Brewing company holds benefit to preserve Indiana landscape

Voices and tunes that evoke bygone eras will ring out at Upland Brewing Company on Saturday to help keep southern Indiana green.

The first Hillbilly Haiku Americana Music Festival, a benefit for the Sycamore Land Trust, will begin at Upland at 12:45 p.m. Saturday. Six Americana artists – The Stringtown Pickers, Larry Crane, Sara Petite, Jason Wilber, Aaron Persinger and Todd Snider – will take the stage in an all-day show for the nonprofit organization whose mission is to maintain the natural landscape of southern Indiana.

While the alliterative name of the music festival might seem to have little to do with raising money for southern Indiana natural habitats, it’s all connected.

The event name “Hillbilly Haiku” is a phrase lifted from the song “Cold Dog Soup” by Americana artist Guy Clark.

While the event is titled “Hillbilly,” Persinger said Americana isn’t restricted to tunes that twang.

“The beauty of the label Americana is it encompasses so much,” he said. “It’s growing a lot. It’s focused on songwriting and people who can write songs that mean something.”

The Sycamore Land Trust has been working since 1980 to preserve the southern Indiana landscape, said outreach coordinator Erin Hollinden.

The trust is comprised of 26 counties in southern Indiana and creates nature reserves for people to use for recreation and research that also serve as wildlife habitats, Hollinden said.

Persinger, who grew up in Jackson County, appreciates the work that the Sycamore Land Trust is doing in Indiana.

“I grew up in the woods,” he said. “I live in a log cabin by Lake Monroe now. I think the beautiful land we have here does get taken for granted.”

Upland Brewing Company’s event organizers don’t know how much they expect to raise with this first – year event but hope to continue to contribute in coming years, said Scott Johnson, Upland marketing operations manager.

Johnson’s wish is to raise $10,000 each year for the Sycamore Land Trust through the Hillbilly Haiku Music Festival.

Though the benefit is a first-time event, it is getting much attention from out-of-town Americana lovers due to the headlining musician, Todd Snider, Johnson said.

“I didn’t know what this was going to be like until he signed on,” Johnson said. “Getting him to be a part of the event was a stepping stone for us.”

However, he asserted that all the artists were locally well-known and respected and should come together for a good time.

“Twenty dollars for a festival where you see six bands is not bad at all,” he said, commenting on the festival’s ticket price.

Americana music is a good pick for this benefit, Persinger said.

“Americana has this musical heritage that’s part of the land,” Persinger said. “It’s hard for me to imagine sitting by the barn and there not be music ringing through the hills. As long as there have been settlers in Indiana, there has been music, and that’s part of it.”