When Nelson French and his friends first began inviting musicians to play private concerts in David Drown’s cabin on Rocky Wall Road, they had no idea what their get togethers would evolve into eight years later.
David and Nelson knew a lot of local musicians. A neighbor, Gene LaFond, had traveled with Bob Dylan back in the day and had connections with a lot of musicians, as well. The house concerts, or cabin concerts, grew and grew until there came a time when thirty to forty guests were arriving to hear the music. The venue was getting to be too small.
Nelson is a volunteer chair of the Silver Bay Economic Development Authority and David is giving a lot of his time to the community in the role as the city’s first Economic Development Director. With their experience and a desire to bring music to the area, the non-profit Rocky Wall Productions was born. They thought, according to Nelson, “We’re having so much fun with this music…why don’t we form a non-profit and see if we can do a music series to share our love of music with everyone else in the community?”
Rocky Wall Productions was incorporated quickly after the question was posed in late June of 2021. They reached out to their musician friends and five concerts occurred in the city, at the ‘City Center Park’ (though at that time they made up the name, as there was no city center park) over that first summer. They estimate 1500 people in attendance that year. In 2022 that number grew to an estimated 2700. The goal for this year is to have 4000 attend over the eight scheduled concerts.
“We want to put Silver Bay on the map in a way that it wasn’t on the map before,” Nelson told me. “We’re using music to form a sense of community.”
Rocky Wall Productions’ goal, according to their mission statement, is to “present affordable, educational, and entertaining musical events to adults and children in the City of Silver Bay, produce high quality music concerts and events in the city of Silver Bay, on Lake Superior’s North Shore and in the North Country featuring the best of Americana Music, produce annual free outdoor summer music series in the City of Silver Bay, MN; and, provide resources to assist in the design and construction of an outdoor performance stage in Silver Bay, MN.”
The first year, Lovin’ Lake County funded the concerts entirely, apart from the generous in-kind services the city provides. Nowadays, Lovin’ Lake County remains the major donor. However, local cooperations, foundations, and individuals have contributed a lot of funding, as well. Since the series has become so popular, there are discussions of putting up an amphitheater as part of a larger effort to revitalize Silver Bay.
The concert series begins the week after the popular Silver Bay Bay Days Festival in an effort to fill the rest of the summer with Friday evening music. (As a bonus, the bugs usually die down by this time of the summer, as well.)
Based on feedback from those in attendance at the musical events, Nelson and his team try to secure regional and international artists as opposed to local artists, to bring in musicians that wouldn’t normally come to the area. In doing so, the concert series also introduces some of the musicians themselves to Silver Bay. James Loney, of Lolos Ghost, professed at the beginning of the concert that he’d never been North of Duluth. “It is just gorgeous up here, it’s so beautiful.” he admitted, the moment captured in a YouTube video of the full concert. (Look up Silver Bay Music in the Park and you will find full recordings of past concerts. The sound and videography are great!)
Rocky Wall Productions ensures a good mix of music genres. This year, the eight concerts in the series will kick off with country blues musician Charlie Parr on July 14th followed by the Tommy Pentz Band the following week. The summer will wrap up with Erik Koskinen who plays a wide variety of music.
Nelson, a music aficionado and huge Bob Dylan fan, has stayed connected with many different and diverse musicians over the years. His volunteerism spirit (he is also on the Board of Armory Arts and Music Center), musician networking, and skillset inspired him to be “giving of myself.” He is enthusiastic for all Rocky Wall Productions does for the area and encourages everyone to “come out and see the bands!”
The Silver Bay Music in the Park Concert Series schedule is available in an ad near you and on the Rocky Wall Productions’ Facebook page.
Please feel free to contact me at sarahwritesnsj@yahoo.com with any news we should news about!
