Rebecca Williams is the founder of Ramblin Road, an intimate listening series at private homes in Fayetteville. These concerts feature artists from around the world, including Australian singer Jordie Lane, who will be at her home this Thursday, Feb. 19, at 7 p.m.
Williams spoke with Ozarks at Large's Sophia Nourani at the Carver Center for Public Radio last week. She says the purpose of these listening rooms is to connect the northwest Arkansas community with touring musicians in an untraditional setting.
Rebecca Williams: The listening room experience is about 30 to 50 guests, and everybody is there for the artist and to listen to the words and the lyrics and the music. And then you have the opportunity to meet the artists afterwards and kind of find out more about who they are as a person. And it just really brings community together, which I love. And I love bringing people just from all different circles in the northwest Arkansas area together for the show — to hear the music, hear the mission of that artist, what's important to them, and then get to meet new friends.
Sophia Nourani: I already like how you're mentioning this is fundamentally different from typical concerts, right, where you get to speak with the artist directly, hear their passions and their goals beyond the actual music. Maybe go into a little bit about the significance of that in that particular space, because these are also in your own home, correct?
Williams: Right. It is in my house, and I just — it's been great. We've focused on musicians that are not in Arkansas or northwest Arkansas. And what that brings is different cultures and just different personalities. And it's been great to be able to talk to these artists after the show, to learn their perspective of how they picked a song or picked a topic, and learn a little bit more of the culture that they came from. It's not always easy for everybody to go travel around the U.S. or other countries, but this is a way to kind of bring some of that into our area. Into my house.
Nourani: Yeah, and it sounds like it's a bit of an exchange as well with that conversation element — they get to hear a little bit about your culture and what it's like here in Arkansas. In addition to that, house shows — having a show at your own home — what is that like? You mentioned 30 to 50 people. That's, you know, a lot for a home.
Williams: I love people and bringing people together. I grew up with music in my house, and so it was just very natural and something I was used to. I've heard my aunt and my mom talk about them growing up in Fayetteville in the '60s, '70s and having house concerts then. And so this was kind of a throwback to that and just the community aspect of bringing the music into my house. And the more the merrier.
Nourani: And are you from Fayetteville?
Williams: I am from Fayetteville. Yes. I was a strong supporter of the Fayetteville Roots Festival. I've talked a lot with Brian and Bernice, just with some insight on how to navigate all the different aspects of bringing artists here and putting on a successful show. And after they've moved on to their next season in life, this was something that was missing in Fayetteville for me. So I just decided to bring it myself.
Nourani: Yeah. Just based off that, I love that you're just a music lover who wanted to bring that and you're taking advantage of your space and doing it yourself. Do you encourage other folks, other local music lovers, to do that as well?
Williams: Yes. I've actually had — our December show was hosted by somebody else in a different location. And then we have another show scheduled in June, and that will be with some other music lovers, and they're hosting it at their spot because they have a great outdoor spot. It's just great being around and connecting the different groups of people together.
Nourani: So tell me about the show that we're talking about today.
Williams: So Jordie Lane is from Australia, and he has an amazing personality, great stage presence and very personable. His mom is a comedian in Australia and his dad was a circus clown, and he was literally born in a traveling circus. So their stage and performance — he definitely inherited that, and then he's combined it with his songwriting and storytelling. And what I love about his songs is he adds little surprises in there but doesn't make a big notice of it. And so you really need to just listen and then kind of be surprised. I've listened to his songs multiple times and get little different tidbits each time, so I love the layers that he has.
One article described him as "Aussie Americana," which I thought was a great combination, because he did grow up primarily in Melbourne, Australia, so that culture is really influenced into his songs. And he was an adult when he came to the United States. And so that was cool too — you can hear things throughout his songs that were “ahas” when he moved to the United States, because it's very different than Australia, and things that we take for granted but we need to remember are wonderful parts of our nation also.
Nourani: Well, and I love as well, with how much storytelling it seems that he has in his music, that you're going to have that conversation element with him as well after the show.
Williams: It's going to be great, I’m really excited. One of my favorite parts about hosting is I get to have dinner with the artists and then hang out with them after the show, and I usually take them down to Pinpoint to play some pinball. We have just a great town, so it's fun to introduce them and they usually want to come back. I really want the artists that come here to feel that Fayetteville is very welcoming to them, and it's just a good resting spot in their tour schedule.
The tickets are through Eventbrite, and if you just search Ramblin Road, you'll find us there. And Jordie Lane is our next show. Doors are going to open at 6:30 p.m., and the show is going to begin at 7 p.m., and my house is in East Fayetteville. It's a $25 donation. We also have a Gmail — RamblinRoad25@gmail.com — so you can send me an email if you have questions or want to get added to our list for next shows. And then there's also a Facebook page called Ramblin Road, and Instagram is @RamblinRoad25. My partner in putting these shows on is John Rhodes, and this is our second show to just fully do all the aspects of it, so I'm excited about it. I love having people in my house. I get to meet new friends. I also get to introduce people to the whole concept of a listening room and house concerts, and a lot of people are really happy and excited about that.
Nourani: Well, thank you so much for sharing it with us.
Williams: All right. Thank you.
Sophia Nourani spoke with Rebecca Williams, founder of the Ramblin Road listening room series in Fayetteville. You can find tickets to see Australian singer Jordie Lane at Williams' home this Thursday on Eventbrite.
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