Photo: Steve Orr

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS TAVERN-E-STY?

    The club is owned by Bill Camplin and Kitty Welch, who began it in 1985. That’s a long time ago. You’d think they’d have fixed the place up by now. Bill is a singer-songwriter of modest regional fame (we are a modest region), and as a performer has created a listening space in which he and others of his ilk love to play.  Kitty, who enjoys modest regional fame for her physical resemblance to Henry Kissinger, wonders who others of her ilk might be.  They, their two children- Satchel (who now at twenty-two is a singer-songwriter in his own write) and Savannah, and their dog/actor-model Jeb, live above the business and it's obvious. The Carpe has a lovely staff more competent than themselves who help keep the place running, including Dennis Geszvain, Scott Arndt, Beth Gehred, Jason Gapinski, Jeremy Pinc, Cynthia Holt, and Satchel Welch, not to mention past staff who made huge contributions as well but this is not the Academy Awards.

    Due to the dearth of good small performance spaces, the club started to attract people on the singer-songwriter circuit, and has gained a national reputation among songwriters as a decent venue with wonderful attentive audiences. Unfortunately, there seem to be more people who want to play than there are people who show up to hear them. Come and enjoy the solitude as you listen to amazing talent with 2 to 15 others.  Or enjoy the show with more people than can reasonably fit, or anything in between.

    While the Carpe does not have a policy restricting any kind of music, the most of the performances are by singer-songwriters, since they are the majority of those who seek to be booked. Occasionally there is a bluegrass band, or a jazz combo, a play, a poetry performance, a reading by Ursula LeGuin, or an internationally acclaimed cellist...

    Among those who have appeared here in the last 17 years are Chris Smither, Mike Dowling, Sleepy LaBeef, Piper Road Spring Band, Cliff Eberhardt, Lucy Kaplansky, Dar Williams, Robin & Linda Williams, Brooks Williams, Jack Williams, Garnet Rogers, Buddy Mondlock, the Austin Lounge Lizards, Cheryl Wheeler, Richard Shindell, Greg Brown, LJ Booth, Tina Lie, the Chenille Sisters, Ellis Paul, Don Conoscenti, Bill Camplin, Patrick Ball, Kim Robertson, Ella Fitzgerald, Rachel Bissex, Dave Van Ronk, Denice Franke, Slaid Cleaves, John Sieger, Phil Lee, Greg Trooper, Marianne Flemming, BeJae Fleming, Bill Morrissey, Matt Haimovitz, Special Consensus, Country Joe MacDonald, Ralston Bowles, Dave Mallett, Maria Sangiolo, Mike and Amy Finders, Claudia Schmidt, Alastair Moock, Tricia Alexander, Paul Black, Paul Cebar, Steve Cohen, Peter Roller, Rory Block, Robin Pluer, Jim Craig, Pat Donohue, Dev Singh, Michael Johnson, Stephen Foster, Utah Phillips, Art Thieme, Tony Trischka, Eric Taylor, David Olney, Willy Porter, Dayna Kurtz, Mrs. Fun, Cam Waters, John McEuen, Ray Bonneville, the Buzzards, Nicki Mehta, Heartsfield,  Kasim Sulton, Louise Taylor, Hugh Blumenfeld, the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra, Bernice Lewis, Chuck Brodsky, Walter Craft, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Lynn Miles, James Lee Stanley, Ronny Cox, the Nields, Vance Gilbert, Peter Mulvey, David Goodrich, Bryan Bowers, John Stewart, Judd Grossman, Laurie McCLain, Alpha Stewart, Jason Klagstad, Chris Proctor, Paddy Keenan, Bill Miller, Tom Pirozolli, Tom Prasado-Rao, James Keelaghan,  Cosy Sheridan, TR Ritchie, Margo Hennebach, Dick Smith, Susan Shore, David Massengill, Pieta Brown, Bo Ramsey, Dakota Dave Hull, Dave Ray, Paul Sprawl, Malcolm Holcombe, Paul Curreri, Devon Sproule, Peter & Lou Berryman, Art Paul Schlosser, Radoslav Lorkovic, Kat Eggleston, Betsy Kaske, John Smith, Dan Sebranek, Les Sampou, Peter Mayer, Christine Kane, Bob Dylan, Carey Ott, Stephen Fearing, Kate Campbell, Tom Dundee, Andrew Calhoun, Preston Reed, Jeffrey Foucault, Adrian Legg, Jim Post, Howard Levy, Annie Gallup, Joe Rathbone, Joe Crookston, Andy White, Sterling Waters, Tracy Jane Comer, Dave Moore, Boulder Acoustic Society, Paradise String Band, The Kennedys, Pete Morton, Fred Eaglesmith, Mare Edstrom, Kenn Fox, Randy Sabien, Prudence Johnson, Gary Rue, Martyn Joseph, Larry Penn, John Renbourn and Jacquie McShee, Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart, the Soucie Brothers, Mustard's Retreat, Mark Erelli, Meridian Green and Gene Parsons, Sam Pacetti, Kris Delmhorst,  Cris and Ann Plata, John Gorka, Geoff Muldaur, Satchel Paige Welch, Chris Wagoner and Mary Gaines, Bob Westfall, Tim Grimm, Jason Wilber, Tony Bird--  there’s more I've probably forgotten but I’m getting tired. And I only stretched the truth 3 times...