “…and I’m trying not to act like I’m tuning a guitar right now…”
Billy took the stage after Dillon, performing his original song “Charlie-O”, a tribute to the battles with depression and mental health issues. It was a song he had written for himself, and never planned to record to perform in public. But at the urging of his friend and musical partner of 22-1/2 years, Leanne Trevalyan, it was added to his album “Wolf Moon.”
We of course got in a few dances to Billy’s music, and one of our Mill friends, Nems, got a few videos of us while out on the dance floor!
Ian Jones took to the stage next. Another PNW native, Ian has several songs about doing many of the things all of us who grew up in the area have spent our days doing. At one point, Ian asked if anybody in the crowd liked fishing. If you read through the blog posts you know that fishing is something our family has enjoyed, and the blog post even has pictures of our daughter Lexi, and my (Zeek) father-in-law Tom fishing during our time in Chelan. So, of course, I cheered and raised my hands to that question. Being his usual self, Billy didn’t miss the chance to jump in with the story... He pointed towards Denice and I, saying, “Yeah, I know you all like fishing... I saw the picture of Lexi fishing on your blog!” Kinda fun to know the people we write about are also some of our readers. Well, Billy did eventually let Ian get back to his fishing story after we all laughed about ours and Lexi’s ability to lose fishing gear in the water...
Ian was living in California, and his hometown buddy would call him every day during river fishing season and tell him about the catches… “I caught a 22-pounder.” And the next day “I caught a 3 huge fish!” And the next day “I’m out on the river fishing!” As Ian sat at Red Robin in Santa Barbera, Ian just said, “That’s nice man… but I gotta go.” Ian hung up the phone, called his boss, made reservations for a flight to Seattle, and then called his buddy back. “Meet me at the airport tomorrow morning. I’m coming home, and we are going fishing!”
Ian and his buddy spent the next few days fishing at the mouth of the Puyallup River… not catching a thing. (Personal Note: I never trust another fisherman’s stories, but mine are ALL TRUE.) One of the colder mornings, Ian’s buddy looks over at him after another several hours of fishing without catching and says ‘It’s 9:00 am.” To which Ian replied through the cold wind off the water, “It sure don’t feel like August.” As the silence fell back in place after Ian’s comment, he realized that was the opening line of a song if he’d ever heard one. Ian may have left the mouth of the Puyallup River without a fish, but fishing in the Puyallup River had left Ian with a song in his mouth, and thus “Evergreens” was born. While any of the internet or recorded versions of the song you find are great (especially to those of us who are PNW residents), there’s nothing like hearing Ian perform it live with just his guitar to accompany him.
It was a great night hearing from some great talents! The Mill’s singer songwriter night doesn’t disappoint! We had a fantastic time with the musicians, friends, and staff alike.