Long-time John Prine accompanist Jason Wilber headlines county’s first-ever “Will Read and Sing For Food” benefit show in Fishers
Singer-songwriter Jason Wilber, the lead guitarist who toured and recorded with Grammy-winner John Prine for 24 years up until Prine’s COVID-related death in 2020, is the featured musical guest for the first-ever Will Read and Sing For Food (WRASFF) benefit show in Hamilton County set for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 11 at Schoolhouse 7 Café, 12125 Cyntheanne Road, Fishers.
All proceeds raised during the show, co-sponsored by Schoolhouse 7 Café and the Hamilton County Reporter, will benefit the Humane Society for Hamilton County.
The show will be held outdoors, and attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs. Admission is a $10 or more cash or check donation at the venue. Make checks payable to Humane Society for Hamilton County. The venue will also offer its full line of food, beer, wine, and other beverages. (For more information, email scottsaalman@gmail.com.)
Wilber’s recording work with Prine includes the Grammy-winning Fair & Square; the Grammy-nominated Live On Tour; In Spite of Ourselves (which spent 32 weeks on the Billboard Country Charts), For Better and Worse, and Prine’s final album, Tree of Forgiveness, debuting at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200 chart.
WRASFF, a unique mix of live music and humor essays, has raised over $165,000 through 152 performances, benefiting food banks and dozens of other charities (animal shelters, services for abused women and children, the United Way, Habitat for Humanity, hurricane relief, Rotary Club polio eradication, etc.) mostly in southern Indiana. After retiring the show in 2018, WRASFF reconvened for two shows at the Lincoln Amphitheatre in Lincoln City, Ind., and, last month, at the Astra Theatre in Jasper, Ind. – the latter show raising money for a summer camp for disabled children in Perry County.
Show host Scott Saalman, who created WRASFF in Jasper in 2011, recently moved to Fishers and says he hopes to revitalize the show’s philanthropical spirit with local musicians and humor writers to help nonprofits and other worthy causes in Hamilton County. To date, more than 100 musicians, writers, painters, and dancers have donated their time and talent to WRASFF shows. Current Indiana Poet Laureate Matthew Graham has been a frequent guest performer.
From 2011 to 2018, WRASFF performed in several cities and towns in southwestern Indiana, including Evansville, where it earned the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana’s Mayor’s Arts Award in 2016. The City of Jasper presented Saalman and WRASFF the “key to the city” for its community servitude.
“I love the dynamic and surprisingly seamless mix of self-deprecating (and sometimes poignant) humor and eclectic music, and the way that this combination brings life to the stories shared in sounds and words,” said Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Jen Chapin, who appeared in two WRASFF shows. She is the daughter of Harry Chapin (“Cat’s in the Cradle” and “Taxi”) whose altruistic endeavors related to combating hunger inspired Saalman to form WRASFF.
During Wilber’s 24 years with Prine, the Bloomington native graced stages from the Grand Ole Opry to Red Rocks to Radio City Music Hall to Austin City Limits, and he has performed on late-night TV shows hosted by Seth Meyers, Conan O’Brien, David Letterman, and Stephen Colbert.
His solo albums include Lost In Your Hometown (1998), Behind the Midway (2000), King For A Day (2004), Lazy Afternoon (2006), Live and Otherwise Volume 1 (2006), Ghost of Summers Past (2009), Live and Otherwise Volume 2 (2009), Secret Window (2014), Echoes (2016) Reaction Time (2017), and most recently, Time Traveler.
Wilber has also been a key player in high-profile collaborations with a host of who’s-who in music, including Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Todd Snider, Tom Russell, Miranda Lambert, Susan Tedeschi, Josh Ritter, Kacey Musgraves, Amanda Shires and more.
Saalman, who is director of communications for Kimball Electronics, Inc., a global company based in Jasper, is a long-time freelance columnist and essayist. His newspaper columns appear in the Dubois County Herald and the Hamilton County Reporter. One of his essays aired on The Bob Edwards Show, and one story is referenced on the “Notable Essays” list in The Best American Essays 2012. His essays also appear in two anthologies: Home Again: Essays and Memoirs from Indiana (Indiana Historical Society Press, 2006) and This I Believe: On Love (John Wiley & Sons, 2011). His essay, “Do Not Endure Verbal, Emotional, or Physical Abuse,” appeared in The Morning News. He has five previous essay collections: Nose Hairs Gone Wild; Will Write For Food; Mr. Serious; Column Writing Is Not Pretty; What Are You Going To Write About When I’m Gone?; and recently co-edited Vietnam War Love Story: The Love Letters of Bill and Nancy Young (1967).