The Jackson Hole Hootenanny
The Jackson Hole Hootenanny was founded by Bill Briggs and Dick Barker on February 23, 1993, at Dornan’s Spur Bar in Moose, Wyoming. From the beginning, the Hoot has been all acoustic music in a concert-like setting where the audience is strongly encouraged not to speak when someone is performing on stage. Anyone can signup to sing one or two songs. All performers share a love for folk music. The emphasis is on sharing our love of music rather than performing skills. Thus the Hoot brings together a wide range of talents in a non-judgmental setting where we all learn, grow, and enjoy. We celebrated our 1300th Hoot on January 30, 2023, and our 30th anniversary on February 20, 2023.
The origins of the Jackson Hole Hootenanny are described in a 90-minute DVD Hoot In the Hole, the story of the Jackson Hole Hootenanny produced in 2008 for public television and still available for purchase.
Read Still A Hoot by Jim Stanford in the Jackson Hole Magazine, Winter, 2024, page 80.
The Hoot has been graciously hosted in Moose Wyoming nearly every Monday night, by Dornan’s Spur Bar inside during the winter and Dornan’s Chuckwagon outside during the summer. From 1998 to 2006, the Hoot met in Jackson at the Snow King Center. And since October 2021, the Hoot has been hosted during the winter by the Silver Dollar Bar at the Wort Hotel in Jackson. We really appreciate our hosts.
When COVID shut down public gatherings, the Hoot moved to Zoom streamed live to YouTube from 2020 and 2021.
This website contains audio recordings of 99 hootenannies primarily from 1994 through 1996, 195 video recordings primarily from 1995 to 2011, 53 video recordings of hootenannies on Zoom during 2020 and 2021, more than 23 video recordings at The Wort since 2021, plus videos of several Hootenannies at the Jackson Center For The Arts.
Our intent is to develop an index to these recordings searchable by date, performer, and song title, but this will take considerable teamwork.
Hoots scheduled on Monday nights from 6 pm to 9 pm MST that will be broadcast live on YouTube
On December 4, 2023, the Hoot returned to the Silver Dollar Showroom at the Wort Hotel. To join a hoot live go to the Silver Dollar TV channel. There will not be Hoots on December 25, 2023, and February 12, 2024.
If you would like to receive the Hoot Newsletter, send your name and address to jhhootnews@gmail.com
© 2023 Jackson Hole Hootenanny. All Rights Reserved