Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Heather Timmons. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Heather thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Back in 2014, I started my music industry career as an intern at WEMF Radio, internet radio station that also handled music bookings at small venues in Boston, MA. When my internship was up, I kept working with the radio station part time. Through this opportunity I ended up connecting with a lot of local musicians and music industry folks, many becoming close friends.

I learned that some of these friends wanted to go on tour but didn’t know how to handle the logistics of it, especially the booking aspect. So I decided since I had experience booking and organizing shows locally with WEMF Radio, I would try tour booking. I wanted this to be my own separate entity, as I was still doing local bookings with WEMF Radio, therefore TinyOak Booking was born. The name stemmed from my fascination with trees and nature. Being a person of small stature with the hope of growing larger and stronger within this music community, the words TinyOak resonated with me. I also really enjoyed the idea of tree roots resembling tour routes.

Unfortunately, a few years later WEMF Radio closed its doors leaving a hole in the local music scene. I decided to pivot from using TinyOak Booking as a tour focused booking group back towards local bookings at various venues around Boston. I bounced around from venue to venue booking shows, handling the audio production, collecting cover charges at the door – anything I could to keep the shows going. During this time, I was booking 7-14 shows a week and working a show almost every night, sometimes for free. It was exhausting but inspiring. This period of time really pushed me into learning live audio engineering as well, which I fell in love with.

Ultimately this led to various audio tech positions and my current booking positions at Midway Cafe and The Jungle Community Music Club; where I book roughly 520 shows a year.

Thankful for the relationships gained, lessons learned, and unique opportunities this journey has given me. I can’t stress how important it is to support local artists and your local community.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Growing up I played a lot of different sports so that didn’t leave a lot of extra time to explore other things like music but I always felt a deep connection to it. I think many of us do. I knew I wanted to be involved with music in some way but as someone who is not musically inclined, I had to find other ways to get involved. I decided to explore the business side of music in college. This led to me getting an internship at an internet radio station that was also organizing music shows at local venues. Through this internship I got involved with organizing shows, radio production, as well as live audio production.

Eventually, I created my own company TinyOak Booking to continue pursuing my music interests. TinyOak is an independent music booking group run by a tiny human in Boston, MA. Since 2016, TinyOak has been organizing and managing local events at a variety of venues around Boston, previously in partnership with WEMF Radio. Currently booking at The Jungle Community Music Club and Midway Cafe. Past venues include: Tavern at the End of the World, Sally O’Brien’s, McGann’s Irish Pub, Maggy’s Lounge, Thunder Road, Lizard Lounge, Middle East, The Cantab, and Cantina La Mexicana.

TinyOak is also equipped with our own sound engineer and PA system, which are both available for hired gigs and events.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The 2020 global pandemic negatively impacted many lives and industries across the board. The music industry came to a screeching halt, which had a detrimental impact on local communities and small businesses. With so many unknowns and the inability to gather as a community, people were feeling very lost and fearful.

To help ease these feelings and lessen the burden on temporarily closed venues, I wanted to find a safe way to keep everyone connected at a time I felt we needed it most, at least I sure did. I decided to create “Scene Streams” which started as remote live streams of interviews and music performances on YouTube and Facebook. Through these streams, we helped raise funds for local venues, staff, and musicians to help keep them afloat during the shutdown. Eventually these evolved into live full band performances in empty venues, particularly at Midway Cafe.

At times these streams felt futile as the world around us continued to feel heavier and heavier. Each day it seemed more likely that our industry, especially on the local independent level, would not be able to bounce back. Despite these feelings, mostly because I didn’t know what else to do, I continued organizing streams and investing in equipment to improve them. Through the power of community we were help sustain Midway Cafe and The Jungle Community Music Club long enough to endure the shutdown.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The radio station I interned at and eventually work for ended up closing after a few years. At that time my mentor had decided to move across the country. Still early in my career and knowing I still had a lot to learn, I was intimidated by continuing on my own. But I knew there would be a hole in the local music scene with WEMF closing and my mentor leaving. So I decided to pivot from using TinyOak Booking as solely a tour focused booking group towards local bookings. I picked up where WEMF left off and began expanding. I bounced around from venue to venue booking as many shows as I could. Handling the audio production, collecting cover charges, checking IDs etc – anything I could to keep the shows going. This was an exhausting time in my career but also an inspiring one that got me to the point I’m at today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tinyoakbooking.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinyoakbooking
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TinyOakBooking/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TinyOakBooking/streams
• Other: https://linktr.ee/tinyoakbooking

Image Credits

Jeff Bousquet