(Photo by Todd Zimmer)
This week, we’ll be highlighting some of the events and artists at the 10th annual Crossroads Music Fest on Saturday, September 6. Please visit cmfkc.com for tickets or more information.
Along with The Record Machine (see our spotlight on them earlier this week), Money Wolf Music will be curating its own stage at CMF this year for the first time. This Kansas City collective/production house/record label has helped put musicians on display to different audiences in unconventional settings; for instance, they often put on exclusive secret shows and coordinate a private hotel showcase at the annual Folk Alliance International conference. By also co-organizing networking and informational sessions, recording and releasing albums, and advocating for its artist roster—which includes Dollar Fox (pictured above), The Hillary Watts Riot, Dead Ven, and others—Money Wolf is an important resource to Kansas City music.
This year, Money Wolf will host a songwriter showcase at Celina Tio’s Crossroads district restaurant, Collection. The event will feature songwriters’ circles: four sets of four artists will trade off songs. Tommy Donoho, one of the main forces behind Money Wolf and the frontman of Dollar Fox, talks to us about what we can expect from Saturday.
The Deli: The Money Wolf stage at Collection features 16 different acts. Tell us why festivalgoers should make a point to check out this showcase.
Tommy Donoho: We worked hard to put together a lineup that truly represents the amazing diversity in this city. From folk to punk to blues to instrumental to pop to country to full-on freaks, we wanted people to really experience a taste of ALL the great songwriters this city has to offer. Plus, we’re doing a very intimate, simple mic set-up—kind of the old time approach—to capture the real essence of what these people sound like. It’s a songwriter-focused stage in every possible way.
The Deli: Do you have any surprises in store?
Donoho: You know us all too well. For us, the surprise was the diversity of the lineup. It’s something we’re really reaching towards—getting people to see ALL the music KC has to offer. Of course, you get this many folks together, I’m guessing someone is going to bust out something that inspires collaboration.
The Deli: Why did you decide to curate a stage at CMF?
Donoho: Last year, Justin [Penney] was hired to run sound at the venue for CMF and it went well. Over the last year, he and I have had more contact with both Celina and Bill [Sundahl] and it made sense to bring us back this year.
The songwriter circle idea came from Bill. I think he saw the potential of what we were pulling together with our involvement with Folk Alliance International some of the songwriting circles we’ve been hosting with a variety of artists. What can I say? Bill trusted us to make something unique.
The Deli: What value does this have for the KC music community?
Donoho: I’m hoping musicians make new friends and fans. I’m hoping fans find more musicians they weren’t even aware existed. And mostly I’m hoping we’ll get more and more people out to see a wider variety of shows in the future. The town and the people who write songs in it are fucking amazing. I’m starting to see the city embrace this notion more and more. I’m hoping they’ll embrace our vision of how there’s no difference between Mikal Shapiro and Mike Alexander. They write songs and damn good ones; music fans should see the musicians at the core of what they are. And that’s the biggest benefit we can hope for: to have people walking away saying, “Holy shit, those people can write some songs.”
The Deli: What else does Money Wolf have coming up that you’re looking forward to?
Donoho: We’re actually hosting our second Sonic Saturday Social Club at 3:00 on the day of CMF. It’s an event we’re working on with Coda, where we bring in rock bands on the first Saturday of each month. Day drinking, rock and roll, all ages, good food. It’s all about exposing people to great music.
On September 22, we’re hosting another of our infamous Secret Shows. We have Zachary Lucky from Canada rolling in. He blew people away at the FAI conference and we’re hoping to get him in front of more people. He writes some of the best sad bastard tunes around. He picked the most depressing day of the week to hit town. So we’re going to celebrate all the sadness by serving up some delicious competition smoked BBQ and music. We’re calling it All Your Hopes Go Up in Smoke. It’ll be limited to a mere 20 tickets. We’ll be announcing all of it soon.
The Deli: Tell us what some of Money Wolf’s artists have going on.
Donoho: The Hillary Watts Riot has been playing a ton in and out of town and are about to release a new video. Dead Ven is playing everywhere, including a set with the Ataris, I believe. He’s a really spectacular songwriter. Dollar Fox is woodshedding for a while, but I’m always out playing. And we just did the Records with Merritt live show, recording. It was a huge success and songs are being mixed to ship out to press here very soon.
We stay busy here at Money Wolf Music. And this CMF event is something we’re crazy excited for. It’s gonna be a great night.
Start your day off early at Coda and catch Money Wolf’s Sonic Saturday Social Club at 3:00 p.m., with The Thunderclaps (our artist of the month!) and Oldfield Victory. Facebook event page. Then, at 6, be sure to hit up the showcase at Collection, with 16 different songwriters. Facebook event page.
–Michelle Bacon