Roe Family Singers | Brickyard Pottery & Folk House

Bring your lawn chairs! Join us in welcoming back The Roe Family Singers! This is a rain-or-shine event.

This is a PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN event. The suggested donation is $20 per ticket, but if you’re in a position to contribute more, we would surely be grateful! If you’re low on cash at the moment, no worries, every little bit helps! Just come out and enjoy the music! Please note: The amount you enter is for each ticket, not the total. All ticket sales are final except when an outdoor show gets rained out and moved inside. In that case, refunds are available to those who did not purchase one of the first 55 tickets. The first 55 people to reserve tickets will be guaranteed a spot inside the folk house if it rains. All others can receive a refund of their donation if they so desire.

Brickyard Pottery & Folk House is located at W9008 Brickyard Rd, Shell Lake WI. Although we have a Shell Lake address, we are actually about 10 minutes south of the town of Shell Lake, just 1 mile north of the town of Barronett, 200 yards west of HWY 63 on Brick Yard Rd. Please read below for more details and email brickayardgallery@gmail.com with any questions.

ABOUT THE BAND

For over 20 years wife and husband duo Kim and Quillan Roe have been making music together. It all started at a tribute to the then-recently-deceased Johnny and June Carter Cash.

Kim Roe grew up with music all around her. Her dad would play his guitar and she would sit at his feet singing along. As she grew, so did her love for music: first as a girl singing along with the radio into a hairbrush in front of her bedroom mirror, then as a teenager in choir, then as a young woman singing karaoke.

Quillan Roe is the descendant of Kentucky horse-thieves and a long line of Appalachian and Ozark fiddlers on his mother’s side; and an equally long line of evangelists, poets, and writers on his father’s side. He’s been playing in bands for nearly three decades, with his first professional band, Accident Clearinghouse, launching in 1992.

Kim and Quillan were married in the spring of 2003, and soon Kim was asking Quillan if they could start a band together; Quillan said, “No. Husbands and wives shouldn’t be in bands together. It’s a terrible idea!”

Kim persisted and kept asking to start a band, and Quillan kept saying, “No.” That same year, however, both June Carter and Johnny Cash died, and a local bar, Lee’s Liquor Lounge, organized a tribute to them and their music.

Quillan wanted to perform at the tribute but his band at the time, Accident Clearinghouse, was on hiatus. So with the tribute’s promoter on the phone, Quillan asked Kim if she still wanted to start a band together. Not knowing that Quillan meant right then, she answered enthusiastically, “Yes!”

“Put us down as the… uh…” Quillan hadn’t thought it through that far. “Put us down as the… Roe Family Singers,” he finally blurted. Their first show was booked and Kim didn’t even know it!

Though they both had full-time jobs, the Roes threw themselves into making music as often as they could. They started a weekly residency at the 331 Club which they maintain to this day (over 20 years later!), and by 2010 they were maintaining a full-time band’s workload, while still working full-time day jobs, and raising one baby daughter with a second on the way.

In 2011, they won the prestigious McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians, which comes with a substantial monetary award. The Roes talked it over and decided that they would try life as full-time musicians—using the McKnight Fellowship to help fund their first year—and have been making music their full-time work ever since.

Like any recording artist, Quillan has wanted a recording contract since the beginning, so the opportunity to partner first with bluegrass powerhouse Pinecastle Records, and then their new subsidiary, Bonfire Music Group, is very exciting. “Back when I first started I thought a record contract meant all the crazy stories you hear when you’re a huge music fan growing up: the million-dollar advance, the fame, the fortune, the mansions, the cars… I thought it was the ticket to being the next Elvis Presley or Hank Williams,” Quillan said. “But these days, with peer-to-peer sharing, streaming internet music services, and the fact that any lap-top computer can be a recording studio and distribution hub, all that’s changed.

“Partnering with Bonfire means, most importantly, someone to share both the workload and expenses of promotion and distribution. Running a band is hard, never-ending, expensive work, and we’re also spouses and parents. Having someone to help us with the workload is great, and frees up more time for family.”

Kim picks up the thought: “It also means new opportunities to play for audiences that we otherwise might not be able to access; it means the respect that comes from ‘being on a label;’ it means that someone professional, someone in the business, someone with a long history of putting out music like ours, believes in us and what we do; and it helps us to further our career, to take it up to the next level, to sustain it longer than we might be able to do on our own. We are so very thankful to be working with Bonfire Music Group to make this happen.”

ABOUT THE VENUE

Nestled in the north woods of Wisconsin, Brickyard Pottery & Folk House is a unique space that combines a pottery studio, an art gallery featuring over thirty local artists, a live music venue, and a home, all housed in a charming former two-room schoolhouse built in 1921. While most of our concerts will be held outside with room for 150 music lovers, occasionally we will be indoors in the folk house, which makes for the perfect space to consume live music. With a focus on original music performed by seasoned musicians, this intimate listening room has a capacity of just fifty-five seats, allowing for a close and personal experience for music lovers.

BRING YOUR LAWN CHAIRS!

- Food will be available with a suggested donation beginning at 5 pm. Beer and N/A beverages will be available separately for purchase.

- Please use the porta-potty rather than the indoor public bathroom. Our old plumbing system thanks you!

- Showtime is at 6:00 PM - Tickets are pay-what-you-can with a suggested donation of $20 and can be purchased online at Humanitx.com, through brickyardpottery.com, in-person at Brickyard Pottery & Folk House in Shell Lake WI or via WILL CALL at 715-468-7341.

Camping tickets can be purchased at the same time you purchase the concert tickets and are available for $15 per vehicle, with access to a public porta-potty (please note: no showers available). While we are not a full campground, our two acres of land accommodate both RVs and tent camping. It is a large yard next to a cornfield (not actual campsites).  Be aware that you may have close camping neighbors and will likely share a campfire, providing a great opportunity to meet other music fans and have some fun!

For any questions, feel free to email brickyardgallery@gmail.com