The art of goosebumps

Mattox Farm Productions to host Songwriter Showcase at the Heartwood

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff

Mattox Farm Productions has proven itself a force for musical good in Sandpoint, bringing nationally touring artists from a wide swath of genres and backgrounds to local stages. Despite the variety, it’s clear that MFP founder Robb Talbott aims to highlight the artistry in each act.

A big part of that artistry? Songwriting.

Lucky for local lyric-lovers, MFP will host a Songwriter Showcase at the Heartwood Center on Sunday, April 2 to give the art its due through a panel discussion with three local and regional musicians: Matt Mitchell, Justin Landis and Alyssa Nunke of Fern Spores.

“The art of songwriting is a tough one to really appreciate in a bar setting where it can often turn to background music,” Talbott told the Reader. “In the Heartwood, with these three musicians, the talent of each singer-songwriter will be on display, allowing the audience members to fully appreciate the performance.”

Songwriter Showcase

Each musician will have about 30 minutes to play and discuss a selection of their songs with the audience, Talbott said, then all three

Read

I do not recommend this for bedside reading — or reading that is likely to brighten your day — but the report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, “The Gap,” published earlier in March, has some fascinating numbers and analysis of the housing crisis experienced by low-wage earners around the country. In Idaho, for instance, there were almost 40,000 “extremely low-income renter households” in 2021, competing for only about 15,000 affordable/available rentals. Find the Idaho figures at nlihc.org/gap/state/id.

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will spend time discussing their work together and collaborating onstage.

Sunday, April 2; doors and bar open at 6:30 p.m., show at 7 p.m.; tickets are $12/adults and $8/ youth in advance at Eichardt’s. and $15 for adults at the door. Kids under 5 enter free. Heartwood Center, 615 Oak St., mattoxfarm.com.

“I feel that Sandpoint wants to be able to hear the songs in a space — and with an audience — that highlights the talents of singer-songwriters,” he said. “I have been wanting to do this for a while and have been waiting for a fun line up to be in the area at the same time.”

Mitchell, based in Spokane and known under the moniker Matt Mitchell Music Co., told the Reader that songwriting, at its best, is a “physical, spiritual and emotional act.”

“When it’s real, honest and heartfelt, a good song is inevitably going to be something that a listener can absorb and make their own,” he said. “In a world of escapism and distraction, any form of art that encourages folks to feel, to question, to dig a little deeper is invaluable; songwriting does this for me and if a listener can share in that, I’m doing my job right.”

Mitchell said he wants the audience at the Songwriter Show- case to walk away with “goosebumps, mostly” — “that feeling when a song stirs up emotion and makes a listener truly feel something.”

“We often get so caught up in the routines of life we forget that the whole damn point is to be engaged with ourselves and present in the moment,” he said. “Music, like other artforms, can facilitate this and remind us that living is about being alive.”

A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint

Right Front Burner, 219 Lounge, April 1

Sandpoint’s favorite, funkiest trio will be bringing the ruckus to the 219 Lounge on Saturday, April 1.

Featuring Paul Gunter, Dave Pecha and Alvah Street, Right Front Burner — a.k.a. RFB — has been a RBD — “really big deal” — for local live music fans for more than a decade, and the 219 is one of the best places to experience their big, groovy sound.

CCS Fundraiser, MickDuff’s Beer Hall, April 1

Kudos to Baxters on Cedar owner Brandon Emch for his stellar Spotify curation. I was there last week, enjoying one of my customary sumptuous lunches with the Reader’s downstairs neighbor, when several songs on Emch’s playlist of the day caught my ear. I asked him about it, and he recommended Pokey LaFarge as an artist worth listening to. That was good advice — the old-timey, rockabilly-meets-tinpan-alley-meets-indie folk singer-songwriter is one in a million (and he has a new-ish album, In the Blossom of their Shade, out now). Listen for yourself at pokeylafarge.net.

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It’s not be an April Fool’s prank, but that’s a Saturday when it might be a good time to make an April fool of yourself — within reason, of course.

— Zach Hagadone

9 p.m.-midnight, FREE, 21+. 219 Lounge, 219 N. First Ave., 208-263-5673, 219.bar. Listen at reverbnation.com/theofficialrfb, more info at facebook.com/rightfrontburner.

MickDuff’s Beer Hall is partnering with Community Cancer Services to throw a party for a worthy cause, with the Cancer is No Joke Fundraiser on Saturday, April 1.

The event will feature the Opa! food truck, live music from local singer-songwriter John Daffron (a.k.a. Johnny Guitar) and a raffle for a three-hour sailing charter for up to six people from Cloud Nine Sail Charters — a prize worth $500 and sponsored by Bruce

Robertson and Barb Perusse. On top of all that, $1 of every beer sold will go to benefit CCS and its work in the Sandpoint area community.

Come for the good food, stay for the good tunes and do some good for CCS and those it serves.

— Zach Hagadone

5-7 p.m., FREE. MickDuff’s Beer Hall, 220 Cedar St., 208209-6700, mickduffs.com.

It is almost assured that I will write more about one or all of these shows at some point in the near future, but I feel obliged to at least put readers on notice that several excellent series are now streaming new seasons, among them: The Mandalorian (a somewhat-unnecessary-feeling Season 3, Wednesdays, on Disney+); Ted Lasso (the third-and-maybe-final season, Wednesdays, Apple TV); and Succession (the fourth-and-definitely-final season, Sundays, HBO Max). Of those, I must confess that Ted Lasso is by far the winningest.