Save the Red Barn
The Little Nashville’ s Red Barn Jamboree.
~ story and photos by Brian Blair
Rich Hardesty steers himself toward historic preservation even as he makes his way to this interview. The 57-year-old Nashville resident straddles his late father’ s restored, classic 1968 Honda 160 motorcycle as he arrives for the conversation.
The pop musician is the leader of the“ Save the Red Barn Jamboree,” a movement now in its third year to refurbish a more than century-old site on East State Road 46 near Brown County State Park’ s north entrance.
Since the 1980s, the Red Barn has hosted area musicians including Lloyd Wood, Sheila Stephen, Bruce Borders, and the Country Plus Band.
Lloyd Wood’ s group, the original house band for the Little Nashville Opry, was the first to make the barn into a music venue with the belief that it was only going to be a temporary gig location. Wood’ s band ended up playing there for a decade.
Other performers used the Red Barn on a regular basis, including Robert Shaw, whose tributes to Johnny Cash and Elvis drew crowds during the busy season a decade after Wood left. Shaw was responsible for many building improvements at that time. T-shirt and poster from the May 10 Barn Sale fundraiser.
22 Our Brown County • July / August 2025