Folk music has had a long standing part of the Upper Peninsula culture and it’s no wonder why it’s sticking around the Marquette area.
The Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center, which hosts exhibits on the U.P. and programming such as workshops and lectures, will be hosting its Coffee House Series for its third year beginning in September.
Director of the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center, Dan Truckey, said the series was originally created to provide a venue in the community where folk musicians and songwriters could perform in an environment where people would key in on listening as opposed to a club or a bar.
Truckey said there aren’t enough places in Marquette for folk musicians to perform so the Coffee House Series creates another venue for them.
“There are very few places for them to perform so we felt it was important to create that,” Truckey said. “Part of our mission here at the center is to celebrate the culture of the U.P. so part of that is the folk tradition of the U.P. so our goal is to give artists a chance to perform and continue cultural traditions in the area.”
This year’s series will kick-off with local artists Tyler Dettloff, Heather Evans and Sunset Machine.
Local singer/songwriter Tyler Dettloff said he starting playing music on the streets of Sault Ste. Marie before playing in different venues but looks forward to playing at the Coffee House Series..
“I’ve been lucky enough to have the opportunity to showcase my originals and showcase them at things like this,” Dettloff said. “As a musician, that’s great.”
Dettloff said he has played at local bars including the Wild Rover and the Wooden Nickel. Most recently, Dettloff said, he recorded a few of his songs with Lost Dog Records in Big Bay.
Dettloff said his style is more of a dirty folk and blues or more of a grungy folk.
Returners to the series shouldn’t expect anything new, Truckey said, but that’s because things have been successful in past years.
“We get anywhere between 50 and 60 people coming to see each show and sometimes it’s even more than that,” Truckey said. “It’s been a surprise, when we first started doing it, we had no idea whether people would come at all.”
Truckey said the shows are for people of all ages and free but donations are encouraged.
“We see it as an important venue for people to come regardless of whether or not they can afford to spend money or even buy drinks,” Trucky said. “We provide coffee and lemonade and that has made it an affordable evening out for people.”
Truckey said there is value in creating an environment where listening is the focus.
“There’s not many venues like this around that create this kind of an atmosphere for music,” Truckey said. “The focal point is the music, it’s not the socializing aspect of it, which is fine but we gotta have both, we can’t just have one.”
Dettloff said he feels lucky to be able to play at the Coffee House Series because of the music focal point.
“I feel invited into a realm of listeners and to be invited into a realm of listeners is so much more important to me than being at a place you can listen to music,” Dettloff said. “This is a place that people listen to music. It’s not just the option, you go to it.”
Dettloff said in his previous visits as a listener to the Coffee House Series, he could tell the audience was engaged and that’s something other venues don’t offer.
“You don’t always have that if you’re playing in a bar, playing on a street; you don’t always have an engaged audience but you are sometimes lucky to have here and there” Dettloff said. “From my experience, it’s always been a very engaged audience [at the Coffee House Series] and I look forward to sharing my songs with them.”
The Beaumier Coffee House Series lasts through the full academic year taking place on the first Saturday of every Month thru April. The series will kick-off at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7 at the Peter White Lounge in the University Center.
