Booking Policy

First of all, a reality check.  Acoustic Avenues can hardly be called a house concert series.  Our personal schedules do not lend easily to hosting concerts.  We are just getting our feet wet, and our shows are going to remain infrequent for the foreseeable future.  We would love to host a dozen concerts a year, but that is just not possible at this time in our lives.

Since our schedule is extremely limited, we are trying our best to recruit artists that we know and love.  Our wish list is long, and probably a bit unrealistic -- but optimism is what got us started in the first place.

Choosing artists to play at our house is certainly not a science, but here are some things we look for:

• Contemporary singer-songwriters.  Maybe that's an unfair (or unfortunate) label, but it was Putamayo's critically acclaimed compilation, Shelter:  The Best of Contemporary Singer-Songwriters, that got us started down the road to hosting house concerts.
• Artists we've seen live.  If we see you win over a crowd the way Kim Richey did when she opened for Shawn Colvin, we'll try to book a show for you!  Archived performances help, too.  We decided to host Darryl Purpose after seeing his Kennedy Center Millennium Stage performance online.
• Artists we already know.  If we have most or all of your CDs, chances are we're already big fans and would consider doing a show for you.  You can browse our CD collection by clicking in the navigation bar on the left.
• Artists we've heard great things about.  We hosted Cosy Sheridan mostly on the recommendation of other house concert presenters.  We were not disappointed!

Things we're not really looking for:

• Groups with more than three members.  Once we get 50 people seated in chairs, there's not a lot of stage area.  I doubt more three performers could fit comfortably.  Further, it doesn't make much economic sense for the group.
• Drum kits are out.  There's no way to balance the sound of vocals and other instruments without piercing some eardrums.

Monetary Considerations:

Acoustic Avenues is typical of many other house concert series.  We do not make any money from our shows!  We are hosting shows because we love music and because we want to provide a friendly, intimate atmosphere for hearing great artists.  

We collect money from each audience member on behalf of the artists.  We do not take any of the ticket proceeds to offset our costs.  In rare cases, we will offer a guarantee for a minimum dollar amount.  Most of the time, we can offer a guest room for the artists to stay overnight, which can eliminate a significant cost of touring.