The Brown County
music center volunteers
~ story and photos by Bob Gustin
Above: Braden Buehler leads RVA huddle. Below: Dale Wedel directs traffic.
22 Our Brown County • Nov./ Dec. 2025
At every performance at the Brown County Music Center, dozens of people wearing red vests, white shirts, and blue jeans handle all sorts of tasks, welcoming patrons with a smile, spreading Midwest hospitality.
Known as the Red Vest Army, all the members are volunteers, and all are working for free, spending up to five hours a night on their feet, through muggy summer evenings and snowy winter nights. Forty or more volunteers are needed for each show.
The venue on the eastern edge of Nashville attracts an array of nationally known acts and gives back thousands of dollars to the Brown County community. The efforts by the volunteers help make it possible for the center to function as it does.
“ It takes an army of volunteers from the parking lot to the stage to ensure our guests enjoy the music they’ ve come to hear,” said Martha Smith, who has been a volunteer since a Vince Gill concert opened the music center August 24, 2019.
“ I like being around happy, enthusiastic people who take pride in representing the Brown County Music Center.
“ I have made lasting friendships with other volunteers, and I’ ve enjoyed genres of music that I would never have experienced,” she said.“ I’ ve been in the theater with Grammy winners, hall-of-famers, and music idols.
“ My favorite thing about volunteering at the Brown County Music Center is the excitement and