First, we invited Michael Wilson. Michael is one of the great photographers and picture-makers of our generation and has been a faithful friend since we met in 1988. He probably doesn’t think of himself as having helped mentor Karin and I but that’s exactly what he did. Over the years he has made beautiful portraits of many of our songwriting peers and heroes.  He was the first person to spin a Tom Waits record for us late one night. He has contributed photographs to over 20 of our recording projects, and his beautiful work undoubtedly made the songs more resonant than they would have been on their own.

We can’t host our first music and arts festival without Michael and his work. Michael will present some of his photographs in the barn, talk about his work and some of the pictures that made him want to be a photographer. You’ll also have the opportunity to follow Michael and his camera on a photo ramble through nearby Wilmington, Ohio, and make pictures alongside a true master of the craft.

Check out some of Michael’s photographs here: michaelwilson.pictures

Joe Henry was our next call. Joe is a multiple Grammy-award winning songwriter, record producer, writer, espresso connoisseur and so much more. At a turning point in our career, Joe helped Karin and I blow the seams out of our songs and record The Long Surrender and Meet Me At The Edge Of The World – records that were funded by our extended musical family, and therefore collaborative efforts at art making.

As a brother and kindred spirit, Joe has opened and nurtured an ongoing conversation with us that has continued to billow our sails. Meeting and working with Joe is one of the reasons that Karin can even now say with full conviction, There is still so much music left to be made.

Joe introduced us to the incredible musicians who eventually became The Band of Sweethearts, and of course they will be present at the festival as well.

Joe and his band will be performing at the festival but we’ll also find opportunities for Joe to perform solo and talk about his life’s work and discoveries as a songwriter, record producer, author and consummate student of life. Don’t miss this unique chance to lean fully into his sway.

BARRY MOSER has illustrated over 300 books. In addition to being an illustrator, he is also a printer, painter, printmaker, designer, author, essayist and teacher. (Not to mention dog lover.) He has won far too many awards to list.

His illustrations for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland won him a National Book Award for design and illustration. His illustrations for Moby Dick confirmed his world-class stature as one of the great engravers and printmakers of our generation.

Barry’s work is represented in numerous collections, museums and libraries in the United States and abroad, including the National Gallery of Art, The Metropolitan Museum, The British Museum, The Library of Congress, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Cambridge et cetera.

One rewarding thing about being a songwriter is you never quite know where the path will lead. Meeting and befriending Barry has been one of the great, good, unexpected gifts of this life. And Barry has taught us so much as we have shared a thousand laughs…

Barry was the first person we heard announce to any artist within earshot: “Talent is as common as house dust, and about as useful as teats on a boar hog…”

To Barry, it’s not about talent, it’s about doing the work.

Barry encourages all of his students not to call themselves “artists” but rather to call themselves by the work they do: songwriter, painter, writer, pianist, photographer… Barry says, let someone else decide if it’s art. Keep your focus on the work at hand, the craft. Make it about doing your best work.

Barry was the only 20th Century artist to profusely illustrate the King James Bible. There are only a few of these treasures still available – The Pennyroyal Caxton primary edition was limited to 450 copies. (Most were snatched up by the world’s great art museums and libraries…) Barry has donated one of these few remaining editions to our barn raising effort. It will be made available for bid at Nowhere Else Festival, and someone will take home a timeless work of art that can be passed down for many generations to come.

At the festival, Barry will be reading from his fine new memoir, We Were Brothers, and offering a number of workshops. You may well have occasion to meet and draw with one of the great artists – we said it – of our time.

So there you have it. It’s not an overstatement to say that Karin and I would have likely hung up our songwriting hats along the way had we not met these three unique, gifted artists and fellow-travelers. We can’t wait to share them with you.

Briefly, allow us to mention a few other gifted folks who will be descending on the farm with all manner of goodness to share:

We asked five-time Grammy Award winners THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA to have the last word this year. After all, we’re putting up a big, beautiful tent, why not close the festival with a tent-meeting revival of sorts. We’re going to let the Blind Boys’ soulful harmonies baptize the farm with roiling joy. Lift a glass, shed a few tears. What a coup.

We asked Rebecca Weller to discuss and display some of the beautiful paintings she’s been making of Ohio’s native songbirds ~ the birds we see most everyday on Nowhere Farm/Nowhere Else.

We asked Levon Henry to share some of the songs he’s been writing, and to bring his saxophone and sit in on some of the songs that he has recorded with us – There’s A Bluebird In My Heart, All My Favorite People… He’ll be performing with his father Joe’s band as well. Can’t wait for the sound of his voice and horn to put our world on notice.

Songwriter and story-teller extraordinaire Lucy Wainwright Roche will be on the scene, offering her songs and spring-water clear voice.

And of course Over the Rhine and the Band of Sweethearts will offer concerts each day of the festival. It’s our party and we’ll cry (and laugh) if we want to…

There is more to come! We will announce the full festival line-up and schedule soon. There are additional workshops tba, and I’m planning a little nature walk on the farm with gifted nature photographer Kent Burgess and naturalist Kent Mitchell – we’ll ramble around, talk trees, songbirds, wildflowers, wild edges – and call them by name.

As we continue to reinvent and re-imagine what it means to have a music career in 2016, we hope you will join us on the farm for what’s shaping up to be a truly amazing weekend. Please share and help us spread the word.

Nowhere Else Festival tickets available here:
http://stores.portmerch.com/overtherhine/nowhere-else-festival.html

FAQ available here:
http://portmerch.com/downloads/2016_Festival_FAQ.pdf

Peace like a river, love like an ocean,

Linford and Karin