Several times this has come up in Mudcat. Folks ask about what the process is for bringing folk musicians to their town, and what the risks are.

I've done this a few times, and I thought I might share a bit of info, and open the floor for any other Mudcatters' experiences.

About 5 years ago, I wanted to bring Sandy and Caroline Paton (who live in Connecticut) to Toronto. In a nutshell, this was my process.

#1. Find out from the artists what their avalable dates were and settle on the guarantee. (what their minimum financial requirements would be for a concert out of town)

#2. Locate a venue that would hold about a 100 people. My guess was that Sandy and Caroline's audience would not need booze to get them out, so I found a local church, with a "folk friendly" Minister.

#3. Made myself the "opening act" so as to get some folks out that might not have been familiar with The Patons' music but liked mine...and would trust that someone I liked would be worth seeing.

#4. Started mailing, phoning, and talking it up. Kept doing that til the night of the concert.

#5. It worked. Great concert, good turnout, and the beginnings of a wonderful Scarborough Folk Concert series. "Acoustic Harvest"

#6. Several hard-working folkies got involved (a few Mudcatters actually) and I bowed out, 'cause of lack of time. No problem though, 'cause it's VERY well run. A great club.

It's not always so cut and dried though. I've been wanting to bring John Herald in for years but simply can't get enough folks interested. I've talked to John and his demands are very reasonable considering his vast resume and talents. I'll keep trying though.

Perhaps if someone REALLY loves the music of an artist, and can't get the local support needed it's best to just check their itinerary on the net....and take a weekend off to travel to THEM rather than sweat out a concert that you may take a bath on. But I know what it's like to really WANT all your friends to hear someone you love.

Rick