1-12-21 by Marvin and Ann Hunt
This is the first of what we hope to be many blogs about House Rent Records (HRR), music, friends, what music can mean to the Midwest, and what life is all about. We (Marvin and Ann Hunt) started HRR to help our band, The House Jumpers, record albums. This model held for seven years and then our interests grew and we recorded a great duo, Zydeco Tougeau, which released Chicken Walk on our label. About at the same time, we created our duo, With a Twist, to broaden our musical interests and play a wider variety of gigs (given that a duo can work in places that a band cannot).
Great Things Grow from Inspired Ideas
We decided to form a team of ten area artists and insightful associates to guide HRR’s activities into a new era of expansion, community support, and artistic development. The team is comprised of our band members: Steve Montgomery, Chris Millspaugh, Josh Conner (and Ann and Marvin), along with several other great people. The other members include Tommee Sherwood (Zydeco Tougeau), Cathy Unruh, Stan Unruh, Maggie Stubbs, and Steve Bunch. Among us, we have experience in marketing, design, audio and video, music (obviously), banking, engineering, and education. More importantly, these are all our good friends!
The team quickly moved into planning opportunities to help rural and urban communities to connect and grow mutual artistic and economic projects. We are interested in urban/ag connections in areas such as community gardens and nutrition. Here is an example of our idea…
The team is also working on helping selected communities to solve self-determined problems. One community is rebuilding their city park (more to come on this). Below is a great example…
Another community wants to grow its nightlife base with a high-end cocktail bar (always good!). Here’s a wishful picture…
We are seeking partners, such as the Americana Music Academy, in Lawrence, and learning about grants which can help us reach our goals with our partners.
Our team is in a formative stage, so we hope that these projects will allow us to create a sustainable model to help communities within our region, while also helping musicians grow and reach broader audiences! Keep an eye on our blog for more info and other charming stories soon!