Olten, Frutigen, and Pieterlen

It's been a whirlwind three days. From Laupen we drove to Olten. Martin, the promoter, found a new venue, the Shauraum, that we inaugurated. It's a cafe rather than a theater, but Martin set up a really good sound system and the show went really well. Not full, but a healthy crowd of about 50. That's not bad for a first time venue that people aren't familiar with.

I"ve got photos (in Euro 2016) of the beautiful wild flowers that grow in natural bouquets all over the yards of the homes. They last about three weeks. No one cuts them.  Also a photo of our car. It's perfect for what we're doing. plenty of room for guitars and large suitcases, plus us!

I also caught Martin's cat, Flash, on the wrong side of the door. (So what's new...).

Next we drove to Frutigen for a new beginning of the old Frutigen Singer-Songwriter festival. This festival brought literally hundreds of American country and roots artists to Switzerland to play for thousands of Swiss and German fans over a period of about 20 years. It ended in the late 90s, but folks are trying again.

I think it will work. There were 600 people for one night and three artists.  It was us, the Jeff Turner Band, and the Jacks.  Jeff is a longtime expat from Australia who has been playing country music in Europe for many years. The Jacks, are Geordie Jack and his sons. Geordie is an old friend of mine. He was the main singer in the band Colorado from Scotland, a true world music group that was one of my all time favorite live bands. Who else had a steel guitar and a bagpipe? It was great to connect again.

We are proud to be a connector from the old festival to the new. We got to visit with Aschi and Nilly Maurer. Aschi was the creator and promoter of the original festival. A remarkable man, who made a huge American music festival out of nothing and kept it running for decades. Nilly is equally amazing. 

I've got photos of Switzerland and Geordie.

Next we went to Pieterlen to play for Monika and Stephen's audiences in "Folk in Heaven". This is a beautiful venue holding about 100 or a little more. We had a wonderful early show, starting at 5, to a full house.

Now a couple of days off and on we go!

- Hugh

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