APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Music is still being heard throughout the streets of downtown Appleton for day two of Mile of Music.
The festival draws thousands of people from all over the country, including the artists who perform there.
The husband and wife duo that is the band Sirsy is playing at Mile of Music for the first time and was big hit Friday at the Red Lion Paper Valley Courtyard.
“It’s amazing!” said Rich Libutti, who plays guitar and bass for Sirsy. We did a lot of live streaming in our basement in upstate New York and, although that was fun, it’s weird to finish songs and not hear applause or see people, so it’s really cool to be able to interact with people in the flesh again.”
This last year and a half of the pandemic was undoubtedly tough for everyone, but it particularly hit musicians hard.
So, like many, Sirsy took to the web and hosted free virtual shows.
“Our fans were really generous and tipped us, and we were able to survive with that, from the love and support of them, so were lucky,” said Sirsy singer and drummer Melanie Krahmer. “You know, we tried to make the best of a bad situation.”
Chris Dollar of the Chicago Bluegrass band Henhouse Prowlers remembers the impact COVID had when it first hit.
“Immediately, it did take everybody off the road for a little while,” he said.
The Henhouse Prowlers quartet tried to keep busy by doing online music education for its nonprofit organization, Bluegrass Ambassadors.
“To a certain degree that kept us busy,” said Ben Wright, who helped start the band about 17 years ago. “It doesn’t mean we weren’t devastated by the fact that we couldn’t play and now that we’re back again, it’s amazing!”
While artists FOX 11 spoke to do say they’re happy to be back, they also say performing in front of large crowds does sometimes worry them.
“We wear our masks when we’re indoors and whenever possible, but yeah, I mean it would be great if everybody could think about more than themselves!” said Krahmer.
For Dollar, thinking about more than just himself is exactly what he’s doing.
“There’s obviously risks involved with other people, or bringing it home. I have an infant child at home, and I don’t want to bring COVID home too, obviously, but you know we’re wearing masks indoors.”
All musicians in both bands say they’re vaccinated and say they understand sometimes people can get lost in the music, and forget there’s even a pandemic still going on.
“It was an amazing show!” Wright said, recounting a show they did Thursday night. “It was so amazing, I forgot about COVID during the show, and then we had this talk afterwards, it was like, ‘Wow! That might’ve been an unsafe situation.’ And we all, in line, went to wash our hands, after having that conversation!”
Mile of Music runs through Sunday.
For a closer look at who’s performing, click here.
