End Of An Era

LITTLE ROCK — The GoodFolk house is dead.

Long live the Pickin’ Post concert series.

Fayetteville’s favorite house venue closed in June after more than two decades of bringing artists like Robin and Linda Williams, Slaid Cleaves, Hot Club of Cowtown and Ray Wylie Hubbard to the corner of Block Avenue and Dickson Street.

But the magic was never in the house itself, says Fred Eaglesmith, who will open the Pickin’ Post concert series Dec. 29.

“It’s all about Mike,” he says of the man behind both ventures, Mike Shirkey. “Mike can’t help it. He’s just Mike.

Whatever Mike’s going to go is going to be Mike.”

Eaglesmith, a singer, songwriter and band leader who recorded his first album in 1980, says he’s not a big fan of “house” concerts, “but Shirkey’s always felt like the South to us. There was always something he’d shot on the stove and a beer in the fridge.

It was always an adventure.”

Eaglesmith admits that he started playing GoodFolk because Fayetteville was a great stop between here and there - just as it will be Dec.

29, between Eaglesmith’s home in Canada and a New Year’s Eve gig in Texas.

“Any time I can play with Shirkey, it’s one of my favorite stops,” he says. “This stuff keeps you grounded. There’s no music ‘business’ going on; you’re just playing music for people. The people are really nice, really appreciative, nobody trying to make it a scene or pick up dates. It’s a thing. We’re going to see Mike and hang out.”

“When they are on the road, it’s a place that feels like home,” Shirkey said in What’s Up in June. “This is more than a house concert.”

It certainly attracted more attention than most house venues. NPR’s “World Cafe” filmed a concert by Stacey Earle at the venue, and The New York Times mentioned it among the must-see locations for those traveling to Fayetteville. More than one musician has told Shirkey the old house was their favorite venue,perhaps because of Shirkey’s hospitality but also because people could experience the music up close.

“The bands liked playing because people were listening,” he told Kevin Kinder, What’s Up! associate editor.

So Shirkey set out to findanother cozy, intimate place where musicians and music lovers could mingle - and he found a bonus, he thinks, when he discovered the Fayetteville Underground art gallery.

Located at 101 W. Mountain St., Suite 222 - on the corner of the square - the venue has “a little stage in there for concerts, nice comfortable chairs, and besides getting to hear good music, people can see a bunch of fantastic artwork,” he says. “I had a couple of shows with local musicians to see what the room sounded like, and the acoustics are fine.

“I’m still open to things and still looking,” Shirkey says, but for now, he’s busy making at least a temporary home for the magic of a Pickin’ Post musical event.