Upcoming Events

Carol Z. has been performing her entire life on various stages from churches to clubs. Her music spans from gospel rock to sultry ballads, because life includes everything, and Carol writes and sings about it all in a very unique way. She has songs about coffee, girlfriends, kids, God, love, marriage and even football…and just when you hear one song done in a rock vein, you will hear jazz, country, power ballads, quirky rhythms, and even a poem being read with birds singing. She does it all, says it all…and sings her heart out.

An amalgam of raw energy, classic charm, by-gone era romance, and formidable stage presence, grace every note of Todd Eckart’s live performance. He is part wistful crooner, part country song-smith, and equal measure rock-n-roll heartthrob. Reminiscent of the days when a man armed only with his guitar, his songs, and a burning desire to tell his story could pour out his soul to a backbeat, and in a manner of speaking, conquer the world, the charts, but most poignantly and infinitely, and most importantly, touch the hearts of many a listener male and female ….young and old alike. It is this special alchemy of kinetic energy, raw talent, and sincerity of soul that Todd’s music possesses.

Now for the first time, those who have not had the chance to see Todd’s live performance, though countless have in his native home in the Midwest, as well as abroad, can hear what this local artist has been charming fans with for years. From the comfort of their own home, iPod, car, castle, grass hut, or tractor, Todd is making the leap to undoubtedly international recognition with his soon to be released self-titled debut CD. He has infused all the old-time grit, polish, and poise of his influences with a modern pop sensibility that is as fresh and uniquely his own as it is familiar in its quality. To bridge the gap between what was great and what is great is something Todd’s music does with seemly effortless ease. To pay homage without being derivative is a tall order, and that is one challenge that Todd Eckart is clearly up for.

– Laura Jo DeWitt

Support a great cause while having fun on the patio! Starting on June 12th, the Sawyer County Resource Center will be sponsoring BINGO every-other Wednesday throughout the summer. Sip some wine, win some money, and support a great local cause.

For each round played, half of the pot will be awarded to the winner and half will go to support the Senior Resource Center.

Fun variety of old and new songs!

The Stone Lake Chamber of Commerce will be hosting it’s Annual Ladies Nite Thursday, June 20th from 5:00 –
8:30 pm. Local businesses will be offering discounts, giveaways, door prizes, wine, and food tastings along with much more. Rack cards displaying Lady’s Nite discounts may be picked up at participating local businesses the evening of the event and a raffle ticket for your chance to win Stone Lake Chamber dollars (3 prizes to be awarded totaling $350.00). You will also receive bonus raffle tickets for each business visited, increasing your odds of winning. Raffle Drawing will be held at 8:15 pm, but you DO NOT need to be present to win.

“Joy” is what listeners often see and feel coming from Yata as he sings and performs the songs he has written; and he’s written quite a few, many of which are on his eleven original CD recordings.

Yata Peinovih began as a songwriter of love ballads while a freshman at St. Olaf College and over four decades has explored musical genres such as Americana, folk-rock, swing jazz, and gospel.

Early in his career, he formed Artesian Dreams with jazz guitarist Dave Peterson and classically trained violinist Jim Price and wone a Minnesota Music Award for  Best Folk Band. They were also nominated in the jazz category.

Next, he moved to Western Wisconsin where he began a family, continued to write, record, and perform in mostly local concerts and community events. During an appearance on Garrison Keillor’s Talent from Towns Under 2,000 Show on National Public Radio’s Prairie Home Companion, he chose an original ballad Wisconsin Waltz which naturally didn’t carry first prize with a Minnesota audience. Aunt Virginia said he should have played Music in the Outhouse from the Norske Nonsense cassette recorded in Norway.

Yata has a passion for performance, connecting with the audience from concert stages and outdoor festivals to intimate venues, such as churches and classrooms. He also organizes several community music events and mentors emerging artists.

Each winter for the last fifteen years, Yata and his wife, artist Jean Accola, have traveled afar to be immersed in new cultures including Thai, Lao, Cambodian, Kenyan, South African, Moroccan, French, Spanish, Norwegian, Mexican, Guatemalan, Caribbean, Japanese, and Hawaiian. The people, places, and experiences are reflected in their compositions and expanding views of art, music, photography, and culinary arts.

Yata and Jean live in a converted country schoolhouse in rural Pepin County, Wisconsin and enjoy every minute they can with their grandchildren.

Carol Z. has been performing her entire life on various stages from churches to clubs. Her music spans from gospel rock to sultry ballads, because life includes everything, and Carol writes and sings about it all in a very unique way. She has songs about coffee, girlfriends, kids, God, love, marriage and even football…and just when you hear one song done in a rock vein, you will hear jazz, country, power ballads, quirky rhythms, and even a poem being read with birds singing. She does it all, says it all…and sings her heart out.

Support a great cause while having fun on the patio! Starting on June 12th, the Sawyer County Resource Center will be sponsoring BINGO every-other Wednesday throughout the summer. Sip some wine, win some money, and support a great local cause.

For each round played, half of the pot will be awarded to the winner and half will go to support the Senior Resource Center.

Tim Fast could be a character in one of the gems-of-a-song he writes and sings. He’s a dust-covered man who has traveled the roads in search of whatever song is over the next rise. That sense of adventure has given him a catalog of great original songs that have touched audiences from coast to coast and all the way from his native Minnesota down to the Texas Gulf Coast.

“I know how to write a good song and know when it works but in the end, the audience lets me know,” Tim says as his hands cradle a cup of coffee. A line like that might sound boastful coming from most people, but Tim is too disarming to come off that way. The proof that he has arrived as a touring musician comes in his 150-plus bookings a year and the fact celebrated songwriters like Cliff Eberhardt and James Keelaghan are big fans. Keelaghan said that besides being an “excellent songwriter,” Tim has “the sweetest voice I’ve heard in a long time.” High praise indeed.

Tim taught himself to play guitar at a young age (he still doesn’t read music) and his first guitar was a Silvertone his parents bought him after he tried building his own guitar after seeing the Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” when he was 8. He counts the late Chicago singer-songwriter Steve Goodman as one of his biggest early influences. After seeing Goodman perform in Minneapolis in 1975, Tim decided, “That’s what I wanted to do the rest of my life.” From then on, his life was about music.

In pursuit of that dream, he traveled roads that gave him a breadth of experience and would serve him well when he decided to become a full-time troubadour. He bussed tables, worked crab boats out of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, fabricated sheet metal, inspected produce for the California Department of Food and Agriculture and worked as a stonemason. Woody Guthrie once advised, “All you can write is what you see,” and Tim let the characters he met and the roads he ambled tell the stories in his songs. “Many of my songs are about life’s experiences because the best songs come from what you know best,” he said. He’s told those stories on three well-received albums — the self-titled Tim Fast in 2003, followed by Starlite Drive-In in 2007 and his latest, Crooked Door, released in 2011.

Tim’s talent has been recognized by his peers. He’s studied with some of the greats of contemporary acoustic music, including David Wilcox, fellow Minnesotan Pat Donahue, Kathy Mattea, Johnsmith and Ellis Paul, to name a few. Cliff Eberhardt was so impressed with Tim that he asked him to tour with him as his opening act. Eberhardt saw what audiences have long seen: that Tim has a dazzling repertoire of original songs that leave people humming and thinking — and ready to join him on his journey to see what’s over the next rise.

An amalgam of raw energy, classic charm, by-gone era romance, and formidable stage presence, grace every note of Todd Eckart’s live performance. He is part wistful crooner, part country song-smith, and equal measure rock-n-roll heartthrob. Reminiscent of the days when a man armed only with his guitar, his songs, and a burning desire to tell his story could pour out his soul to a backbeat, and in a manner of speaking, conquer the world, the charts, but most poignantly and infinitely, and most importantly, touch the hearts of many a listener male and female ….young and old alike. It is this special alchemy of kinetic energy, raw talent, and sincerity of soul that Todd’s music possesses.

Now for the first time, those who have not had the chance to see Todd’s live performance, though countless have in his native home in the Midwest, as well as abroad, can hear what this local artist has been charming fans with for years. From the comfort of their own home, iPod, car, castle, grass hut, or tractor, Todd is making the leap to undoubtedly international recognition with his soon to be released self-titled debut CD. He has infused all the old-time grit, polish, and poise of his influences with a modern pop sensibility that is as fresh and uniquely his own as it is familiar in its quality. To bridge the gap between what was great and what is great is something Todd’s music does with seemly effortless ease. To pay homage without being derivative is a tall order, and that is one challenge that Todd Eckart is clearly up for.

– Laura Jo DeWitt

Enjoy a Complimentary Rum tasting while listening to fantastic Rat Pack favorites performed by Todd Eckart! Todd’s music and stage presence will make you feel as if you have been transported to the Las Vegas strip! Ribeye steak sandwiches served hot off the grill with great summer sides will be available for purchase so don’t miss out!

Support a great cause while having fun on the patio! Starting on June 12th, the Sawyer County Resource Center will be sponsoring BINGO every-other Wednesday throughout the summer. Sip some wine, win some money, and support a great local cause.

For each round played, half of the pot will be awarded to the winner and half will go to support the Senior Resource Center.

Red Schoolhouse Wines presents our 5th Annual Swine, Wine, Whiskey, and Wetlands… Featuring a complimentary Wine and Whiskey Tasting! Pork Shanks, hot-off-the-grill, will be available. Served with homemade potato salad and baked beans for $14.95, a portion of the proceeds to benefit the Stone Lake Wetlands Park. Stop down Rain or Shine for refreshments on our beautiful outdoor patio or come inside for air-conditioned comfort in turn-of-the-century Schoolhouse Saloon! Live music by “One Last Guest” on the patio from 6:00-9:00 pm.

Carol Z. has been performing her entire life on various stages from churches to clubs. Her music spans from gospel rock to sultry ballads, because life includes everything, and Carol writes and sings about it all in a very unique way. She has songs about coffee, girlfriends, kids, God, love, marriage and even football…and just when you hear one song done in a rock vein, you will hear jazz, country, power ballads, quirky rhythms, and even a poem being read with birds singing. She does it all, says it all…and sings her heart out.

Support a great cause while having fun on the patio! Starting on June 12th, the Sawyer County Resource Center will be sponsoring BINGO every-other Wednesday throughout the summer. Sip some wine, win some money, and support a great local cause.

For each round played, half of the pot will be awarded to the winner and half will go to support the Senior Resource Center.

Joe Who?
Joe Monahan is a native Chicagoan who has been performing across the Midwest for over twenty years. An acoustic guitarist and singer, Monahan has acquired a repertoire of hundreds of songs. These include popular country & western favorites, classic rock and Irish ballads.

Influences
There were two important events that influenced Monahan’s early musical influences. “My father turned me on to Johnny Cash,” he recalls. “That image of a man telling a story with a guitar really struck me as the coolest thing I had ever seen.” A couple of years later one of Monahan’s brothers came home with an early Clancy Brothers record. It became a favorite and included many of the songs Monahan still plays to this day.

The Chicago folk scene was in its heyday when Monahan was a teen. The music of local favorites like Steve Goodman, Bonnie Koloc, Michael Smith, and John Prine impressed Monahan. “In high school everyone was listening to Led Zeppelin but I was excited because I had the new John Prine album.”

“Give Us a Song!”
In the late 1980’s Monahan’s interest in music lead him to a small unassuming Irish tavern on the south side of Chicago. The 6511 Club was one of the few places in the city that featured traditional Irish music. There he heard music played and sung by native Irish musicians who encouraged Monahan to sing and play. It was only then that Monahan finally took up the guitar and began performing. He became a regular on Friday nights with the legendary Kevin Henry.”

And the Award Goes to…
Monahan has won several awards for his singing. He has won the Midwest Region traditional singing competition three times and in 1998 represented the United States in the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil held in Ballina, Mayo, Ireland.

What Have You Done For Me Lately?
Since those early years Monahan has played at countless Irish taverns and parties for almost every occasion. In addition country & western music has become a large part of his current repertoire. Embracing the music he grew up on he includes a healthy dose of Johnny Cash, George Jones, Willie Nelson and other legends of country music.
“I enjoy the flexibility of being a solo performer. I can go from genre to genre depending on the wishes of his audience.” Take a look at the set list and you will get a better idea of his wide ranging repertoire!

Songwriting
In 2012 Joe Monahan contributed three original compositions co-written with long time friend Dennis Keane to the independent film Morton’s Crossing. This included the theme “Ashes.” The film went on to win several awards.

An amalgam of raw energy, classic charm, by-gone era romance, and formidable stage presence, grace every note of Todd Eckart’s live performance. He is part wistful crooner, part country song-smith, and equal measure rock-n-roll heartthrob. Reminiscent of the days when a man armed only with his guitar, his songs, and a burning desire to tell his story could pour out his soul to a backbeat, and in a manner of speaking, conquer the world, the charts, but most poignantly and infinitely, and most importantly, touch the hearts of many a listener male and female ….young and old alike. It is this special alchemy of kinetic energy, raw talent, and sincerity of soul that Todd’s music possesses.

Now for the first time, those who have not had the chance to see Todd’s live performance, though countless have in his native home in the Midwest, as well as abroad, can hear what this local artist has been charming fans with for years. From the comfort of their own home, iPod, car, castle, grass hut, or tractor, Todd is making the leap to undoubtedly international recognition with his soon to be released self-titled debut CD. He has infused all the old-time grit, polish, and poise of his influences with a modern pop sensibility that is as fresh and uniquely his own as it is familiar in its quality. To bridge the gap between what was great and what is great is something Todd’s music does with seemly effortless ease. To pay homage without being derivative is a tall order, and that is one challenge that Todd Eckart is clearly up for.

– Laura Jo DeWitt

Red Schoolhouse Wines presents our 3rd Annual Cocktails, Crooners, and Classic Cars. Complimentary Cocktail tasting as Todd Eckart performs on the Patio from 6-9 featuring the music of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and all your favorites of the Rat Pack Era! Food and Beverages will be available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the Stone Lake Historical Society. Feel free to drive down in your Classic Car and join in the fun.

Support a great cause while having fun on the patio! Starting on June 12th, the Sawyer County Resource Center will be sponsoring BINGO every-other Wednesday throughout the summer. Sip some wine, win some money, and support a great local cause.

For each round played, half of the pot will be awarded to the winner and half will go to support the Senior Resource Center.

We are an acoustic duet featuring 2 voices and 1 guitar. Our sets feature well known Americana songs, some instrumental picking originals, lots of harmonies and fairly elaborate arrangements. We cater to a wide array of audiences: coffee houses, festivals, supper clubs, outdoor events, and private parties. We are not a dance band, at least not until Christine gets her one-man-band rig finished…….

You will hear a wide array of ballads and livelier songs from Louis Armstrong to Pete Townshend, from Woody Guthrie to the Beatles. I adore the Grateful Dead, and if Christine had her way the Indigo Girls would be a trio. We love songs with lots of parts, so when we get to simpler tunes, we usually doll them up with some riffs, harmonies, stalls, and key changes to keep them moving along. I play exclusively with a flat pick, and always acoustic. I am largely self-taught and can read music well enough to make paper airplanes. Christine, by contrast, is classically trained; her dad was literally the local school band guru….taught every grade and every instrument. If you are wondering how we get along, and if you find out, please tell us.

We do believe, in all sincerity, that music is meant to be shared, is experienced on a core plane, that it can create bonding and love on nearly any level imaginable, and that we are very fortunate to have found one another.

Carol Z. has been performing her entire life on various stages from churches to clubs. Her music spans from gospel rock to sultry ballads, because life includes everything, and Carol writes and sings about it all in a very unique way. She has songs about coffee, girlfriends, kids, God, love, marriage and even football…and just when you hear one song done in a rock vein, you will hear jazz, country, power ballads, quirky rhythms, and even a poem being read with birds singing. She does it all, says it all…and sings her heart out.

Support a great cause while having fun on the patio! Starting on June 12th, the Sawyer County Resource Center will be sponsoring BINGO every-other Wednesday throughout the summer. Sip some wine, win some money, and support a great local cause.

For each round played, half of the pot will be awarded to the winner and half will go to support the Senior Resource Center.

Carol Z. has been performing her entire life on various stages from churches to clubs. Her music spans from gospel rock to sultry ballads, because life includes everything, and Carol writes and sings about it all in a very unique way. She has songs about coffee, girlfriends, kids, God, love, marriage and even football…and just when you hear one song done in a rock vein, you will hear jazz, country, power ballads, quirky rhythms, and even a poem being read with birds singing. She does it all, says it all…and sings her heart out.