The Nest & Songbirds Studios Offer a New Musical Diverson in Gastonia

(Article originally printed in The Gaston Gazette on October 22, 2015 and in the online edition on October 21, 2015.)

“If you want to come and listen to music in the best-sounding music venue in Gaston County, come to The Nest.”

That is the very succinct description given by Danny Kutcher, owner and booker at a very new and unique music performance space in Gastonia. 

The Nest at Songbirds Studios is a “listening room” which unlike most music venues that center around bars and loud crowds tends to center around the artists themselves and the experience of truly hearing the music. 

 

The baby grand piano loved by all traveling artists.

Kutcher, along with friend and business partner April Perkins Smith, created Songbirds Studios as a music education business specializing in teaching appreciation and love of music to children.  Later Songbirds spread its wings by adding The Nest as a performance spot.

The idea of a music teaching studio and performance space came naturally to Kutcher and Smith who met at The Evening Muse in Charlotte in 2010 after Smith answered an ad on Craigslist that Kutcher placed for a musician. 

The rest, as they say, is pure music history.

Back in 2013, Songbirds Studios started as a ground-up music education facility in Gastonia near the historic York Chester Neighborhood.  Smith was a mother with young children who wasn’t quite ready to return to a typical work life after being a stay-at-home mom.  With Kutcher’s background in music and theatre and Smith’s degree in Music Therapy and years of training herself, it only made sense to take what they loved and make it into a career. 

Julia Skolnik practices guitar with April Smith.

Songbirds began with Kindermusik, a musical experience geared toward children aged 6 months to 5 years which uses music and movement to enhance learning potential, and then moved onto lessons in guitar, piano, voice and various string instruments like cello and violin. The project then took on a second dimension when it added The Nest as a live music venue after moving to The Rodi Event Center on Garrison Boulevard.

 Of course, the true originality would have to be the combination of Songbirds’ musical education along with The Nest’s musical entertainment.

 According to Kutcher, The Nest offers a “true music appreciation experience”.  Which makes sense when the teachers at Songbird are building on that appreciation for music starting with children as young as 6 months old. 

April Smith helps 4 year-old Julia on guitar.

“I have watched her come out of her shell,” says Jessica Skolnik of her 4 year-old daughter, Julia, who has been participating in Smith’s Kindermusik class since she was 2.  When Skolnik and her husband Joe enrolled Julia in the class, she was so shy she barely spoke.  Gaining confidence and social skills are only a small part of what Kindermusik brings to the toddler and preschool-aged set.

"They think they’re just playing and listening to music, but really they are getting a foundation,” says Smith.  “A foundation for later subjects like reading and math, for fostering music appreciation, learning to follow directions, balance, gait…..so many things!”

 

The teaching staff at Songbird is definitely well-rounded with years of training and education with Smith teaching cello and Kindermusik, Kutcher on guitar and voice as well as Christy Bell leading piano and voice and Alex Melvin on guitar.  Voice teacher Corey Lovelace is also a member of Opera Carolina. 

 

With the bedrock of Songbirds, Smith and Kutcher thought a live venue was the next logical step.

 

Kutcher says The Nest draws “a certain kind of music fan” as well as certain kinds of artists that enjoy an “intimacy with the audience”. 

 

The music played at The Nest is mostly acoustic but also includes bluegrass, singer/songwriter type artists and the newer Americana genre.  Local bands like The Menders and Dust & Ashes have played in the listening room and so have touring bands like The Devyl Nellys, Gillian Grogan and Oh My Love.              

 

Recently, Ed Snodderly, who made an appearance playing fiddle onscreen in the 2000 film O, Brother Where Art Thou made a stop at The Nest and captivated the audience with his stylings on the banjo, acoustic guitar and Dobro, a wood-bodied single cone resonator guitar.

 

The partnership of music with Smith and Kutcher can also be seen in the band they have together, Porcelain, which has played in several clubs all over North Carolina and in the listening room at The Nest as well. 

 

“We just complement each other,” Smith and Kutcher practically say together.  In friendship, in music and in the business of teaching children and bringing adults in to enjoy music in the listening room.  “It just fits,” Kutcher says.

 

 

While a "listening room" may sound like an unusual place, it makes perfect sense to Kutcher, who grew up visiting Café Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY. 

 

“My mother was a poet, bohemian type who took me there and introduced me to all kinds of artists like James Taylor, Janis Ian, Ani DiFranco, Tracy Chapman and others,” says Kutcher.  “It taught me that there was nothing like sitting in a room with dense sound.”

 

That “dense sound” is the very thing Kutcher is working to achieve at The Nest by creating a room with acoustic paneling and heavy curtains.  The purpose of this listening room is for “music appreciation, not background music," Kutcher says.

 

 

Unlike most typical music venues, there’s no bar.  Most shows are all-ages and welcome children. Patrons are asked to silence their phones.  The tone of the room is one of informality but also one of respect.

 

Fans and artists alike seem to love The Nest both for its sound quality and the intimacy with the crowd.

 

“This feels like being in a living room,” said James Wilson of the touring band The Paisley Fields while he was on stage.  “It’s fun!”

 

The Paisley Fields bring the harmonies.

 

Wilson was also enamored with the baby grand piano on the stage and was thrilled he could take a night off from playing on his electric keyboards.

 

Heather Himes of Dust & Ashes also loved the attention of the audience and said playing in a room without a bar made her feel “more pressure to play well.”

 

“I can tell everyone is really listening!” Himes said but was also quick to note that the room didn’t seem burdened by “a lot of rules” that some similar rooms may have.

 

Kutcher calls The Nest a “do what you feel kind of environment” and is always thrilled when spontaneous improvising and chatting comes from the artists while performing at The Nest.  He likens it to the popular MTV acoustic show from the 1990’s, Unplugged. 

 

This spontaneity could be seen as many listeners got up and started to dance toward the end of the evening after being encouraged by the band.  Many patrons also commented on how they liked being so close to the band and could talk to them throughout the performance.

 

Dust & Ashes sound off in the listening room.

 

“It’s all about appreciation,” says Kutcher.  “And community,” chimes in Smith. 

 

With Songbirds’ lessons, music camps and birthday parties along with The Nest’s live shows of unique artists in its special listening room it’s easy to see that spirit of community and appreciation.  The unique potential of this new education and entertainment center in Gastonia seems boundless.

 

And for two talented musicians who met on Craigslist, of all places, it appears to be a dream come true. 

 

The Nest and Songbirds Studios is located in Suite B at the Rodi Event Center on Garrison Boulevard.  For information on lessons with Songbirds Studios or for booking and show information at The Nest, call 704-867-5530.  Find more information on Facebook and online at www.songbirdsstudios.com.