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WATCH: Evan Felker’s Daughter, Evie, Sweetly Calls To Him Before He Sings The “Heaven Passing Through” Verse She Inspired
A little piece of home on the stage. Over the weekend, the Woody Folk Festival (or WoodyFest) took place in Okemah, Oklahoma. The festival honors the life and legacy of Woody Guthrie, an Okemah native just like Evan Felker, and it is held annually on the weekend closest to July 14th, his birthday. This year’s festival featured artists like BJ Barham, the Red Dirt Rangers, John Moreland, Pony Bradshaw, and more. While clips from the festival showed that it was […] The post WATCH: Evan Felker’s Daughter, Evie, Sweetly Calls To Him Before He Sings The “Heaven Passing Through” Verse She Inspired first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
A little piece of home on the stage.
Over the weekend, the Woody Folk Festival (or WoodyFest) took place in Okemah, Oklahoma. The festival honors the life and legacy of Woody Guthrie, an Okemah native just like Evan Felker, and it is held annually on the weekend closest to July 14th, his birthday. This year’s festival featured artists like BJ Barham, the Red Dirt Rangers, John Moreland, Pony Bradshaw, and more. While clips from the festival showed that it was an incredible event, the festival kicked off on a very special Wednesday night.
On July 9th at the Crystal Theatre, the festival hosted an intimate evening with Hayes Carll, the Turnpike Troubadours’ frontman Evan Felker, and Sarah Lee Guthrie. If you’ve ever had the privilege of seeing a solo Evan Felker show, you know it’s the ultimate acoustic set.
During the show, Felker and Carll shared the stage, taking turns each playing songs from their respective catalogs. Given that the Turnpike Troubadours are on a high from their last record release, The Price of Admission, Felker played quite a few songs from that tracklist, one of which was “Heaven Passing Through.”
Before he began to strum the melody to the new-beginnings song, he dedicated the tune to his mother and daughter, Evangelina Felker, who goes by Evie.
“Me and my daughter, Evie, were sitting out in the driveway, a few miles north of town, looking at the stars and I was telling her where all the constellations were and she didn’t care in the least. I’m a lucky person that I get to have little kids right now and I have those moments very often where I think this is as good as it gets. It got me to thinking about other moments that were as good as it gets throughout my life.”
During that performance, before he began to sing the third verse, which Evie inspired, you can hear her shout to her father from the crowd. There is a faint “Daddy!” which makes Felker pause, smile, and it brings the lyrics about his daughter even more heartfelt.
“Now we stare up and I say constellations that I know
You repeat ’em back, but you don’t care, you’re only three years old
It’s nice to see the world the same as someone
It feels so good to be up late, pretending that I’m young…”
The moment is so tender, highlighting the bond he shares with his daughter. As the daughter of a musician, there is no better feeling than watching your dad on stage, in his element, and it’s clear that Evie is already cherishing those moments from the crowd.
It’s too sweet. Check it out:
Later in the evening, another memorable moment occurred. Felker was setting up his K-Po to begin playing “On The Red River” when he recognized a piece of furniture sitting between them. The stools situated next to their seats, where they could put water, guitar picks, and other belongings, were stools from Felker’s childhood home.
“I just realized these are the stools out of my childhood home. That’s wild. My dad made those. Is this… wSSho did this? My sister did this? Mom did this? Yeah, that’s an interesting feeling.”
Staci Felker, Evan’s wife, shared an image on her Instagram story to further detail how the stools ended up on the stage and commemorated the moment as her favorite from WoodyFest.
“Last night, Evan was talking on stage when he realized the stools sitting between him and Hayes Carll were from his childhood home in Wright City. He explained how his dad built them and in real time, he realizes this piece of his history he hasn’t seen in years must have been stored away and then placed there by his sister Cheyenne Felker who is heavily involved in planning WoodyFest in the town where his parents, sister, and family all live.
He was about to play ‘On the Red River,’ but it was a real ‘Heaven Passing Through’ (which he already played and dedicated to his mom and our daughter) moment.”
WoodyFest means a lot to the Felker family, and both of these moments make for a performance that no one will forget.
Since there were many “Heaven Passing Through” moments from this set, fire up the song before you go.
The post WATCH: Evan Felker’s Daughter, Evie, Sweetly Calls To Him Before He Sings The “Heaven Passing Through” Verse She Inspired first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
