SUNBURY - Tom Webb always envisioned live music being an important part of Spyglass Ridge Winery, which he started with his wife, Tammy, in the countryside of Rockefeller Township in the mid-1990s.
Annual outdoor Celtic and blues festivals and indoor "March madness" concerts partially satisfied that desire, but it was weddings for which Spyglass became the go-to place.
Then a few years ago, while listening to one of his favorite bands of all time - Kansas - on headphones during a vacation plane ride, Webb decided to push the issue with music.
"I told my wife I'm going to get Kansas to play in our backyard. She said, 'Let it go,'" Webb recalled with a laugh.
As tends to happen with husbands, Webb didn't listen. And in 2010, Kansas played on the spacious lawn at Spyglass for the first show in what has become the Backyard Concert Series.
The legendary group famous for "Dust in the Wind" and "Carry On (My) Wayward Son" will be back at the winery tonight for the second of back-to-back concert weekends.
Last Saturday, Foreigner played for 90 minutes before a crowd of about 3,200 people, who Webb said came from throughout the area but also from the Philadelphia region and New York, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, New Jersey and other states.
Perhaps the biggest fan to attend was Webb himself, a 50-year-old who is reliving the music of his youth.
Overcoming odds
When he first called Creative Artists Agency, a Hollywood-based booking agency, and pitched his case to hire Kansas, Webb sensed a response that he expressed as such: "Who are you? Please go away."
He was able to book the band, although Kansas members had to wonder if they were a bit wayward themselves when they traveled amid farm fields and past the Northumberland County Conservation District en route to the quiet intersection of Plum Creek and Carroll roads.
And the convincing wasn't over. Webb recalls the band's merchandiser in the pre-concert hours saying, "This looks like a nice country picnic."
Tammy, especially, didn't take kindly to the characterization, but the Webbs would have the last laugh. Kansas sold all its merchandise that night.
It's not surprising, then, that the band is back. This time, it has enlisted the services of the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra. It'll be one of just five or six shows Kansas does each year that involves a full orchestra, Webb said.
"They had so much fun at our place" and wanted to come back, he said.
Last week there was local participation as well. Members of the Shikellamy High School chorus took the stage to sing "I Want to Know What Love is" with Foreigner.
While the facility can accommodate 3,500, an ideal number is 3,000 to 3,200 to allow people to easily get around the grounds, Webb said. He described it as an "intimate setting," the gentle slope of the lawn providing good views from anywhere.
Local vendors
From Kansas that first year to a combination Blue Oyster Cult-Foghat show and Styx (another one of Webb's favorites) in 2011, to Foreigner, Kansas and, on Aug. 11, the Legends of Blues in 2012, Spyglass has found success featuring affordable bands that, while beyond their heyday, are still popular.
"It's the perfect demographic" to match with wine drinkers, Webb said about visitors in their 40s, 50s and 60s.
Wine sales are a concert priority for Spyglass because the winery doesn't make much profit from the concerts themselves. Webb divulged that it cost $70,000 to book Foreigner, and that didn't count production costs or necessities, like port-a-potties.
Beer is also sold at the event, including from Old Forge Brewery in Danville, and there are food vendors, too. All vendors are local, and the nonprofits - such as St. Pauline Foundation from Kulpmont, which was selling soupie sandwiches at the Foreigner show - set up for free, Webb said.
'Hair, muscles and a band'
Webb, whose day job is with Service Electric, was a recording engineer in his original profession, and worked at studios in New York City.
"Music has always been a passion of mine," he said.
He likes to tell people, "I had hair, muscles and a band back in the '80s, and I have none of them now."
But he does still have his music, and he enjoys sharing it with those who attend the concerts.
On the Spyglass "wish list" for next year are Heart, REO Speedwagon, 38 Special and Joe Walsh.
"I said I wanted to have all of my favorite bands play in my backyard before I die, or they die," he joked.
What a ... Rush?
He's already had the chance, however, to have dinner with some of rock's legends, and he and Tammy now do an annual "wine swap" with Foghat's Roger Earl and his wife, who also have a winery.
"They all love coming here, and now we're getting a reputation in the industry," Webb said.
The ultimate, in his eyes, would be to have his favorite band of all time - Rush - at Spyglass. However, those progressive rockers, who formed in the late 1960s but released their latest album in June, are "hotter than ever," Webb said - a fact reflected in a booking price that has risen from about $150,000 when he first checked three years ago to $450,000 today.
"I told my wife, 'If you see Rush on the bill, you know I'm terminal,'" Webb laughed.