"It's an awesome backdrop with the bluffs right there, and we'll be set up maybe 50 feet from the river."
Stefan Szabo is referring to the site at Steel Creek near Jasper where his band, National Park Radio, is preparing to play a free show this Saturday. The indie folk band from Harrison just returned from a short stint on the road, and Szabo (guitar, banjo, vocals) says the quintet is excited to play at home again.
"This is a beautiful area to play this music anyway, and people love it, and we love the people here," he says. "We don't play especially often in this area -- we play more often in Fayetteville because there's a bigger scene there. It's really cool for our hometown hometown people to come out and enjoy the music because it doesn't happen as often as people would like."
This isn't the band's first outdoor concert, but it will be the first of its kind for them. In a partnership with the Buffalo National River to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the U.S. National Park Service, National Park Radio agreed to perform the free concert with not much more than a small platform for a stage -- making the music and the river and the bluffs the focus.
"It's a natural fit -- our name and our music kind of resonate [here]. The Buffalo River is our backyard, and we all love the river -- so we connect for those reasons," Szabo says. "There's a grassy area where people can put down a blanket or set up a chair, and we'll be set up on a little stage with the river as the backdrop and nature all around."
Casey Johannsen, the centennial coordinator for the Buffalo National River, says the park hosts events every year to celebrate National Park Week in April, but with the centennial, planners wanted to have some bigger events to engage the local community.
"We wanted to have a fun, easy event meant for everyone, not just young people," Johannsen says. "A lot of folks here grow up around the river but don't necessarily use it on a regular basis. We wanted people to use the park in ways they maybe hadn't thought of before. [Bringing in the band] was an easy choice. I thought, 'National Park Week? Let's bring in National Park Radio!'"
The band already had a connection with the Buffalo River from a show a couple of years ago at the amphitheater at Buffalo Point. Their name, the folk vibes of their music and their love of the outdoors all lend themselves to exactly this kind of partnership with the Park Service -- a relationship Szabo would like to see continue to grow.
"It's been a hope of mine. I've had ideas and dreams of doing a national parks tour. It would amazing to experience those places and connect with those people who are experiencing those places as well."
With a sound echoing the likes of Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers, National Park Radio's emotional lyrical depth solidifies their place in the club of folk musicians using their mountain roots to explore themes about life, love and difficult choices. Not all Szabo's songs are so heart wrenching, but he says those are the ones -- especially "Virginia" -- that seem to reach people the most.
"Some of the positive songs, they're mainly for me -- for sort of self-encouragement," he says. "But hopefully the music will help somebody and touch them in some way. It's kind of a big deal for me with most of my songs: I want them to affect somebody. I want them to feel something. It means a lot to me when I'll play a song and someone has tears in their eyes because they're touched by it."
And what better place to connect with the music than surrounded by the nature that helped to inspire it?
NAN What's Up on 04/22/2016