Nestled in Nature

Music and the arts thrive amid the verdant landscape of northwest Arkansas.

by

Travel

"How happy I am to be able to wander among bushes and herbs, under trees and over rocks; no man can love the country as I love it. Woods, trees, and rocks send back the echoes that man desires." — Ludwig Van Beethoven, Letter to the Baroness Von Drossock, 1810.

Anyone who knows Arkansas will speak of its wild beauty, of how the state’s countless forests, streams, lakes, and mountains have led it to be called the Natural State. Fewer connect that verdancy to the arts, but Arkansas is at its best when they go hand-in-hand, with concert and theater stages and galleries nestled in nature. That’s one takeaway from any trip to the Fayetteville-Bentonville area in the northwest corner of the state, where music and the arts are not only thriving, but are poised to make even greater strides forward.

Fayetteville

Vocalist Elizabeth Bainbridge would have to agree. Having moved to Fayetteville from Memphis some 25 years ago, she’s been involved with the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA) ever since, even while raising two kids and pursuing a career in speech therapy. She also sings jazz regularly at venues like the Inn at Carnall Hall, Calle, and Sassafras Vinyard. Soon after she joined the SoNA Singers choral ensemble, she became chorus manager, and continues in that capacity to this day. Yet it was the natural beauty of the town that most impressed her as she settled in.

“When I first moved here, there were already paved bike trails following the creeks through the middle of town. Fayetteville has a lot of hills, and at the base of the hills you have creeks, and they created these concrete bike trails all through the city along them. When Ella was a baby, I would put her in a little baby seat on the back of my bike, and I was like, ‘I’ve died and gone to heaven!’ and ride my bike with her along the trails. Then over the last 20 years they just keep adding more and more trails, to the point where you could now walk or bike anywhere in the city on a trail within a block of your house.”

For this Memphis transplant, these aren’t just any bike trails, but passages bound to the surrounding mountain terrain. “The best part is,” Bainbridge adds, “you’re riding next to a creek with clear clean water flowing over Arkansas field stone, and almost the entire ride is shaded because we have so many trees in the city.”

Commuting to work on her bike more than ever these days has helped Bainbridge keep perspective on balancing her work with her art, she says, and has allowed her to keep music at the center of her life. By her reckoning, a similar spirit animates both the bike trails and SoNA’s mission: a commitment to everyday folks. The trails are meant to serve all of Fayetteville. “You’ll see people in McDonald’s uniforms and other people walking to and from work,” she says. SoNA, too, has a deeply populist ethos, exemplified by their SoNA Beyond series. 

“SoNA Beyond is a smaller ensemble series, related to Walton Family Foundation  outreach,” says Bainbridge. “They’ll say, ‘If you perform at a public library under these certain conditions, then we’ll underwrite the performance.’ So the chorus has given an annual live public library concert where we coordinate with local poets. In years past, we used the University of Arkansas poetry department, and they would have two or three master-level poets come and read. Terry [Hicks, choral conductor] would pick, say, eight or 10 choral pieces with lyrics written by famous poets. Then we would sing whatever arrangement was made for it, followed by readings of poems in response to that. This year, for the first time, we worked with the Arkansas Poet Laureate [Suzanne Underwood Rhodes].”

Known as Transcending Words, the poetry and music series within SoNA Beyond just performed this May at the Fayetteville Public Library, and with titles like “Two-Faced Spring,” “Beautiful Morning,” and “Hark! Hark! The Lark,” nature’s inspiration was very present. SoNa Beyond also ventures outside of Fayetteville. Upcoming events will include a new setting of Holst’s The Planets arranged by SoNA bassoonist Richard Bobo for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, violin, and cello, performed at the Siloam Springs Public Library (July 14th) and the Bella Vista Public Library (July 15th). Other times, SoNA performs in nearby Bentonville and its crown jewel, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Bentonville

Even without leaving Fayetteville, the Walton Family Foundation, founded 30 miles north in Bentonville, is never far away. SoNA, for example, typically performs its full orchestral shows at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center, as do other major touring acts. Meanwhile, the center’s newly renovated Alexander Gallery at Porter Art Warehouse just kicked off a new exhibit on native son Levon Helm, running through September 6th, celebrating the singing drummer’s life in The Band and other musical endeavors.

One visit to Crystal Bridges, though, will make that plain enough. Founded in 2005 by Sam Walton’s only daughter, Alice Walton, Crystal Bridges — the campus — sits in 134 acres of forest and includes several buildings dedicated to art and wellness: the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (founded in 2011), the Heartland Whole Health Institute, and the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine. A rare Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house has also been relocated to the museum grounds. Thus, the campus unites art, architecture, nature, education, and wellness in an unprecedented way. Over five miles of trails connect the buildings, with art installations both inside and outside, and with terrain ranging from Ozark forest (and an accredited arboretum) to display gardens.

All in all, it’s a testament to the power of meshing nature and art, and naturally that includes music. Just this April, for example, SoNA Beyond held a special iteration of the series at the museum’s Great Hall, a string ensemble performance of American music to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Titled Declaration and curated by SoNA violist Jesse Collett, the program’s repertoire featured works by American composers like William Grant Still and Florence Price — both of whom have deep Arkansas roots.

Just last month, Crystal Bridges unveiled a new 114,000-square-foot expansion, years in the making, that will profoundly enhance the presentation of art and music there. Adding two new galleries, the expansion extends the museum’s original looped circulation, completing a figure-eight across two stream-fed ponds within the surrounding ravine. As described in a press release, “It is inspired by the region’s natural setting and building traditions. The expansion features exposed Southern yellow pine beams, sloping roof forms with extended overhangs, expansive floor-to-ceiling glass and copper cladding, and a series of porches overlooking the landscape.” All in all, it’s a perfect space to view a collection spanning five centuries of American art, including colonial portraiture, nineteenth- and twentieth-century works, and a rotating selection of contemporary and Indigenous art.

As Rod Bigelow, executive director of Crystal Bridges, noted, “This project represents an extraordinary undertaking for the museum, not only expanding our physical space, but shaping a renewed campus where architecture and nature work in close dialogue.”  

Furthermore, as Bainbridge explains, it’s all part of a shared regional community. A serious biker could even explore it all without a car. “Northwest Arkansas, from Fayetteville to Bella Vista, has created this network of paved trails,” Bainbridge says. “They either go right next to the road or they follow creeks, and twice a year you can do the Square 2 Square ride, where you start in Fayetteville and ride to the Bentonville town square, which is like 22 miles, in the spring, and then in the fall it’s from Bentonville to Fayetteville. And you know, everybody, even people who can’t ride very well, gets out and does it.”

Via bike or car, there are plenty of musical reasons to make the Bentonville trip, including the Walmart AMP (in neighboring Rogers, Arkansas). This month, the massive pavilion will truly shine, featuring Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams & Her Band, and The John Doe Folk Trio on July 3rd, and a  fireworks display with patriotic pops performed by SoNA on July 4th. There’s also the Crystal Bridges-sponsored venue in downtown Bentonville, The Momentary, which hosts both musical and culinary events. Its standout concert for July will be Rhiannon Giddens and her show, American Tunes: Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing. And December will see the next edition of the Inverse Performance Art festival, with details yet to be announced.

Arkansas Music Week

If all this makes it clear that Northwest Arkansas is hopping in terms of the arts and music, it’s really a state-wide phenomenon. That’s the point of a new initiative that’s fast gaining steam: Arkansas Music Week. Having begun last year, with great success, plans for this year’s version, from August 23-30, have only expanded it, with more than 40 events and 100 artists returning to Fayetteville this summer. In addition to bands filling up local venues, there will be Irish and bluegrass jams at the Fayetteville Folk School, sponsored by Ozark Folkways Presents, not to mention The Music Industry Meetup, a free networking series for all who make Arkansas’ music scene thrive, at George’s Majestic Lounge.

George’s is a venerable venue in the region’s history, and next year the state’s oldest continually operated live music venue will be celebrating 100 years. Until then, it remains the place to see bands of all genres. And that embrace of diverse styles is key to Arkansas Music Week as well.

As Robert Locke, president of Arkansas Music Experience, the week’s organizer, notes, “We’ve got local legends playing like the Cate Brothers, or Paul Boatwright, who was the lead singer of a band called Punkinhead. They were massive in the area, and they just announced a reunion show that sold out in like six hours. We also have really cool bands that have been playing around the market for a few years, like Avery Lee, Fight Dream, the Dawn Cate Band, and a big punk show with TV Preacher, Count Your Cards, and Liquid Courage. We’re working on a metal event right now, and we’re about to add some hip-hop to it.

In Locke’s reckoning, this kind of celebration of the state’s music is long overdue. “We’ve got a lot of history in Arkansas that we really want to shine a light on,” he says, “because oftentimes Arkansas’ musical past gets overshadowed by Levon Helm and Al Green and Johnny Cash, but there’s a whole lot more under that surface. I think if musicians in Arkansas realized the cultural impact that Arkansas music has had on the country, I think they would find it completely mind-blowing.”