What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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MAY 16-22, 2021 WHAT'S UP! 3 Art + Nature Stone fishes his river of songs for Artosphere visit JOCELYN MURPHY NWA Democrat-Gazette M usic and songs are always flowing through my world in some kind of organic way," Jayme Stone begins. Including, it feels, the way he speaks over the phone. It's a dulcet and lyrical experience to hear Stone talk about his craft. "And a recording is exactly that — it's a chronicle of a particular time, like a snapshot of the music that's compelling in the air at a given moment," he continues. Thus, the well is endless, he says of the tunes he can pull from during his Artosphere return. Stone has become something of a festival favorite for the Walton Arts Center's art and nature festival, the 2021 edition of which continues through May 23. Previous visits have come in the wake of album releases — 2013's "The Other Side of the Air" and 2015's "Lomax Project," for sure. There may be another visit in there, but all the travel tends to blur together over the years. One thing Stone definitely remembers, though, is eating at Hugo's in Fayetteville "like 100 times." "So we just sort of keep going back into that deep river and fishing out new songs, and making them speak to our time in a way that's kind of the whole thrust of the project in the first place," he muses. To make up for Stone's lost Artosphere and West Street Live performances last year, he performs twice in this year's festival — during the popular Trail Mix event and at a May 20 show at WAC, Jayme Stone's "Folklife" (technically also billed as a West Street Live show). That translates to two completely opposing mindsets as Stone prepares for two distinct sets. "What's different is that you don't have intimacy and the arc of a set for a night of music, which is something that I think about a lot," he says of the Trail Mix concert. "I really think about a performance being like a theater piece, in the way that we'll have acts — it's like a show in two acts. I really consider the set list, and when I talk about the songs and tell stories, and the way that that kind of gets people's imagination revved up to take in a song." The effect he's going for, Stone reveals, is a spellbinding experience through the entire set. The way the songs weave together, the silence — or not silence — between moments, all contribute to the flow. It also impacts the interplay between Stone and his fellow musicians on stage and the audience contributing to the arc. That's the kind of experience viewers at Stone's May 20 performance can anticipate. Those who catch him at the Tyson Plaza during Trail Mix, though? Who can say? In the unpredictable outdoor environment, people coming and going, it's all about the individual songs. "It's just a matter of really being inside of each song as it's happening," Stone confirms. "Because sometimes, someone's just going to come and experience one song. So it's almost like you want to make it holographic, like everything is in that one song. It can be as dynamic and engaging as possible so if that's the only thing someone sees, it's like a complete experience unto itself." Stone is joined on this trip by Carolyn Hunter (guitar/vocals), Enion Tiller (fiddle/vocals) and Joy Adams (cello/ vocals) for a quartet with a "rootsy" disposition. Stone is known for his banjo playing and world-wise roots albums, so after his 2020 release "AWake" explored the wilds of experimental pop, Stone says he is looking forward to seeing some of his new material stripped back to his sonic roots. "I'm actually excited to see those sort of "It's like the typography is right inside the language of the songs," Jayme Stone says, thinking on the intersection of art and nature in his work. A Juno Award-winning composer, banjoist and instigator, Stone's folk-leaning tunes often have a visceral imagery in their words and their metaphors, he says. "So, it's like you're interacting with these sort of elemental experiences — love and death and longing — that are in the stories in the songs, and the environment. Forests and trails and mountain passes, and people calling across riverbanks and all of that. It's right in there." (Courtesy Photo) FAYETTEVILLE FAQ Jayme Stone's 'Folklife' WHEN — 7:30 p.m. May 20 WHERE — Walton Arts Center COST — $32-$52; limited tickets remain and Jayme Stone At Trail Mix WHEN — 5-7 p.m. May 21 WHERE — Tyson Plaza COST — Free INFO — 443-5600, waltonartscenter. org, jaymestone.com See Festival Page 4