Pin drop silence may not be what many people think of when envisioning experiencing live music but that is the environment at the Trail Mix Acoustic Concert Series.
The second show of the four-concert season features Texas native Phoebe Hunt Aug. 12 at Homewood Izaak Walton Preserve. Now based in Nashville, Tennessee, the vocalist and fiddle player is touring in support of her solo album, “Nothing Else Matters,” which was released July 28.
“I actually met her backstage at the Frankfort Bluegrass Festival last year. My band had played there,” said Steve Ploum, director of Trail Mix Productions, and guitarist, mandolin player and vocalist for the female-led Butterfield Creek, which plays acoustic Americana and pop-folk with a pinch of bluegrass.
“I got to talking with her, looked up her music and really liked her. I also do a podcast called Kites and Strings where we interview artists from around the world. We got to talking with her on that. We really found her to be a fascinating person.”
Kites and Strings hosts Ploum and Catherine Chinnock originally featured the self-described mystical indie folk artist in a Sept. 11 episode and welcomed her back for a July 25 episode.
Opening for Hunt in Homewood is the Chicago-based Adjacent Cruise, the husband-and-wife duo of Shannon Richardson (vocal, guitars, writer) and Yuen Yee (vocal, keys, winds).
“They do a lot of original music,” Ploum said. “They bring very solid musicianship.”
Billed as a merge of different musical styles and cultures, Adjacent Cruise is promoting its debut album, “Light as a Feather, Heavy Like the Sun.”
The Homewood-based Trail Mix Productions, which obtained 501(c)(3) not-for-profit status in early 2023, started in 2016 as an acoustic music festival put together by teenagers in the Theatre & Arts Leadership Kouncil, which Ploum ran.
That daylong event showcased local talent and benefited Homewood Izaak Walton Preserve, where Trail Mix events continued after the Theatre & Arts Leadership Kouncil relocated in 2018 to Chicago.
“The Trail Mix concept stuck because there were some people I knew that were interested in keeping it going,” said Ploum, who is on the nonprofit’s board with fellow Homewood residents Steve Buchtel, Jeff Maharry and Kristen Ryan and former Homewood resident Andrew Palmer, who now lives in Chicago.
After first continuing as a festival, Trail Mix became a concert series in 2021 and has presented internationally touring musicians including Dom Flemons, Sunny War and Tommy Womack as well as local artists such as Nora O’Connor and Casey McDonough from Chicago-based supergroup The Flat Five.
“We love Izaak Walton Preserve. It’s a gem to have in our community, to have just this pocket of nature. It’s an organization that we support. We wanted to help raise funds for them and raise awareness of this setting,” Ploum said.
“As we’ve done concerts there I think people really lean into the idea of being out in nature and really listening to music. The idea of a listening room, so to speak. When people come to our concerts you can hear a pin drop.
“We’ve been able to introduce this idea of people really sitting and listening to music.”
Phoebe Hunt
When: 7 p.m. Aug. 12
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Where: Homewood Izaak Walton Preserve, 1100 W. Ridge Road, Homewood
Tickets: $17.50-$30 in advance; more on show day
Information: 708-297-0102; trailmixmusic.org
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.