Culture
Gladden House Sessions Returning to NMF
By: Bryan Gibson
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The Gladden House Sessions, a video series produced by WOUB and Ohio University’s School of Media Arts & Studies, is returning to the Nelsonville Music Festival.
Launched during last year’s fest, the series features artist interviews and stripped-down acoustic performances on the porch of the historic Gladden House, located near the back of the festival grounds.
The new performance area became a popular attraction, with artists such as Valerie June, Pokey LaFarge and Ray Wylie Hubbard drawing big crowds.
Gladden House producer/host Josh Antonuccio is looking forward to next week’s sessions and hopes to build on last year’s success.
“We’re really excited about this year’s lineup as it takes shape. As with last year, we’ll highlight both regional and national artists, undiscovered and renowned,” he said.
The series was developed with Stuart’s Opera House Executive Director Tim Peacock and Marketing Director Brian Koscho, who were also involved with planning this year’s production.
“The festival is already one of the best in the Midwest, so it wasn’t like there was a notion that something needed to be changed,” explained Antonuccio. “It’s more that we wanted to create a space that could give more publicity to the festival and the artists, with videos distributed through WOUB, produced by Ohio University School of Media Arts & Studies students. Plus, it provides a place where fans could hear directly from musicians in a live interview-and-performance format while being a part of a live video shoot.”
The response from last year’s NMF attendees, coupled with the number of YouTube views (13,000 for the Pokey LaFarge clip alone), ensured The Gladden House Sessions would return for 2015.
“The feedback we got from fans was overwhelmingly positive,” said Antonuccio. “The sets were intimate, engaging, and for many, became a highlight of the festival programming. Tim Peacock and Brian Koscho were really encouraged by the reception this new space has received and have been really big supporters.”
This year’s Gladden House schedule is still being finalized, but Antonuccio said to expect five sets on both Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30, and four sets on Sunday, May 31.
WOUB will provide schedule updates on its new Nelsonville Music Festival coverage page and via Twitter and Facebook.
Videos of the sessions will be posted on woub.org in the weeks following the Nelsonville Music Festival. Click here for a playlist of last year’s Gladden House Sessions videos.