In 2020, when The Boot and Saddle, the main venue catering to roots music community shuttered its doors, my musician friends were at a loss when it came to routing from DC to New York.
That same year also marked my buying a house on Hazel Avenue, thanks to a flourishing career started by playing small, intimate house concerts. The relationships I fostered in those environments left me with the feeling that I should give back to my community in kind.
And so Honky Tonk on Hazel was born. With a lot of planning and cleaning, $50 in beer and snacks and BYO & potluck encouraged, I turn my house into a unique experience for music lovers.
Initially, the artists featured were from my own professional world of Americana. As the series has grown, we now have shows from the latin music community, as well as contemporary classical composers. Two grammy winners, and countless Tiny Desk Concert alums have graced the stage of the Honky Tonk.
Artists take home 100% of proceeds and have a place to stay for the night in my guest suite. What started as simply a way to provide friends a stopover on tour has turned into “something magical,” in the words of Honky Tonk alum and Grammy-nominated banjo player Joe Troop.
The hangs after the show are almost more fun than the concerts themselves. Artists stick around and mingle, and since the audience is largely comprised of musicians, a fiddle or guitar always ends up coming out and a jam session ensues.
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Gabriel Furtado