Photo: Christian Begeman
Rural artists’ traveling music show brings community to us. by Katy Beem Anyone who grew up or trekked through rural South Dakota has experienced the community nexus that is the local store. Even chains like Common Cents and Kum & Go take on the soil, smells, and missing dog flyers that make these little bodegas on the prairie vital retail and social hubs. Some, like the Hoover Store off Highway 79 in Butte County, are the genuine article. Built of wood in 1902 and owned since 1976 by local ranchers Leona and Jim McFarland, the Hoover Store is the sole supplier of groceries and gossip for 30 miles around. It’s also the first of four stops on Wish You Were Here, a new traveling concert series on SDPB. The musical travelogue features Bison-based Eliza Blue, Lemmonarea musicians Todd and Judy Larson and Mason Dauwen, and is shot and produced by Sioux Falls photographer Christian Begeman. The program’s format was forged primarily from the pandemic. “It completely came out of having to figure out a way to keep performing and sharing,” says Blue. Blue’s role extends to host and emcee as she orients viewers to the particulars of each South Dakota locale and introduces the original and traditional folk songs the quartet performs throughout each episode. “The joke is that it’s
a variety show with no variety,” laughs Blue. “But the thinking was about bringing people together in ways that are not turning our back on technology, because it’s not going away, but using the technology actually to create community. How can we feel like we are having a shared experience even while we’re apart? And also just be celebrating our rural culture?” Celebrating rural culture can be tricky if everyone doesn’t feel invited to the party. “Oftentimes in rural areas, people think art is something that happens in cities, and it isn’t for or about them,” says Blue. “This is a really divided time in American history. But that for me really feels like everybody’s got a role to play. And I see myself as a bridge person.” Behind the camera, Begeman purposely sets up scenes that convey the texture and intimacy of sharing small spaces in wide open places. Ensconced by the cast-iron pot belly stove inside the Hoover Store, the quartet gathers round one condenser microphone and performs “Red Apple Juice”: “I ain’t got no use for your red apple juice / ain’t got no honey baby now Who’ll rock the cradle, who’ll sing this song when you’re gone, gone?”
Rather than miking each performer and mixing the sound, Begeman wants you to hear the music, with all its echoes and imperfections, as though you are tapping your toes on the store’s wood floor and sharing the warmth of that pot-bellied stove with the music makers. “Music really bridges a lot of that partisanship or whatever that would try to divide us,” says Begeman. “I think music is the bridge. I think that’s really one of the things that has helped and will continue to help. And that’s why we’re sharing here, right?” From Butte County, the next episodes of Wish You Were Here will travel to Harding, Perkins and Corson counties. “If you’re a geography nerd like I am, you see each of the locations is something that’s unique, but not always well known,” says Begeman. From the series conception, it was important to the group to create a viewing experience that was joyful. “We hope it gives pleasure, and helps people feel excited about the place that they live. And hear stories and songs that are familiar. And hopefully inspiring in some way,” says Blue. Wish You Were Here premieres Thursday, Jan. 7, at 8:30pm (7:30 MT) on SDPB1 and SDPB.org and rebroadcasts Sunday, Jan. 10, at 1:30pm (12:30 MT). January 2021 11
