Heading out of town along the Troy highway sits an off-white, dingy house with peeling paint.
Here is the home of The Bayou, a place for people to gather and listen to bands passing through town on their way to bigger cities like Seattle or Boise.
The house has three rules: “No drugs, no underage drinking and no jerks.”
Outside in the yard, people gather around the fire pit. The fire takes a small group to start, coming to life and consuming the branches and cardboard quickly.
When a voice from the porch is heard, people file inside down a narrow set of stairs to the basement.
The basement is where the magic happens, in a space maybe six feet tall where people gather around and enjoy music for the night. The space comes alive with the sounds of chatter, while the smell of cheap beer and old cigarettes hang in the air. Once the band begins playing, the side conversations suppress and the music washes over the audience.
University of Idaho student Sashi White often visits The Bayou.
“What brings me back time after time is the people,” White said. “The Bayou, unlike any other music venue in Moscow, is a living, growing community.”
The bands and artists The Bayou brings in is a drawing point. He said the music playing inside is just as important as the conversations being had outside.
“The Bayou draws a wide range of musicians and music lovers. Although every show has the same high energy, the performances are from across the board: soft folk to hard rock, artists from near or far, contemplative to combative,” White said.
Besides playing music in their basement, The Bayou also gets involved in the community.
This year, for the second year in a row, the owners held the aftershow for the Modest Music Festival, featuring a few of the bands who came to town for the festival.
Throughout the rest of the year, the atmosphere is more relaxed with band practice instead of more formal events. But occasionally they will hold a fundraiser, including recently raising money for candidate Anne Zabala’s city council re-election campaign.
“Most of the time, you know, we don’t take any money…I mean, we take money at the bar, but that goes directly to the bands—and more specifically, the touring bands. We give them a place to crash as well,” current Bayou owner Gabriel Smith said.
Running The Bayou wasn’t always part of Smith’s plan, but when his sister moved to Moscow, he found himself wanting to move out of Colorado. The lease for the house has been passed down since the ‘90s.
“Historically, (The Bayou) has done shows. My band was on tour about six years ago and has actually played here at The Bayou. When at that time, Moscow was just a town,” Smith said.
An artist plays music at The Bayou.
The Bayou is different than some of the music venues in Moscow because of the DIY nature of the space. Smith said he has been involved with a lot of DIY spaces like The Bayou and art galleries — spaces where music can happen but isn’t normally done.
“A lot of times I like underground music, independent bands that you wouldn’t necessarily see at a bar,” Smith said. “It’s not as I say that’s not bad music, but it’s not mainstream.”
The Bayou has a specialty in the bands they bring, while the DIY scene in Moscow is growing with events such as the Modest Music Festival where local businesses turn into music venues.
Smith said DIY spaces aren’t necessarily official spaces, but the location of the house assists with catching bands that are traveling from bigger cities, or bands that just went up the coast. They are usually looking for a turnaround show before they arrive in Seattle or Boise.
Smith said he’s been part of the DIY music scene in Boise and Colorado, but the Moscow scene is different.
“It’s a lot of fun, and a lot of the times you know the people that are touring through,” Smith said. “They are old friends of ours, so we get to see them in the community. Everybody is really respectful.”
Story by Kali Nelson
Photos by Kali Nelson
Design by Emma French