There won’t be any plane rides, nor will politicians deliver stump speeches, but a tour featuring Ra Ra Riot is putting the “barn” back into “Barnstorming.”
What we’re talking about is the third annual Barnstorming Tour presented by Daytrotter, the Web site for recording studio Horseshack located in Rock Island, Illinois. What caught our attention is that this Barnstorming Tour will play real barns.
More than 100 years ago, politicians would often travel the countryside and use farms for delivering speeches to their constituents, giving rise to the word “barnstorming.”
But the most famous use of the word dates back to the early days of flight when pilots would “barnstorm” across the country, often using farmers’ fields for landing strips where they would offer rides to paying customers.
Appearing with Ra Ra Riot on Daytrotter’s Barnstorming Tour will be Delta Spirit, Nathaniel Rateliff, Pearly Gate Music and Free Energy.
Only five dates have been booked for this tour of rustic barns in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois. Actually, make that four dates in barns and one at an established venue – Milwaukee’s Turner Hall Ballroom.
The first date on the tour is in West Liberty, Iowa, at the Secrest 1883 Octagonal Barn. Milwaukee is slotted for April 28 and then it’s on to a barn in Lake Geneva, Wis., April 29, followed by Monticello, Ill., at Kalyx Center April 30 and Maquoketa, Iowa, at the Codfish Hollow Barn May 1.
Daytrotter says everyone is invited to “caravan with the tour” as well as stay at the same campgrounds as the bands. For more information on the Barnstorming Tour, click here for the Daytrotter Web site.