“Salty Dog Blues,” “Can the Circle Be Unbroken” and “Petticoat Junction” were just three of countless songs shared during a Bluegrass Jam at The Shoe Tree Listening Room on Thursday night. The sounds of acoustic guitars, banjos, mandolins and fiddles rang off the room’s walls as folks tapped their feet to tunes passed down across generations.
Passing by the gray, nondescript building on St. Louis Street, it would be easy to miss The Shoe Tree Listening Room. The only clue is a skinny tree, outfitted with blue glass bottles and a few mismatched shoes standing near the wooden front door.
Shoe Tree is a new music venue, the “performance art division” of Arrow Creative Reuse, an arts and craft thrift store that opened on St. Louis Street in December 2022. West of Arrow Creative Reuse, Shoe Tree is located at 1342 E. St. Louis St., across the street from the Springfield Public Schools Administration building.
The venue, which held its first show in June 2023, is managed by Re Baker-Dietz, owner of Arrow Creative Reuse, and her parents, Sandi Green-Baker and David Baker, who share a history of providing unique, intimate listening spaces to the Springfield community.