Final day in series: Artists, northern Nevada management agency band together for 'Staycation' online music festival

“It’s hard to believe that there could actually be a silver lining with everything that is happening around us but there is ... for me at least. The camaraderie happening between all of us on our roster has been productive and uplifting!” – Linda McRae, Singer-songwriter

Evangeline Elston is an artist manager and booking professional who works with a small roster of eight touring Americana, roots, folks, country and jazz musicians and songwriters living all over the country, Nashville, Baltimore, Austin, Los Angeles, northern California and Lake Tahoe.

When the coronavirus hit the US three months of tours and live performances for all her artists were cancelled virtually overnight. For many of her artists live performance and sales of music are their only source of income. This happened for all performers around the world. A devastating blow to the arts economy, it left many wondering how they would make rent in March. Fast forward to today.

Evangeline Presents artists Linda McRae, Ray Bonneville, Rita Hosking, Darren Senn, Susie Glaze, Amber Cross, Ultrafaux and two artists not on the roster, Rod Picott and Richard March have quickly geared up and embraced the untapped resource of the internet to deliver in-home concerts via Facebook Live and other streaming platforms.

Evangeline Elston, contacted her artists and asked if they would like to collaborate on a program delivering live music via streaming to make up lost income, cross pollinate fan bases and raise the general profile of the agency for a more united front in what is quickly becoming a very difficult time.

Live music in the time of Covid-19. Rita Hosking, a beloved singer-songwriter from northern California is quickly mastering the new live video interface and says,"It's as if the internet has become one enormous house concert venue."

Elston says, “I haven’t heard of many management agencies striking out in a coordinated effort to support all artists on their rosters to navigate this crisis, but it seems like the most natural thing in the world to me.” The learning curve has been steep, with each artists required to resolve technical hiccups at home without the help of sound people, producers and friends.

But, all the artists on the Evangeline Presents roster have stepped up and have already begun broadcasting live sets that are intimate and full of wonderful music for their fans. Some are basing the sets on requests that they gather in advance via social media and email.

Some curate their own set lists. Fans tune in live via Facebook and are encourage to tip using Venmo or PayPal. The results so far have been very positive, with an outpouring of love and support. In fast-changing times like these it makes a lot of sense to work collaboratively, share information and experience, have centralized promotion and also cross promote between fan bases.

It’s new territory for everyone in the music industry and Evangeline Presents is proud to be on the front lines with the artists. Susie Glaze of the Susie Glaze New Folk Ensemble says, “We are thrilled to be part of this gathering of such fine musical artists to celebrate the unifying and undying soul of music in the face of these hard times.”
Evangeline and the artists on her roster are planning the Staycation Cyber Festival April 10-12, Easter Weekend. Each participating artist will perform a forty five minute slot back to back with one other artist with a 15 minute break between the two back to back sets for folks to navigate to the next live show.

There will be a total of four shows over the weekend with a total of eight artists performing. Below is the full schedule and links directly to the Facebook pages where the live broadcasts will originate. The schedule and links also appears on a dedicated page on the Evangeline Presents website to act as a program. Fans can click from the page and, in a new window watch each show as it happens.

See schedule below. Tips and donations to recoup income lost from cancelled tours and gigs gratefully accepted and humbly encourage through Venmo and PayPal Schedule and links. Here is a link to the festival page: https://evangelinepresents.com/staycation-cyber-festival

STAYCATION CYBER FESTIVAL SCHEDULE AND DIRECT LINKS

PLEASE NOTE: The Schedule is listed in Pacific Standard Time

FRIDAY APRIL 10
6:00-6:45 PM PST - RITA HOSKING & SEAN FEDER - HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/RITA-HOSKING-45595710299

7:00-7:45PM PST - DARREN SENN - HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/DARRENSENNMUSIC

SATURDAY, APRIL 11

3:00-3:45 PM PST - ROD PICOTT - HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/ROD.PICOTT.3

4:00-4:45 PM PST - SUSIE GLAZE & STEVE RANKIN

HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/THESUSIEGLAZENEWFOLKENSEMBLE

SUNDAY, APRIL 12
11:00-11:45 AM PST - LINDA MCRAE - HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/LINDAMCRAE42RPM

12:00-12:45 PST - AMBER CROSS - HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/AMBER-CROSS-MUSIC-278685235504301

4:00-4:45 PM PST - RICHARD MARCH - HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/RICHARD-MARCH-65951652365

5:00-5:45 PM PST - MICHAEL JOSEPH HARRIS - HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/ULTRAFAUX