The Crooked Crow Songwriter's Retreat is located in West Texas an hour and a half south of Marfa at the Chinati Hotsprings. The retreat runs from Thursday afternoon Dec. 1st through Sunday morning Dec. 4th. The Chinatii hot springs was opened in 1930 but has provided healing waters to the area for thousands of years. Today, the Springs offer a peaceful atmosphere for people to write and escape the stresses of everyday life with the restorative hot springs to relax in. We picked this particular hot springs because we wanted to focus on the beauty of the Chihuahuan desert and the inspiration this landscape offers; an Edward Abby, John Steinbeck, Greg Brown, Woody Guthrie type of songwriter get away.
Songwriting workshops, camping, great food, friendship , hot springs, late night camp fires, voice workshops, yoga, and the sounds of crooked crows. A Chihuahuan desert songwriting experience.
Please visit our sponsors
www.bigbendcoffee.com
www.wholefoods .com
www.bodywisehealthcare.com/
We are keeping these rates extremely cheap so we can bring those individuals that can't normally afford to attend. If you would like to donate to help us scholarship in some financially struggling writers it would be greatly appreciated. We will create a special page on this website with the names for those who donate... cheers!
For camp ground space (tent or Vehicle)
$220 per person
All the Cabins sold out with in the First week $280 (sorry)
All packages include the
retreat and all meals
from Thursday evening to Sunday morning. There are showers and restrooms avaialbe for those who are tent camping.
No pay pal account ? Then
mail a check to:
J Wagner
P.O. Box 301313
Austin TX
78703
please email me to let me know you are doing this
We are only able to have 28 writers at this retreat, so these rooms and spaces will fiil up fast . If there are still spaces available these prices will increase by $30 if there is not a down payment of $100 by Sep. 10th. We are able to offer a refund uptill Sep. 17th, after that day we can no longer offer refunds. Total tuition is due by Oct 5th.
I want to donate to the retreat
and be labeled as an Edward Abby Donor
$25
Be labeled as a Greg Brown Donor
$50
Be labeled as a John Steinbeck Donor
$100.00
Be labeled as a Woody Guthrie donor
any amount over $100.00
you pick
Questions, email: Johanngwagner_hotmail.com
For those with an arranged deposit please enter the amount
The very wonderful and giving Cheri Gillham has become an Edward Abby Donor . Please join her in becoming a donor.
All donors will recieve thank you hand written letters in the mail from the hosts and those they helped scholarship in
About the hot springs
This retreat is far from just about any large city in Texas. It's close to Big Bend National Park, Marfa, and Alpine. We're hosting it at the Chinati Hotsprings because of this reclusivness. These hotsprings are one of the best kept secrets within the state of Texas. It is about 9 hours from Austin and about 4 and a half from El Paso.
What you need to bring to the workshops
Most of the workshops will be based on writing from scraps. We will be using found lines, left over parts from old songs, and working on turning random lines and journal entries into ideas for songs. So bring all your scrap note books, old pictures, artworks, journals, favorite novels, or anything you can think of that will let you improvise on ideas for writing.If you are tent camping you will need to bring a tent and what ever else you might think you need for camping. A flashlight would be helpful. If you are staying in a cabin please bring an extra blanket and pillow. You may or may not need them. Bring plenty of paper and writing utensils. If you have a camping chair bring that with you.
The facilitators for this retreat are Johann Wagner (J Wagner) and Bryan Hembree. The two of them will start the morning off, lead the exercises, and be there to help and organize the retreat. We will have about thirty songwriters from all over the United States. A handful of them will share stories about how and why they write songs. Bernice Hembree will run a vocal workshop and for those that wish to participate there will be morning yoga classes.
J Wagner has been writing about the desert since he started writing songs and even spent a while as a Park Ranger in the Mojave desert at Joshua Tree National Park. The Dallas Morning News calls Wagner "A Texas Folk Music Staple." He has 4 solo albums and a 5th one currently in production. Please visit his website for more info www.jwagnermusic.com
Bryan Hembree is a founding member of the music trio "3 Penny Acre". He has performed all across the United States and is known well for his historical songwriting. Listen for his song highway 71 on NPR's Car Talk. Please visit his website for more info www.3pennyacre.com
Please feel free to contact either one of them. J Wagner : johanngwagner_hotmail.com Bryan Hembree : bhembree3_gmail.com
There will be well cooked meals provided every day; breakfast, lunch and dinner. We will have 3 wonderful people cooking all day long. We start with dinner on Thursday night and end with breakfast on Sunday morning. There will be both vegetarian and non vegetarian meals. We will try our best to accommodate any specific dietary concerns, just let us know ahead of time. There are gas grills outside and a large indoor kitchen so please feel free to bring any additional food items you would like.
There will be locally roasted Big Bend coffee, along with teechino, chilled water, herbal and iced tea available all day long.
We will be celebrating songwriter's recipes:
Thais Perkin's famous home made Bread
Victoria William's amazing morning granola
Raina Rose's delicious Portland pancakes
J Wagner's universally famous space popcorn
Bayard Blain's wild mountain man stew
The Crooked Crow Writer's Retreat is proud to have Big Bend Coffee Roasters as our much need Caffeine Sponsor.
From Marfa there are two routes to the Chinati hot springs.
From 2810 to Pinto Canyon Road is about 50 miles to the hot springs, but is recommended for high clearance vehicles. This beautiful and rugged way, which is unpaved for about 20 miles, takes about an hour and 45 minutes.
The alternate route takes about two hours. Marfa to Presidio is 59 miles on 67 South. It is another 36 miles to Ruidosa where there are signs for the Chinati hot springs. About a half mile outside Ruidosa, Hot Springs Road will take you seven miles to our gate.
Please feel free to call the hot springs if you need assistance. 432.229.4165
click the button below for the map on their website
There will be a car pool leaving around 6am from Austin TX on Thursday Dec. 1st and then heading back around noon Sunday Dec. 4th. The retreat starts Thursday afternoon and dinner will be at 6pm. If you're driving from Denton TX or Fayetteville AR there will be a caravan coming from there too.
All photos on this page were taken by Dave Haggard
Please visit his site for more wonderful photos
www.davehaggardonline.com
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