“When people ask, ‘How does this make sense?’ I tell them, ‘It doesn’t. It doesn’t make sense at all.’ But the thing is, I wasn’t going to allow that to prevent me from doing it,” says Hayden Arnot, the producer and driving force behind the concert series drawing national touring acts to The Muse, a 375 capacity self-described “dive bar” on the island of Nantucket. This summer alone, the venue has welcomed artists such as Mt. Joy, Dispatch, The Head and The Heart, The Fray, Sugar Ray, Natasha Bedingfield, Oteil & Friends, Marcus King Band, Everclear, Jimmy Eat World and many others.
Arnot’s efforts hearken back to an earlier time. During the 1990s, The Muse established itself as part of the national touring circuit, particularly for artists in the jam and Americana realms. Through the dogged determination of owner Mike O’Reilly, the venue hosted performances by Widespread Panic, The String Cheese Incident, John Mayer, moe., Guster, God Street Wine, From Good Homes, Strangefolk, Agents of Good Roots and numerous other acts. The versions of “Ants Marching” and “Tripping Billies” that appear on Dave Matthews Band’s debut album, Remember Two Things were recorded at The Muse. However, O’Reilly eventually opted to recalibrate and place his focus on local events and food service.
Although Arnot is too young to have attended any of the classic shows, he was well aware of the venue’s legacy. “I always heard about The Muse and I always knew who had played in there,” he says. “Every time you walk around the room, there are all these signed photos of the bands that played in years past. My dad would go there all the time back in the day, but I was born in ’93. The music stuff was really going strong in the ’90s until probably ’02 or ’03. So I missed Dispatch, Train, Guster, Dave, Mayer and Hootie. All of them played it. I remember thinking it was pretty wild that they all did that.”
The post Finding Inspiration Anew at The Muse in Nantucket appeared first on Relix.