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Small Venue Hosts Big Talent In Cottonwood

Laurie Lewis

Where in the North State can you see a Grammy Award-winning musician perform to a room of just 40 people? Cottonwood, California, apparently. Last week, NSPR sent Nolan Ford to learn about this small concert venue and its dedicated music community.

It's 7 p.m. sharp. Showtime. As Laurie Lewis and her band, "The Right Hands," wait behind a curtain, music fans take their seats at the The Studio in downtown Cottonwood, eagerly awaiting the performance.

"My name is Linda Lee Johnson and my husband David and I bought this building just for this, so we could bring music to our lovely little community — our little cow town," Johnson said.

Linda's earliest memories of live music were house concerts just like this. Intimate gatherings where you could experience the music up close and actually interact with the musicians before and after the show. This is an experience she hopes to pass on to her kids.

"I think for my children, my daughters, what it's doing — it's encouraging them to keep playing music themselves, because they're hearing so many different kinds of music and they're seeing that you can do it for yourself or just do it for your community. You don't have to be a rock star, you know? That music is just what we share with each other as a community," she said.

There isn't just one person that handles booking bands at The Studio, but George Fredson plays a big role in it. George is close friends with the president of the Oregon Bluegrass Association and the president of the California Bluegrass Association based out of Oakland.

"And Redding just happens to be right in the middle of the bands that come back and forth. We found a great place for them to stop and play and stay and eat and it works out really nice for everybody," Fredson said.

In addition to being convenient for traveling performers, the venue's location also attracts fans from all across the North State to see its performances.

"Yeah we live in Round Mountain so it takes us about an hour or so to get here so it takes us a little while, but it's worth the drive."

That's Stan. He's been coming to see shows at The Studio for a long time.

"I don't know exactly how many years, but more than 20 and less than 50. Somewhere in between there," he said.

Before the show begins, Linda points me in the direction of Laurie Lewis who is socializing with her fans in the kitchen area. She agrees to chat with me for a few minutes before taking the stage. I'm relieved to learn that I'm not the only person new to Cottonwood.

"I've never been here before. I've never been to Cottonwood," Lewis said. "Well, for one thing tonight there's no sound system, so we don't have to do a soundcheck, and while that would be hard to do every night —  because I would wear myself out — it's really, really fun now and again to do that in a good sounding room. And I think this room is going to sound pretty good."

"I was thinking I might want to take some chances tonight and try things that we don't normally do in a bigger place. So I was kind of thinking I might want to pull out something older that they might not know, and I probably wouldn't do that if it was a big show in front of a bunch of people with a sound system. I'd probably stick to things we knew," she said with a laugh.

In Northern California we're fortunate to have many places to see live music, but for those here tonight at The Studio, it was well worth the trip to Cottonwood for a different kind of experience.

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