Why do we call ourselves Harvest Home?
We have reached that season of our lives when we are harvesting the blessings of rich life experiences. Our daughters are grown with families of their own and we can squeeze out a little more time to pursue our interests in story, music, nature, and art. Decades of music practice and performing are now bearing fruit and we are reaping that harvest as we share our talents with others. Travels in the U.S. and abroad, as well as just our journey through life, provide a wealth of tales to share. Our adventures with music and story began way back before we got married and started to perform together.
Annie: I grew up listening to my dad’s vast record collection. Every Saturday night he’d start the LPs swirling on the turntable and my six siblings and I would dance around the living room until one of us would cause a record to skip. Then we’d be drawn into the kitchen by mom for homemade hamburgers and root beer floats with ice cream. I can still remember the words and melodies to many of those songs. Dan and I occasionally slip some into our performances for older folks to give them a walk down memory lane. And my mom read stories to us every night as we gathered around her, snuggled in our pajamas and blankets. She told Br’er Rabbit stories in the perfect voice. I remember her reading Where The Red Fern Grows aloud. The dogs in the book were old Dan and little Ann. I think that’s why I was destined to marry this guy named Dan.
We raised our own three daughters on Stories and Music, and love seeing that shared in the next generation with our 11 awesome grandchildren!
Dan: When I was 14 my sister got a guitar for Christmas, quickly lost interest, and I took it over with a passion. By high school I had nurtured that musical interest enough to play with the rock and roll group, “Redfeather and Friends.” These former band members remain some of my closest friends. College found me heavily exploring bluegrass banjo, and when I picked up the fiddle (through sale of my electric guitar), I was off into Americana (Old-Timey) and Celtic Music. I love each of my instruments’ unique voices – guitar, banjo, and fiddle. I love to sing. I enjoy delving into a wide range of musical genres: folk, classical, jazz, western swing, rock, bluegrass and Celtic. Besides playing as Harvest Home with Annie, I regularly perform with the Old Time Fiddlers. I am working with artisans to design and build a clawhammer banjo and a violin. Recently, the Hutchings Museum in Lehi videotaped my telling of stories about Saratoga, an amusement park that my family operated for 65 years.
We often weave music into our stories (whether they be personal, family, historical, or folktales), and perform at a variety of venues.
We perform at:
Music
- Heart and Soul events at least monthly since 2007. Heart and Soul (http://www.heartsoul.org) is a nonprofit organization that brings music to folks in Institutionalized settings like assisted living centers. Find us under Performers—Harvest Home)
- Welsh Festival in Malad, Idaho for 6 years
- Gallivan Center Lunch series, Pine Valley Heritage Days, the Dixie National Forest campgrounds, Brandin’ Iron Restaurant, Evanston Wyoming Celtic Festival, Salt Lake Avenues Scottish Festival, Salt Lake County and City Libraries, BYU ArtsExpress Conferences, Salt Lake County Fair, Millcreek Arts Festivals, Juvenile Diabetes Association conferences, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, pioneer treks, and other community and private events.
Storytelling
- We currently chair the Olympus (Salt Lake Valley) Chapter of the Utah Storytelling Guild (http://utahstorytelling.org/chapters/olympus-chapter), where we lead monthly meetings providing instruction, and encourage local tellers to share their stories, as well as tell our own.
- Repeat performances at the Weber Storytelling Festival, StoryCrossroads Festival in Salt Lake City, Pine Valley Community events, Club Vision, Clearfield and Clinton Story Nights. We’ve also performed at the Grantsville Honey Festival, Jewish Community Center, Park City KPCW radio, Millcreek Summer Jam preshow, and the Teton Storytelling and Arts Festival in Idaho, to name a few venues.
- Various schools
- We have hosted USG workshops, house concerts, judged youth telling competitions, and Annie has introduced national tellers at the Timpanogos Storytelling festival.