DISCOVER Magazine

MARK YOUR
CALENDARS!
RYLAN HOWE | STAFF WRITER
DISCOVER! | DECEMBER 1, 2018
Holiday | 9
At a Glance:
WHAT: Damon, Dave and Ryan
Holiday Show
WHERE: Pearson Lakes Art Center,
2201 Hwy. 71, Okoboji
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8
COST: $30/nonmembers, $20/
members and $15/students
CONTACT: 712-332-7013
ONLINE: www.lakesart.org
Damon, Dave and Ryan team up
Trio of musicians all set for another holiday show
It may be getting colder outside but
one of the hottest tickets in the Iowa
Great Lakes is on sale right now.
The Damon, Dave and Ryan Holiday
Show has sold out every show
in its decade-plus run at the Pearson
Lakes Art Center.
This year figures to be no different
as the trio brings its musical talents
and tremendous chemistry to the
stage once again.
Slated for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec.
8, tickets are $30 for nonmembers of
the art center, $20 for members and
$15 for students.
If you’re not a first-name basis with
these popular area musicians they are
Damon Dotson, Dave Rowley and
Ryan Sather, who perform numerous
times locally throughout the summer
as solo artists and in other duos and
ensembles.
The holiday season, however, is the
one time each year they come together
to entertain an audience with a set
list full of Christmas favorites, original
songs and plenty of other familiar hits
to entertain one and all.
Originally it was set up as a concert
for Dotson and Rowley to play.
“But we needed something more
and Ryan’s performed with Damon
and with me and so Damon came
up and we jammed together,” Rowley
said. “It was just the three of us those
first couple years.”
Sather remembers it a tad bit differently.
“Dave just thought it would always
be cool to do a concert with Damon
and I said, ‘What the heck?’” Sather
joked. “So it was Damon and Dave
with special guest Ryan Sather in
small letters. Really, I was just honored
for them to even ask. I thought it
would be so awesome.”
Apparently audiences have agreed
as they keep turning out year after
year.
The variety of the set list was originally
borne out of necessity.
“We had booked this before
Thanksgiving originally so it was a
holiday concert, not just Christmas,
and we had to be creative,” Rowley
said. “We also had the benefit of being
the first people out of the gate doing
holiday songs and the audience loved
it. The people were ready and hadn’t
already heard all the Christmas songs
ad nauseam.”
More than a decade in, now they
change up the set list out of a different
kind of necessity.
“We have a lexicon of about 30-40
songs to choose from and some perennial
favorites that are hard to let
go. We’ve done ‘Celebrate Me Home’
by Kenny Loggins every year and absolutely
love it,” Rowley said.
He added that they always have a
few extras on the back burner just in
case.
During the two brief practices
they get before the show, they’ll run
through ideas about what songs to
add or subtract from the set list.
“We’re trying to keep things fresh
and new and at the same time just
whatever feels good, so we start
practicing and just say, ‘What do you
think, in or out?’” Sather said. “Dave
really has a talent for finding cool
music that is new to us.”
Ryan is responsible for taking a new
song on the set list and creating an arrangement
that works for the trio.
There have been jazzy versions of
“Jingle Bells” and a reggae mashup
of “Winter Wonderland” and “Don’t
Worry Be Happy.” And they fit perfectly
well right alongside stalwart
holiday classics such as “What Child
is This?” and “Silent Night.”
Last year Rowley wrote a new
original song, “Christmas and Fond
Memories,” just a couple weeks before
the concert.
They also mix it up by inviting other
musicians to join in the fun. They’ve
had locals like Joe Cuttell and Brian
Moore join them for the holiday show.
Just last year, Adam Layman filled
in for Damon Dotson who couldn’t
make it as he and wife were expecting
a child at the time.
“Musicians are very much drawn to
playing with other musicians. It’s really
great. And Adam did an awesome
job filling in last year,” Sather said.
Damon is back this year and it’s a
mystery as to who else might join the
venerable trio on stage.
No matter what, they’re sure to
draw a crowd. Rowley says the draw is
Damon Dotson. Sather says the draw
is Dave Rowley.
Whatever or whoever the draw, this
is truly a great group of musicians enjoying
themselves and having a great
time putting on a fantastic show for
their audience.
“It’s the holidays! We have a great
crowd and we’re cutting loose and having
fun, that’s basically it,” Rowley said.
“We all genuinely love doing this
holiday concert,” Sather added. “I feel
very lucky and honored to be able to
do it and that people want to hear us
again and again.” F
Okoboji | Iowa