Much has been said about the fest. Here are a few more comments.
First and foremost, it was an unmitigated success. It was such a great
pleasure hanging out with one another, and the public supported the
evening concert to a greater degree than any of us had hoped for. Matt
has already given an excellent synopsis of what happened. Here's
another overview:

From noon to about two, the fest participants (a hefty front yard's
worth of artists, their families, and the neighbors) ate their brains
out (Chalice makes a mean barbecue chicken sandwich), talked about Star
Wars and Jeff's rental car (a shockingly beautiful black mustang
convertible), and got to know each other. Fun, fun, fun.

From two to about four, we all played music for each other and for the
neighbors (I had a lot of comments at church today from neighbors who
enjoyed the music. Bet you didn't even know they were listening). The
weather was gorgeous, and the shade plentiful, and the music great (on
a personal note, there was a time when this part of the fest was going
to be characterized by list artists performing songs written by other
list artistd. That idea sort of fell by the wayside, except for Jeff
Fairbanks singing my song "Ohio Son." I spent those four minutes
blinking back tears, and spent another thirty seconds blinking back
tears a couple of hours later as I described it to Steve Lemmon at the
Tabernacle. that was a great gift, Jeff. Okay, end of personal note)

After the singing, we went inside for a half-hour's worth of what Matt
called "Combat Songwriting" (I called it "guerilla songwriting," but I
like Matt's moniker better). The object of the workshop was for each
person to come as close as they could to writing four songs in twenty
minutes (five minutes per song). Good fun, and at least a few
participants got some real meat down on paper that might turn into
songs someday.

By five-thirty we were all over at the tabernacle, preparing for a
concert that played to a warm, responsive, and large audience. Jeff
thumbnailed about 200 people. That's probably a conservative estimate,
about a hundred and fifty of them showed up half an hour early.
Weirdest thing I ever saw. It was the perfect sized audience in the
perfect sized house.

It all went down like clockwork. Among the perks? There was no cost
for the venue, there was virtually no cost to the advertising (though I
don't know what Chalice spent on her terrific flyers, or on any press
in Vegas)--the biggest out-of-pocket cost (other than the zillion
dollars spent collectively on gas) was lunch. I haven't seen any hard
numbers, and I may be overlooking a bunch of stuff, but I think we did
this whole fest for under a bill. We all thought it would be a tiny
little festival that might grow to a respectable size after a few
years. As it was, in some ways the festival was born full-grown. If
I'd have seen that kind of turnout after the third year of doing this,
I'd have been tickled pink.

We ought to do it again. I know it's easy for me to say that--I live
in St. George, and didn't have to balance the benefits of the fest
against the inconvenience of a long drive, so really, who am I to talk?
But I'm so thrilled to hear Matt mention that he felt like the drive
was worth it. I really worried about that lot. I started breathing
easier right as the fest began, when beneath the shade of our big
mulberry and before anyone had sung a note, Chalice said, "Just sitting
here with you guys is such great therapy. It's been worth the drive
already."

It was a good thing to have done, guys. If you see Jeff, Chalice, or
Cory, pat 'em on the back. They did a lot to get this one off the
ground.

-Sam Payne

P.S. Matt made prominent mention of my friend Ryan Tilby, who played
mandolin with Neil at the open-mic, and (along with Steve Lemmon) with
Lyndsi and I both at the evening concert. Matt's right--Ryan is the
real deal. As you saw, he plays all the fretted instruments (he never
picked up the Dobro at the evening concert, but it was right there
ready for him as you may have seen, and I dearly wish you'd have heard
that too). He used to play with a wunderkind bluegrass band called
"String Fever," a band that also featured a young Ryan Shupe. These
days, Ryan (Tilby) is a member of the Sam Payne Project, and (since
Shupe's signing with Columbia records) plays in Peter Brienholt's live
act as well. He plays all the best guitar stuff (as well as all the
rest of the fretted instruments) on my recordings, as well as Neil's
and Lyndsi's. I've known him since the day after he stepped off the
plane form a mission to Spain, about four years ago. We're lucky to
have had him with us at the fest.