Afton Wolfe tour diary for Mile of Music Festival
My friends Adrian + Meredith were how I first heard of Mile of Music Festival, and then I found out that their good friend and manager, Ian, was one of the organizers for the festival. That was in 2022, and each subsequent year thereafter, I would inadvertently miss the application deadline and see a lot of my friends playing this special event in this little city of Appleton, Wisconsin, the lore of which would grow every year, along with my regret and jealousy.
This year I got my application in before the deadline, and I even reached out to Ian, since I’d had to shamefully apologize for missing it when seeing him occasionally over the years. And, to my great honor and joy, I was accepted and invited to play. And everything that my friends who’d played it in previous years (there is a strong pipeline from Nashville to this fest, and seemingly particularly to my own associates therein) had told me about it was understandably understated.
There really is no way to describe this event, and that’s particularly true when trying to explain it to a fellow musician, and even more so to a Nashville musician. To think that there’s a live music festival that’s free for the attendees, that pays artists, because the community cares, and where the crowd listens to original music?! It would be like telling me about a unicorn; you could describe it, but it wouldn’t be real until I saw it myself. And I saw it myself. They weren’t lying.
To qualify, Mile of Music also provides a ton of support services – audiology, massage, chiropractic, financial, and many many other services – to the artists that play the festival, not to mention a stellar artist lounge that was constantly stocked with food and drink and unbelievable generosity from almost all of the local businesses to anyone with an “ARTIST” lanyard. I took advantage of very little of that, mainly because my schedule was so busy. But also because I took advantage of probably the most luxurious and special of perks offered at this festival: I stayed with a “host” family in Appleton – where I had my own, quiet room in a lovely house in a nice quiet neighborhood by the park. And a really sweet old kitty cat named “Bob.”
My hosts/Bob’s humans were Rick and Janet Jandl (pronounced yǒn-dul), an absolutely delightful retired couple who were so very kind and cool. We hung out a good bit, especially over coffee on their front porch in the mornings. I had a wonderful private bedroom, my own bathroom, and a sweet little backyard that was full of squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and 1,000 species of birds. I look forward to seeing them again soon.
I can’t really describe what it is like as an attendee. It seems like it would be amazing. The thoughtfully-curated lineup is stacked with a truly wide-ranging variety of solo artists, songwriters, and bands. Listing every act would be impossible, so I shouldn’t list anyone. The people that mattered most to me, of course, were my bandmates – Daniel Seymour, Seth Fox, and Lauren Horbal. These guys worked their asses off, playing sets with me and with Nigel Wearne – an excellent songwriter, performer and all around good bloke from Australia. A couple of years back, he’d gotten Seth and Dan and Lauren to play with him at AmericanaFest and some subsequent shows. And since Dan and Seth and I have been playing together for years, the most obvious thing to do was to have them play with me. Ian graciously accommodated that, and it all worked out. But that is definitely not to take away from – again – how much these musicians hustled and worked over the course of the festival.
Those people are incredible, and they played 4 sets – each literally more fun than the last and starting at a very high level – with me. That’s the most enjoyable part of this – being on a stage with people I care about and respect, playing songs I found and fell in love with. Playing live music to a crowd that is feeding energy back to me and my friends on stage is my favorite thing I’ve ever experienced. I do it a lot, and I never get tired of it.
We did that. First at Riverside Bar & Grill on Thursday, which was the first full day of the festival. A very good first set – the first time all 4 of us had been on a stage together. A couple of songs didn’t really work as well as others, so I adjusted the set list for our second show at The Bent Keg which was later that same night, which I got to after a nap at the Jandl’s house. That set was even better, and Zach Douglas (a Nashville trumpet player, sound engineer and brilliant homie) played the trumpet on “Rules of War” – which he also did in the studio.
Our third set, the next afternoon at a brewery called McFleshman’s, seemed like it would not be topped. First of all, we weren’t even sure it would happen, because the forecast had some rain in it, and the stage at McFleshman’s was outdoors. I walked over to the venue when they opened, where I met the owner, and he assured me that they were ready, and rain or shine, we’d be singing some songs there, even if we had to adjust the location. Luckily, it worked out so that everything went ahead as originally planned, as at least until later into the night, the rain never got very heavy or steady, and the lightning never showed up.
But as for the show itself, the band was smoking. After playing 2 sets on Thursday, playing a lot of the songs twice already, and maybe more importantly, with a better idea of which ones worked, and how they worked and felt together. That does change with different personnel in the band, and while Seth and Dan I know well, Lauren has her own style, which blends with Dan’s style and dictates how Seth and I both play the songs. All that to say – the set list was carefully crafted for both our enjoyment on the stage and hopefully (and evidently) for the crowd’s pleasure as well.
However, the setlist had a stipulation that had to be considered, since the night before, I had run into Chris Pierce at the Durty Leprechaun. He and I discussed our mutual admiration of Brian Wright, and he offered his services on the harmonica. I obviously accepted, and I set about putting 3 songs appropriate for harmonica (and only requiring one harmonica on Chris’s part) into the latter part of the set – both because it would be a dynamic acceleration and because Chris had his own set finishing up around the time that ours was getting started, so he couldn’t be there right at the start). Anyway, Chris Pierce – an undeniable and singular force in the world of song – got on to the stage for “Last King of the Blues,” “Dirty Girl,” and “New Orleans Going Down,” which are all blues-adjacent, and all require an A harmonica. It was one of the great musical moments of my life, and I will never forget it.
The next day – my final day of performances – was at Gibson Community Music Hall, which is a stunning mid-size venue, with a beautiful, great-sounding stage, and the room surrounded by local murals that give the place such a unique and inspiring feel. The band was perfect – just locked in and emptying the tank. Zach came back up and played “Rules of War” again, but he also joined us on “New Orleans Going Down” and “Cry” (on which he also played trumpet in the studio). The crowd was also right there with us on a cosmic wavelength – hanging on to every word and note and giving us back as much as we were pouring out. It was a great way to end the week.
I wanted to make this as brief as I could, but so much happened. I haven’t even mentioned the next day, when I went to Chicago for, curiously, the first time in my life (other than layovers in O’Hare) – how I crammed in a metric ton of experience in just around 36 hours in that beautiful city – Wrigley Field, Phyllis’ Musical Inn (who won their softball tournament before my show opening for the legendary Mike Felten), the architecture boat tour, and too much pizza at the original Lou Malnati’s.
But I have to talk about Brenda. This could be its own essay, and I’ll keep it as brief as I can. But while walking through Appleton on Friday night, a woman shouted, “Afton?!” And I turned to see Brenda. Brenda then proceeded to tell me how, when researching who she was going to try to see at the festival – which seems common practice from informal survey, from the Jandls and my new favorite radio station DJ, Ann Koenig of 91.1 The Avenue in Appleton – she was listening to my music. She came across “Cry,” and it touched her, because she was going through a very difficult period similar in circumstance to those I was dealing with when I found that song. It gave her the permission to feel her feelings and cry them out. I can’t emphasize enough what such an experience, especially with that song – which I feel is the most a priori evidence that songwriting is discovery, means to me.
Connections like that, which happen particularly with that song – though it occasionally happens with others as well, more than anything else, validate, affirm or render irrelevant every decision that has resulted in where I am with music. Whatever doubts I have – that this is a misguided mid-life crisis, that it’s a self-indulgent vanity project, that I’m not technically apt enough, or that it has not been worth the money, sweat, shame, or doubt itself – disappear and demonstrate to me that this is a calling, and it’s important.
So, thank you, Brenda. Thank you, Adrian and Meredith. Thank you, Ian. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Nigel, Seth, Dan, Lauren and Zach. Thank you, Rick and Janet. Thank you, Appleton. Thank you Mile of Music. And Bob the Cat.
Find more information on Afton Wolfe and his new album here:
Enjoy some of our previous coverage here: REVIEW: Afton Wolfe & The Snake Hunters “Live From the Fallout Shelter”