Conejos County Citizen

By: Priscilla Waggoner

Updated: 1 week ago / Posted Aug 23, 2023

ALAMOSA — To music lovers in Alamosa, throughout northern New Mexico, deep into the heart of Texas and beyond, Michael Hearne is a well-known and much-loved name.

In the course of his career so far, the award-winning singer, songwriter, and highly-gifted “picker” has amassed a stunning collection of recordings — both with his band South X Southwest and as a solo artist. He has toured with Michael Martin Murphy as his lead guitarist, written songs for Jerry Jeff Walker, Gary P. Nunn, and moved countless listeners with his heartfelt homage to the landscape he loves with the song, “New Mexico Rain."

Despite such widespread success, Hearne still makes a point of returning to those places and people he loves, most notably Alamosa’s Society Hall where, for coming up on 10 years, he’s continued to forge a strong bond with a growing base of loyal followers who just can’t get enough of his distinctive lived-in, velvety voice and “danceable” music that inspires even the most reluctant two-stepper. The announcements of his upcoming performances in Alamosa are even punctuated with an exclamation point, as if to say, “Our good friend is coming back!”

What many may not know is that Hearne is also the founder of an annual music festival unlike any other and held in his chosen hometown of Taos, N.M. Going into its 21st year, the Big Barn Dance Festival, held Sept. 7-9, is going to be a real beauty.

The history of the festival is as organic as it gets.

It started out as a once-a-month informal Saturday night dance held in a beautiful old barn outside of Taos where $5 at the door got a person inside where they could dance to Hearne and his band and maybe stop for a few minutes for a beer drawn from one of the two kegs the band had bought.

As good usually begets better, the crowd quickly grew from 50 to 100 to 300 people. Then, as he describes it to the Valley Courier, in September of 2002, the genesis of the Big Barn Dance was born with a lineup of performers “at the Old Blinking Light Restaurant, mile marker one, on the Ski Valley Road” outside of Taos.

“I wanted to bring some good music to Taos, so I invited some of my singer-songwriter friends I’ve known over the years,” he says. “I wanted to introduce them to northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. They all came and they played danceable music — just real good music that people could dance to.”

The event was a hit, and, while still staying true to its roots, has only grown better and deeper and richer with time, garnering numerous local awards as well, including, in February of this year, the prestigious Ameripolitan national award for Best Festival. Over those years, the Big Barn Dance has become a labor of love that Hearne and his daughter, Sarah Hearne Naftis, produce together.

The 3-day Big Barn Dance is now held in Kit Carson Park in downtown Taos. Beneath the canopy of a big tent over a space large enough to hold 1,200 people, some of the most talented singer-songwriter musicians will be performing the best of Americana, country, folk, and bluegrass music heard today.

But those three days are actually the culmination of nine days of music.

On Sept. 1 and 2, Hearne’s event will be the site of the first-ever She Rises Festival that will feature a line-up of powerful women performers, including phenomenal musicians such as Grammy-award-winning Shawn Colvin, KT Tunstall, Andrea MaGee and others.

On Labor Day, Sept. 3, there will be a “free concert for the world” featuring The Manzanares, Felix y Los Gatos, Mezcal, and Hearne with Jimmy Stadler.

On Wednesday, Sept. 6, Hearne organized the Art Stroll. Five different art galleries, each equipped with its own PA system and some of Hearne’s favorite singer-songwriters playing in each place. Mike McClure, Pat Byrne, Rebecca Folsom, Freebo and Alice Howe — who played on Bonnie Raitt’s first 10 albums — and Chris Arellano. Free of charge, the Art Stroll is “a gift to the people of Taos and the people who have come to the festival early.” It’s a marriage Hearne has always celebrated — the union of art and music.

The next day, Wednesday, Sept. 7, the Big Barn Dance begins.

“We’re going to have about 30 acts. I’ve always wanted to get the songwriters that wrote the hit songs, and we’ve got a bunch of those this year. People will hear music they never would have heard otherwise,” Hearne said.

The audience is one aspect of the Big Barn Dance that Hearne believes makes it special.

“The Barn Dance draws people from Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and, really, all over,” Hearne said. “It’s just spread by word of mouth, and it’s all just about the music, the people who love good music, and the friends people have made.

“I mean, I have people who started doing house concerts because [they] wanted some of the acts they’ve heard at the Barn Dance to come play at their house. They want to introduce their friends to those people. It’s turned into this big kind of circle of things. The same thing happens at Society Hall. A lot of people who have played at the Barn Dance play at Society Hall,” Hearne said.

Although there will be a “satellite” dance floor set up to the side, Thursday, Sept. 7, will be an all-day listening event as will Friday and Saturday during the day. But Friday and Saturday night, the chairs will be moved to the side and the floor will be opened for dancing, just as the Big Barn Dance has always been.

And the list of performers is beyond impressive, including Asleep at the Wheel, Balsam Range, Beat Root Festival, Bill Hearne, Michael Martin Murphy, Rick Trevino, Rosie Flores, Shake Russell, The Rifters (of course), and many others.

At its heart, the Big Barn Dance is what Hearne has envisioned it to be.

“It’s folky and it can be country and it’s lively and it’s danceable,” he said.

Perhaps, most of all, it’s deeply heartfelt and original and born of the heart of the musician who made it all happen.

For more information, including ticket prices and a more detailed schedule of events, go to bigbarndance.com. For similar information on the She Rises Festival, sherisesfest.com.