2009 Barbara Barefield

On Jan. 30, the Dwight Adams Ensemble will perform at one of the largest homes in Palmer Woods. The concert is part of the Music in the Homes concert series, a way to subsidize maintenance and security in this historic neighborhood. View larger photo

The clear sound of trumpeter Dwight Adams will fill an old mansion in Detroit's Palmer Woods neighborhood with the sound of New Orleans, the rhythm of the saints.

The Mardi Gras Celebration concert is slated for 8 p.m. Jan. 30 in one of the largest homes in Palmer Woods. It's part of the Music in the Homes concert series, a novel way to subsidize maintenance and security in this historic neighborhood and support the Barefields, an artistic couple who coordinate the series.

“We've got the perfect, intimate venue for concerts. In fact, these homes were designed for parlor concerts,” said Spencer Barefield, executive director of the Creative Arts Collective. In two seasons, the series has grown from six concerts with $25 tickets to nine with $35 tickets, while maintaining sellout crowds.

Over the past 10 years, Barefield, an accomplished guitarist, found fewer venues for live music. His 13-year collaboration of musical performances with the Detroit Institute of Arts ended when state funding evaporated. Other performance funding fizzled. Some popular taverns turned to pre-recorded sounds instead of live musicians. Everywhere he looked, top musicians were struggling for work.

If his professional life was beset with woes, so was his neighborhood.

In summer 2007, several residents told the Palmer Woods board they would not host the annual Palmer Woods Home Tour for 2,000 strangers on a full day in early December. For many homeowners, it was a hassle to accommodate everyone, even with a core of volunteer docents. This was particularly crushing for Barefield's wife, graphic designer and photographer Barbara Barefield, who designed the programs.

The couple brainstormed for weeks while walking their St. Bernard through the majestic streets of Palmer Woods, wishing for a miracle.

“We decided to revive the parlor music tradition with a jazzy twist,” Barbara Barefield said. “The aura of the homes, the beauty of music and the great receptions where people socialize with musicians offers an intimate opportunity people can't find any where else.”

Patrons from all around metro Detroit register online at palmerwoods.org. The homeowners have a full list of guests. No money is passed at the door. Security is enhanced because the concert venue isn't revealed until the credit card clears. Local volunteers cater the meal and set up the host home, because half of the $3,000 to $3,500 in earnings per concert goes to Palmer Woods to help augment the $500 per home yearly dues, subsidize the daily security patrol, mow the lawns of vacant houses and plant flowers on the boulevards. The neighborhood association also gives a portion to Greening of Detroit and the Coalition on Temporary Shelter.

The cost of food and wine is offset by the generosity of local merchants, but the tab may run as high as $2,500 for all expenses.

The Barefields net at least $1,000 from each concert for coordinating the event. Barefield also has gained a large audience and an expanded mailing list for his upcoming international release, a five-disc CD series called “Beneath Detroit,” culled from live recordings he and an ever-changing ensemble of musicians made at the DIA. Together, the Barefields now generate about $100,000 a year, augmented by the Music in the Homes.

The current concert series includes the Dwight Adams Ensemble on Jan. 30; the Lotus Ensemble with Joe Striplin, Velda Kelly, Rick Robinson and John Madison on Feb. 28; Nadim Dlaikan's Dearborn Traditional Ensemble on March 27; Orquesta La Inspiracion, led by congero Ozzie Rivera, on April 24; flutist Eric Lamb and pianist Paul Vasile performing chamber music on May 22; and Spencer Barefield and Friends performing the weekend of June 25-27.

“The Barefields have been amazingly generous. They decided to put an urbane twist on the traditional chamber music you hear in homes,” said Dale Morgan, co-owner of the Frank Lloyd Wright house that hosted a recent soiree, and co-owner of Blossoms of Birmingham, a florist and event-planning company with $2 million in annual revenue.

“They devised a plan to invite a smaller number of people to pay a premium price to experience the best spaces in Palmer Woods,” Morgan said. The holiday soiree in early December was the kickoff for the nine concerts. It included a mini tour of five other mansions. Other events are geared around the music itself, with a concert-themed meal served buffet style between sets.

The bonus of the concerts, according to Morgan, is that people from around metro Detroit learn that the city is home to a sophisticated group of people who enjoy good music, food and wine in some of the finest historic homes in the region.

For Barefield, arranging concerts offers a great way to link his music and his event-planning skills with the kind of people who could hire him for other projects, said Desma Reid Coleman, owner of Quality Professional Services, a business consulting firm Detroit.

“Spencer is drawing to the concerts the like-minded people who come to bond for the greater good. He is part of the source of their glow,” she said.