By Terrah Baker
Kelly Mulhollan and Donna Stjerna, of the band Still on the Hill, are getting ready to unveil a project that the long-time traveling, folk music duo says will be beneficial to the community, our watershed, and offers a great outlet for their talent.
Four different organizations concerned with water quality in NWA collaborated to secure a grant for Still on the Hill to create what they are calling “Once a River” — an album focused on the beauty, concerns, and importance surrounding the Beaver Watershed. The two were hired to write story songs about the watershed before and after the building of Beaver Lake, record those songs, schedule 10 free concerts all around the watershed, and offer 1,000 CD’s at the concerts, free to audience members.
The CD is now complete, and currently at the manufacturer, with concerts scheduled. Their first concert will be a part of the Artosphere series on May 27 in the Star Theater. The rest of the concerts will be scattered into June and July.
Kelly and Donna said they think it’s amazing that four different organizations came together to formulate and accomplish this project, with other local organizations offering support — The Beaver Water District, Beaver Watershed Alliance, Association for Beaver Lake Environment, Ozark Water Watch, the Arkansas Arts Council who offered matching funds, and the Shiloh Museum who offered historical expertise in researching stories for the CD.
Because of issues surrounding available and clean, fresh, drinking water has become more of an urgent issue in recent years. Kelly and Donna said they think this is an important project covering an even more important topic and issue.
At the first show on May 27 during Artosphere, sponsoring partners will have tables at the show with information on protecting our watershed, along with short informational sessions for them to speak about the watershed, and a strong educational/environmental message in each song. The show is free and the first 100 people in the door will get a free CD. Still on the Hill will play their brand new songs about the Beaver Lake Watershed.
“This project intent is to help create ‘ownship’ Did they ownship or ownership?jbfor the watershed and to learn how we can be better stewards of our water in general,” the duo said.
Visit their website at www.stillonthehill.com to see the entire schedule of concerts.
