Free Range Conversations
RISON - As the Rison in the Fall Festival was starting to fade and was in badly need of a makeover, Douglas Boultinghouse used his connections with the music scene in Nashville to turn the event into one of the premier festivals of the region.
Boultinghouse along with Roy Phillips, one of the originally creators of Rison in the Fall, will discuss the event's massive turnaround in this week's episode of the Free Range Conversations podcast produced by the Clevleand County Herald.
Free Range Conversations can be streamed through most podcast platforms including Spotify, Apples and others. People can also listen online through a link on clevelandcountyherald.com Rison in the Fall began in 1990 as an event to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the City of Rison. Phillips said he assisted then-mayor Bill Ripling alongside others to create the event.
"Everyone loved it so much, they wanted to do it again the next year," Phillips said.
Since a centennial celebration can only be held once, Phillips said a contest was held to name the festival with the idea of it becoming an annual event. The name "Rison in the Fall" was selected.
After nearly 30 years of running the festival as essentially a barbeque cook-off, Phillips began to see attendance and participation begin to dwindle. This prompted him to recruit what he calls "younger blood" to shake things up.
Phillips asked Boultinghouse to take over in 2019, when he transitioned the festival into a music festival making use of his connections in Music City.
Boultinghouse, who is the graphic designer and circulation manager for the Herald, said he has attended many festivals all over the state, and in other states, especially Tennessee. He had seen other small towns do similar things, and he took on the task of making one of those musical festivals happen right here in Rison.
"I am fortunate that I've been able to attend as many things as I have and connect with so many people over the past 15-plus years," he said.
That networking with artists, managers and agents is how he has been able to pull in Twitty and Lynn (2019), Julie Roberts (2021 and 2022) and David Nail (2023).
"There's a lot of work and time that goes into making this festival possible," said Boultinghouse. "This podcast will give a little behind-the-scenes glimpse at how some of the pieces come together for me and the Rison Shine team of volunteers." Listeners will hear how Boultinghouse's experience doing graphic design and public relations for Roberts and other artists led to her coming to Rison twice to help expand the festival, working events with legends like Reba McEntire, and the lasting impressions this year's guests Charles Esten and Rissi Palmer made on him years ago.
Boultinghouse also shares some background information on each of the artists expected to perform at this year's festival, including Esten, Palmer, BIAS, Marybeth Byrd and Last Call.
Free Range Conversation will be releasing new episodes each Wednesday.