Do you book musicians for farmers markets?

Yes. A singer with a guitar, a solo guitarist or an acoustic duo plays a market morning in sets with breaks, on a battery-powered system or none at all where the market has no power, and a whole season of Saturdays can be booked with one enquiry. Tell us the market, the hours and whether there's power, and we'll come back with a recommendation and a price.

Can you play a library program or a concert series?

Yes. A solo or a duo plays an adult program, an older adults' afternoon or a Sunday afternoon set in the meeting space or the atrium at 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest seat, a guitarist plays a small space without amplification, and a summer concert on the lawn or in the park takes a duo, a trio or the Americana band. Firstwater's sound bath books for library wellness programs too.

What does a rec center need to host live music?

A corner or a stage: 6 by 4 feet for a solo, 8 by 6 for a duo, 12 by 8 for a trio, and one dedicated 20-amp circuit, or two for a quartet. Load-in is 45 minutes to an hour before the program, and the sound system that fits the space comes with the booking. A certificate of insurance naming the district and a W-9 come with the contract.

Do you need power outdoors?

Not for a guitarist or a singer with a guitar, who play on a battery-powered system or without one. A band with drums needs one dedicated 20-amp circuit, and a park stage with its own sound system needs a word with whoever runs it beforehand.

Do you work with purchase orders and city vendor paperwork?

Yes. A W-9, a certificate of insurance naming the city, the district or the library as additional insured, and one itemised invoice that matches the purchase order come in the same email as the contract, so a business office can set up the vendor before the first date.

How much does a musician cost for a community event?

We publish no prices of our own. What a solo musician, a duo or a band costs in this market, with sources, is on the pricing page, and a season of dates is priced as a run. Send the dates and the venue and we'll price them.

Community programs

Musicians for farmers markets, library programs and rec centers.

A Saturday farmers market wants a singer with a guitar on a battery-powered system between the stalls. A library wants a duo for an adult program, a summer concert on the lawn, or a sound bath in the meeting space. A rec center wants an Americana band for a community evening or a guitarist for the older adults’ lunch. These are public programs, booked by a coordinator with a season to fill, a purchase order to raise and a certificate of insurance to file, and we book them the way we book everything else: one contract, sound included, one personal contact.

This is the community side of our daytime bookings. The acts are the ones on the rest of the roster: the singer and guitarist, the acoustic duo, the Americana band, the Spanish guitarist, the jazz duo and Firstwater’s sound bath.

Check a Date See Pricing

Trusted and booked by

Hear it

One musician with a loop pedal, and a trio outdoors.

Tejas Singh building No Woman No Cry from the ground up on his own, which is the kind of set one musician plays at a market, and Dirty Flamenco’s rumba, the sound of a trio on a lawn.

The programs

Markets, libraries, rec centers, and the summer series.

Farmers markets: A singer with a guitar, a solo guitarist or an acoustic duo, playing a market morning in sets with breaks, on a battery-powered system or none at all where the market has no power. The musician plays the folk, country and singer-songwriter end of the song list, the songs people know the words to, at a volume the stall next door can still sell over. Markets run a season, and a whole season of Saturdays can be booked with one enquiry.
Libraries: An adult program in the meeting space, a concert series in the evening or on the lawn in summer, an older adults’ afternoon with the standards, a Sunday afternoon jazz duo in the atrium, or a sound bath for a wellness program with the lights down. A library is a building built for quiet, so the sizes are solo and duo at 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest seat, and a guitarist plays a meeting space without amplification at all.
Rec centers and community centers: A community evening, a holiday open house, a summer concert in the park behind the building, an older adults’ lunch program with a guitarist, a family day with a singer. The Americana band, acoustic guitar, fiddle, upright bass and drums, plays the outdoor evening at trio or quartet size, and a solo or a duo plays everything indoors. Cities and districts book through a purchase order and want a certificate of insurance on file, and the certificate and the W-9 come with the contract.
Summer concert series: A city’s or a district’s summer series is booked months ahead, often through a call for performers, and the acts on this roster that play a park stage with a real sound system are the Americana band, Tejas Singh, Tony Medina and the yacht rock band. Send the call and we’ll answer it with the act that fits the stage.

Outdoors

Power, weather, permits and paperwork.

Most of these bookings are outside, or in a building with no sound system of its own, so here is the practical side, written to be forwarded to the market manager or the facilities office.

Power: One dedicated 20-amp circuit within reach of the setup, where there’s power. Where there isn’t, a guitarist or a singer with a guitar plays on a battery-powered system or none at all. A band with drums needs the circuit, and a park stage with its own sound system needs a conversation with whoever runs it before the day.
Weather: A covered, level and dry performance area, and an agreed rain call for moving indoors or cancelling, written down before the day. Colorado mornings start cold and afternoons turn fast, and instruments and electronics stop behaving in the wet.
Permits: A park, a plaza or a public right of way sometimes needs a permit for amplified sound, and the market or the city usually holds it. We ask before the day, and where the answer is no amplification, the acoustic sizes play without it.
Paperwork: A certificate of insurance naming the city, the district or the library as additional insured, a W-9, and one itemised invoice that matches the purchase order, all in the same email as the contract.
Footprint: 6 by 4 feet for a solo, 8 by 6 for a duo, 12 by 8 for a trio, on the ground or on a stage. Load-in takes 45 minutes for a solo and an hour for a duo or a trio, before the program starts.

Footprints, inputs and circuits for every size are on the technical page, written so a facilities office can check it line by line. A market or a program in a resort town is covered on the mountain corridor page, altitude included. What live music costs in this market is on the pricing page.

Questions

Asked by program coordinators.

Do you book musicians for farmers markets?: Yes. A singer with a guitar, a solo guitarist or an acoustic duo plays a market morning in sets with breaks, on a battery-powered system or none at all where the market has no power, and a whole season of Saturdays can be booked with one enquiry. Tell us the market, the hours and whether there's power, and we'll come back with a recommendation and a price.
Can you play a library program or a concert series?: Yes. A solo or a duo plays an adult program, an older adults' afternoon or a Sunday afternoon set in the meeting space or the atrium at 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest seat, a guitarist plays a small space without amplification, and a summer concert on the lawn or in the park takes a duo, a trio or the Americana band. Firstwater's sound bath books for library wellness programs too.
What does a rec center need to host live music?: A corner or a stage: 6 by 4 feet for a solo, 8 by 6 for a duo, 12 by 8 for a trio, and one dedicated 20-amp circuit, or two for a quartet. Load-in is 45 minutes to an hour before the program, and the sound system that fits the space comes with the booking. A certificate of insurance naming the district and a W-9 come with the contract.
Do you need power outdoors?: Not for a guitarist or a singer with a guitar, who play on a battery-powered system or without one. A band with drums needs one dedicated 20-amp circuit, and a park stage with its own sound system needs a word with whoever runs it beforehand.
Do you work with purchase orders and city vendor paperwork?: Yes. A W-9, a certificate of insurance naming the city, the district or the library as additional insured, and one itemised invoice that matches the purchase order come in the same email as the contract, so a business office can set up the vendor before the first date.
How much does a musician cost for a community event?: We publish no prices of our own. What a solo musician, a duo or a band costs in this market, with sources, is on the pricing page, and a season of dates is priced as a run. Send the dates and the venue and we'll price them.

Send us the season, the venue and whether there's power, and we'll recommend the act for it.

Live music for your event, from a solo musician to a full band, with sound support that’s the right size for the venue and a personal contact for the day.

Check a Date

Send us the date and the venue, and we’ll come back with a recommendation and a price for your day. What live music costs in this market is on the pricing page.