Concerts at the Cabin started in 2002 as a venue for nationally touring performing songwriters. We're ideally located to fill openings in a tour schedule, as we're less than 3 hours from Cincinnatti, Nashville, St. Louis, Louisville, Lexington and Indianapolis, and 5 hours from Memphis and Chicago. Most shows are hosted on Saturday evenings, but we occasionally make exceptions for the right artist. We host about 10 to 12 shows per year, and we receive a lot of inquiries--around 150 per year at this point.

Our main interest is in providing a venue and audience for people who write, record, and perform their own material. Well-crafted lyrics and musicianship, as well as a proven ability to engage an attentive audience is what we require. Determining that is sometimes tricky, so we tend to go by a number of factors, such as tour schedules, number of recordings released, quality and execution of promotional materials, award recognition, and venues played. Of course, we have to like what we hear, and it has to fit the calendar.

We try to strike a balance between bringing back favorite acts for return engagements and providing a venue for artists who are new to the audience. We also try to strike a geographic balance. Being so close to Nashville, we could easily fill the calendar with talented Nashville songwriters, but then we'd miss out on the talented people from Detroit, Philly, D.C., Santa Cruz, Seattle, and so on. Finally, we'll occasionally feature an instrumentalist, but it's only once ever couple of years.

By now, you're wondering when I'm going to get to the important stuff--like how does anyone make money? Well, artists get 100% of the door, and there are no expenses that need to be deducted for any reason. Whatever expense we have, is our contribution to the event. We have a maximum seating capacity of 25 people, and we've been consistently hitting that number--not counting the occasional no-show or extra guest--for the last 4-5 months. CD sales can be very good, especially if the artists have a diverse catalog, and we have plenty of space to set up wares during the show. We have been told that our audience exceeds the typical per-person sales for this type of event.

We provide accommodations whenever we can, but we only have one small guest room, so that does limit the level of comfort we can provide. This is one of the reasons we tend to host solo performers or duos who are partners in life as well as in music. The cabin is a comfortable atmosphere, and we don't mind if performers hang out for a while. Some folks have spent a couple of days here while performing in the area, and that's fine with us, as long as we set it up in advance.

If all of this sounds great to you, please feel free to get in touch. The best way is by email, at indianafolk@insightbb.com . I'm happy to check out your website or EPK, and I do check out everyone's material. I'd rather not put you through the expense and hassle of sending a promo kit if your music isn't right for the venue. If you'd like to send a promo kit because it better represents your work or gives me more to listen to and consider, please request that I send you our address.

I prefer to discuss bookings via email rather than phone, as I need to fit it into an otherwise very busy schedule. If you are making an initial query, it may take a few weeks for me to respond, depending on my availability. At this point, I will book up to one year out from the present calendar date, and I am typically booked at least six months ahead of time.

Thanks for your interest, and for your great music!

Tim