Save the Red Barn

~story and photos by Brian Blair

Rich Hardesty steers himself toward historic preservation even as he makes his way to this interview. The 57-year-old Nashville resident straddles his late father’s restored, classic 1968 Honda 160 motorcycle as he arrives for the conversation.

The pop musician is the leader of the “Save the Red Barn Jamboree,” a movement now in its third year to refurbish a more than century-old site on East State Road 46 near Brown County State Park’s north entrance.

Since the 1980s, the Red Barn has hosted area musicians including Lloyd Wood, Sheila Stephen, Bruce Borders, and the Country Plus Band.

Lloyd Wood’s group, the original house band for the Little Nashville Opry, was the first to make the barn into a music venue with the belief that it was only going to be a temporary gig location. Wood’s band ended up playing there for a decade.

Other performers used the Red Barn on a regular basis, including Robert Shaw, whose tributes to Johnny Cash and Elvis drew crowds during the busy season a decade after Wood left. Shaw was responsible for many building improvements at that time.

Rich Hardesty sitting on the indoor stage that is in need of repairs.

The most recent attempt at restoring the Red Barn and bringing music back took place in 2016 when musician Doug Talley organized local performances there.

The barn’s interior clearly needs saving, with little electricity and plenty of evidence of forlorn forgottenness. Inside and outside the Red Barn, Hardesty sees possibilities for the place that had sat empty from 2017.

“The jamboree is the gateway to little Nashville, where people come from all over the world,” Hardesty said. “We want this place to be a staple where we can bring together all the different musicians.

On May 10, Hardesty, and a list of popular musician friends, held a Red Barn outdoor fundraiser and sale in front of an estimated crowd of 200 people. That little May fundraiser generated more than $800 for Mother’s Cupboard food pantry and it built awareness of the restoration efforts.

Hardesty knows it might require half a million dollars for new electrical, a new stage, and many more changes for the entire restoration.

The plan formulated by him and longtime friend and current business partner Wayne Puckett includes a range of regular fundraisers for everything from firefighters to animal causes and more.

“That event was proof that we can do this project,” he said.

He loves the local history enough that he recently began driving the tourist train known as The Nashville Express, giving visitors an overview of the town. Metalworks artist Brad Cox, who owns the Express, sees Hardesty’s creativity as a songwriter and musician as perfect tools to raise both awareness and money.

“He really regularly promotes Nashville already,” Cox said. “He has done that even on his Jamaican concert tours and on his appearances on Channel 8.”

He last appeared on the station’s news show Lifestyle Live in March to highlight his saving mission, singing his original tune “Little Nashville on My Mind.”

His project is far more than a song in his heart.

He and Puckett are in the process of buying the property from current owner Vercii Reed of Bedford.

If Hardesty is a never-say-die dreamer, then Puckett is at least in part a practical realist.

Puckett recalled the first time he saw the place after several years of neglect. “I was like, boy, we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. And we both know we need a lot of help…. But I believe that music is a great way to bring people together.”

The pair figures installing electricity may surface as the largest early expense. But Hardesty’s determination hardly will allow skeptics to douse his vision of another town locale for families and others to find relaxation and connection.

Rich Hardesty sits on his late father's restored 1968 Honda 160 motorcycle.

Hardesty is planning the next gathering at the Red Barn for July 4th weekend.

This challenge presents a dizzying array of moving parts. Hardesty sees worthwhile efforts lined with some sense of adventure or risk.

“I’d rather get comfortable being uncomfortable,” he said.

The veteran musician has little time for the status quo. When his father died, Hardesty wrote a song called “Sleeping Tiger.” One line markedly stands out: “Don’t die with the music still inside you.”

Or the dream.

To support the cause you can contact Rich Hardesty at 317-490-7424 or hardestymusic@yahoo.com

Red Barn Jamboree when Robert Shaw was performing his Johnny Cash and Elvis tribute shows in 2010.

Brown County’s Sarah Flint joined Shaw on stage as June Carter.