By Nanette Light
For 15 years, Glen and LaJeanna Pilant of Norman have been transforming their living room into a music venue.
The stage design within this brick house -- a sanctuary for the traveling folk artist -- in the Cobblestone Creek neighborhood is simple: The couple's flat screen television and family photos complete the backdrop, with a few dozen folding chairs, a couch and armchair for seating.
But these traveling musicians, who take home full profits from ticket sales, don't just perform their tunes in the pair's living room.
The artist eats with audience members during a potluck dinner between sets and sleeps in the Pilants' home, making this house concert -- lacking head-banger music with 20,000 "close" friends -- an intimate experience.
"The performer is right there looking the audience in the eye and eating dinner with them," said Glen, who along with his wife, has hosted the house concerts for the last 15 years, beginning when the couple lived in San Antonio prior to their move to Norman a year ago. "The audience is really listening. They're not texting or talking. The performers eat it up; they can't get that in a bar."
Folk music has been the foundation of the couple's relationship since their first date in 1978 at the Houston folk club Anderson Fair, which led them a few weeks later to the Kerville Folk Festival in Chapel Hill, Texas, where they were wed the following summer.
The couple's vision of a house concert -- small groups of people gathering in living rooms to listen to live performances -- is an outgrowth of the Kerville festival they attend every year.
"It's really all about helping the traveling artist," Glen said. "If we weren't going to a house to listen to music, we'd be going somewhere else."
The Pilants, along with others in Norman like artist Dan West of Mission Hill, a venture dedicated to advancing art of all media, and Tom Lee and Mary Katherine Long, who own the Chouse, a church converted into a house on Boyd Street, are trying to promote house concerts in Norman by tapping into the underground artist network and attracting music-lovers wanting to avoid crowded concerts and smoky bars.
House concerts are popular in metropolitan cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and Austin, so locals -- some who've been doing this for years like the Pilants and newbies like West, who launched his first show in April -- are trying to bring the experience to Norman.
"There are probably 2,000 or more artists in this town and nobody knows about them," said West last Friday afternoon in his adobe-like home, which he described as his sanctuary and an artistic release, noting the stained glass and mural of the Last Supper painted on the living room's overhang. "There's a mindset here. Here it's like hot dogs and lemonade is what matters, and art is just here. But to me, it's more important than water."
While West held his first show in April, followed by another in September, featuring local musician Maggie McClure, his home, which includes a mini art gallery where he showcases his and locals' artwork, boasted an attendance of about 70 people.
West said he enjoys the conversations these shows facilitate between the performer and the audience, as the performer stops between sets to answer questions or explain a song.
"When you go to see someone on stage in a concert, they're off the bus, and then they're back on. There's no conversation," he said.
But West said it takes a unique house like his to make a home concert successful.
"You need a home that has an ambiance about it. Just to do it in a regular brick home [pause]. I don't know..." he said trailing off, later adding that besides word-of-mouth, he doesn't market the shows.
The Pilants, who have become prominent on the folk music scene, noting connections with people they recognize sitting front row at the Country Music Awards, admit they haven't accrued a following in Norman like their San Antonio base or like West, who said he might end his series if he can't hire someone to help him with marketing.
After a disappointing turnout to the Tom Kimmel concert, Glen sent an e-mail in late October warning that if attendance didn't improve, the concerts could halt.
"I have been struggling with how to talk to y'all about this without sounding like I'm scolding you," stated Glen in the e-mail. "Instead of our crowds growing steadily, our attendance has actually been dropping off ... So we have to ask ourselves, and all of you, if we should continue this endeavor ... Word must be spreading because our e-mail list is up to 150 names, but it's not turning into butts in the seats."
Apart from building a circle of dedicated followers -- like a couple in San Antonio who skipped a wedding to attend one of their shows -- the pair isn't sure how to remedy the situation.
"If we can't get people into a house concert, I don't know how successful other people will be," LaJeanna said, referencing their contacts in the industry.
Besides an embarrassing turnout, the highest of which has been 32 in Norman, compared to 90 in San Antonio, the couple is afraid their tarnished reputation will make it difficult to book future performances.
"Money is a big deal," said LaJeanna, who thinks people in Norman haven't made live music a priority, adding that word spreads quickly through the folk community. "They're being supportive, but that won't last forever."
Cobblestone Creek Show Schedule
TODAY at 7:30 p.m.
Jon Vezner
Tickets: $15
Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Kevin Welch
Details: There are only about 10 seats left for this Saturday night show.
Tickets: $15
Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Kevin Welch
Details: Still about 25 seats available for this Sunday night show.
Tickets: $15
Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Big Wide Grin
Tickets: $15 in advance and $18 at the door
Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Brooks Williams
Tickets: $15 in advance and $18 at the door
March 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Terri Hendrix
Tickets: $15 in advance and $18 at the door
April 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Berkley Hart
Tickets: $15 in advance and $18 at the door
For more information, visit www.cobblestonecreekconcerts.com.
