Join the OYOU for one of our concerts, workshops, or events, and stay the night or make a weekend of it! We're located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. We're conveniently located between Austin and San Antonio. The beautiful San Marcos river is nearby as is a multitude of shops and restaurants. The OYOU is a proud member of the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce and appreciate you shopping, eating, and staying local during your time with us! 

Donations and sponsorships make this free concert series possible. 

The OYOU is committed to paying its teachers, artists, and performers. We are also committed to outreach within our community, celebrating diversity, and providing an artistic outlet to those with disabilities. 

The entire industry of the performing and visual arts has been turned upside down due to advances in technology and a massive shift in how people consume music and view the arts. We provide a source of income to artists by giving them an audience in which to perform and or teach. 

The OYOU creates and atmosphere where those that create and make their living in the arts can not only survive, but thrive, in both education and performance. 

Our classes are small. We also provide scholarships for those who would otherwise be unable to attend, and we also work with those with disabilities — often one on one.

Please considering donating to the OYOU so that we can pay our teachers and performers a reasonable wage for their hard work and creative efforts. 

Michael Hearne’s destiny has been tangled in wire and wood since he first laid his hands on a guitar at the age of seven. With a natural ear for harmony and an aptitude for picking, it wasn’t long before a young Michael Hearne was a fixture at parties and local events in his childhood hometown of Dallas. By the age of sixteen he had honed his skills on the guitar and, without a doubt in his mind about his destiny, he hit the road as a touring musician.

Michael’s career over the next few decades would take him across the southwest and beyond. Calling the mountains of northern New Mexico home for many years, Michael shared his talents as a singer, songwriter, and picker in bars, listening rooms and dance halls throughout the region. In the 1980’s, he toured as a member of Michael Martin Murphey’s band, recording on Murphey’s 1982 self-titled album for Liberty Records. Hearne has penned songs for Jerry Jeff Walker and Gary P. Nunn (“Lesson to be Learned from Love”) and his New Mexico anthem, “New Mexico Rain,” was recorded by country music legend Johnny Rodriguez as well as by his uncle and aunt, Bill and Bonnie Hearne. Michael has also co-written with Mentor Williams, Andy Byrd, Shake Russell, Keith Sykes, and many others.

Making a name for himself in his chosen hometown of Taos, New Mexico – Michael’s signature sound on the guitar and beautifully distinctive voice became an integral part of any two-stepping event in the area. Still a local favorite and a multi-time winner of Taos News ‘Best of Taos’ award for performer and singer – Michael wrote and recorded some of his best work during his years at the feet of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Recording countless albums both with his band South by Southwest and as a solo artist, and writing such classic tunes as the fan favorite “New Mexico Rain” and “High Road to Taos,” Michael found endless inspiration in the culture and natural beauty of the area. 

After hosting years of informal barn dances, Michael officially began his Big Barn Dance Music Festival in 2003. Now a three day event featuring the best songwriters and performers in Americana, Bluegrass, Country, Singer-Songwriter and everything in between, the event draws music aficionados from across the United States. Throughout the event, Michael is found either on-stage – adding his signature sound to the music of his friends and peers, or just to the side- soaking in the music and preparing to introduce the next talented act to his enraptured audience. 

After recording several albums in the early 2000s – including the critically-acclaimed concept album Sight and Sound: Songs Inspired by the Fine Art of Northern New Mexico (winner of seven awards at The New Mexico Music Awards), Michael made his way to Nashville, Tennessee. There, he wrote and recorded 2011’s Life in America – after surviving the historic Nashville floods in 2010. The album not only showcased some of Michael’s best songwriting to date, but the talents of producer Mark Fain and some of the top pickers in Music City, including Bryan Sutton, Stuart Duncan, and Andy Leftwich. 

With this new album in hand, Michael packed his bags for the nation’s other country music mecca – Austin, Texas. There, he teamed up with renowned Americana songwriter Shake Russell, touring throughout the year and recording a duo album as well as another solo album, Red River Dreams, in 2016. Still occasionally found performing with South by Southwest – made up of long time members Carmen Acciaioli, a musical master of the steel guitar, fiddle, mandolin, dobro, and hammered dulcimer; and the extremely talented Zeke Severson on stand up and electric bass – Michael makes a point to spend some time in his New Mexico homeland as well. 

Now with many miles behind him and countless stages beneath his feet, Michael has amassed a dedicated and ever-expanding fan base. After many busy years of touring, recording, and promoting his Big Barn Dance Music Festival, Michael Hearne still has no doubt in his mind about his calling. Whatever he might be doing, Michael is sure to be found with a guitar in hand, his destiny intertwined as ever in wire and wood.

“Michael Hearne’s record [High Road to Taos] embodies all that I love about New Mexico. Between his whiskey velvet voice, the evocative songwriting and gorgeous musical production, I found myself profoundly aching for my favorite place in the world” – Eliza Gilkyson

“Once in a while there comes a recording I never tire of playing. ‘My Funny Valentine’ by Chet Baker comes to mind. ‘Come Away With Me’ by Norah Jones is another. It’s like they were recorded only yesterday even though it might be years since they were first released. In January of 2008, I heard Michael Hearne’s High Road To Taos and I knew from the second or third time I played it, and that’s been a lot of plays ago, that this was one of those records I’ll always play and every time I do it will be as fascinating, alluring and inspiring as the first time I played it. It’s a very real classic and it’s my hope it gets the wide audience it so richly deserves.” – Keith Sykes

Michael's Website 

"Laugh as much as possible, always laugh. It's the sweetest thing one can do for oneself & one's fellow human beings." - Maya Angelou

"Laughter is the best medicine!" 

"He who laughs, lasts." - Mary Pettibone Poole

"A good laugh overcomes more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than any other one thing." - Laura Ingalls Wilder

"There is nothing like a gleam of humor to reassure you that a fellow human being is ticking inside a strange face." - Eva Hoffman

Al Barlow Website TBA

Mike Trigg

Information coming soon! 

Video coming soon! 

If a life well-lived is defined by the sum of its experiences, Evie Ladin has lived one to the fullest, and she’s not done yet.

Evie’s mastery of the clawhammer banjo is an absolute wonder, and the soulful, salty tanginess of her voice grips the listener and refuses to let go as it narrates some wild musical tales — WOMAD Festival

Ladin herself, a saucy chanteuse whose seductive prowess [is]… nothing less than a homespun hoot. This particular Fire emits plenty of down home heat.

— No Depression

Evie has always been surrounded by music – credit to her upbringing as daughter of an international folk dance teacher, and an old-time folk music devotee, she grew up thinking that playing music, dancing, singing with others was what people do.  Though entrenched in the traditional cultural arts of Appalachia, her home was in Northern New Jersey, New York City, Baltimore – in cities, not mountains. But the tradition bearers came through these towns, and stayed in her house. They played in her living room, and weekends were spent running free at music festivals and house parties.

The neo-trad kinetic-folk of the Evie Ladin Band is a mingling of the deep Appalachian sound of clawhammer banjo, guitar, bass and percussive dance, with contemporary storytelling and original, conversational interplay among the band members. Some of their adventurousness comes from early hip hop in the high school cafeteria, some from Evie’s early attraction to, and study of, the African roots in Appalachian music and dance. She created an African Studies In Dance major at Brown University, then studied dance in Eastern Nigeria on a Fulbright Fellowship. While myriad world and contemporary music influences permeate the band’s choices, they never reach too far, remaining seamless and true to the stories they tell.

Evie also works extensively with husband Keith Terry, renowned Body Musician, and his multi-cultural rhythm-based music & dance projects produced by the non-profit arts organization Crosspulse, Inc. Evie brings her Appalachian traditions to collaborations with musicians and dancers of other styles, including West African, Afro-Cuban, African-American, Indonesian and more, bending and blending forms to create exciting new works. She appears on two of the organization’s CDs: Professor Terry’s Circus Band Extraordináire (with Linda Tillery, David Balakrishnan, George Brooks, Paul Hanson and others), and Body Tjak: The Soundtrack (with Indonesian artists). She is also the Assistant Director of Keith’s two Instructional DVDs: Body Music (Parts One & Two).

Evie handles the management of the Educational Outreach Program for Crosspulse, booking and performing shows in schools, libraries and arts centers, including the Skirball Center (LA, CA), the Montalvo Center (Saratoga, CA), The Pioneer Center (Reno, NV) and Performances to Grow On (Ventura County, CA). The Crosspulse Percussion Ensemble performs with, among others, the San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures in Music Program, where the group reaches every 3-5 grader in the SF Public School district – over 12,000 kids annually.

Evie's Website

This is a free and family friendly event. Saint Mark's Episcopal Church is also 100% accessible for those with mobility issues. 

It's a donation ran series! There is no cover charge. 

We open the doors at 5:30 We serve complimentary munchies at 6:00. We have yummy queso, chips, snacks, and more! The show starts promptly at 7:00. There's a Q & A between the artist and the audience at 8:00 and the entire event usually wrap up at 8:15 

2018/2019 Season Three

Stringtown Texas

Tish Hinojosa

Georgia Parker & Big Cedar Fever 

Alan Munde and Billy Bright 

2017/2018 Season Two

Kevin Carrol 

Adam and Chris Carrol 

O' Marlarkey

Tracy Weinberg & Friends 

2016/2017 Season One 

Johnsmith

Susan Gibson

Los Texmaniacs

The Revs