About

Music has always been a huge part of our lives, both growing up and as part of our story together. We (Drew and Allison McKenzie) both have early memories of being shaped by the music our parents played around the house and later developing our own favorites. Now decades into being a couple, we have traveled thousands of miles, seeing over 1000 live sets of music together, many in Nashville, which has been our musical escape for over a decade. It’s safe to say that the pandemic, and the resulting void of live music, reminded us both how important shows had become in our enjoyment of life and the time we spend together.

As the Covid lock downs were ending in 2021, an artist we both loved in college and early adulthood, Matt Wertz, announced that he was doing a “Backyard Tour of America” to help bring live music back in as safe of a format as possible. Desperate for a live music fix and excited to potentially share Matt’s music with our friends, we put in a bid to host a show. Our bid was accepted and Matt showed up on a snowy (yikes!) day in mid-November and put on an amazing show in our backyard for us and about 35 of our friends.

Naturally, once we knew backyard or house shows were a thing, we were instantly hooked on hosting them. In 2022 we ended up hosting three shows, securing artists among the group of friends we’d been building in Nashville. That number grew in 2023, and in 2024 we will host 8 shows throughout the year, drawing artists among our friends, past performers, friends of friends, and even an artist we stumbled across on Spotify and couldn’t resist reaching out to.

Our PA system and tech specs have grown over time, as has our group of friends and neighbors who love coming to our shows, meeting and hearing new artists, and also making new connections in our community. It’s our biggest hope that or shows act as a catalyst for building community and provide artists with an enjoyable and financially rewarding break from their normal grind, all while we all just have a bunch of fun.