Late November in Iowa usually means coats in the car, short days, and people deciding whether they’re ready for winter yet. A Friday night at a winery and distillery sounds like a pretty solid way to delay that decision for a few hours.
This will be our second time playing at Cedar Ridge Winery & Distillery, but our first evening show there. The first time, we honestly thought, “Wow, this is kind of a haul for us” as we were driving out. By the end of the night, we were already talking about when we could come back.
What stuck with us was how full the place felt in a very normal, everyday way: people finishing work, grabbing food and drinks, talking across tables, and still actually listening to the music. The staff kept everything moving, and there was this steady line of folks walking past with whiskey flights and wine glasses that made it clear this wasn’t anyone’s side project.
That first show was earlier in the day, so this time being there from 6–9 PM changes things a bit for us. We’ll lean more into the evening side of our set list: a few more harmonies that fit better after dark, and then some lighter, familiar covers as people settle in with their drinks.
Show Details
- When: Friday, November 27, 2026, from 6–9 PM
- Where: Cedar Ridge Winery & Distillery, 1441 Marak Road, Swisher, IA 52338
- Who: Bell & Field (piano, guitar, and two voices)
- What to expect: A three-hour evening set with a mix of our originals and covers, some piano-forward takes on songs you probably know, a few quieter tunes for the middle of the night, and some more upbeat songs toward the end as the room fills up and the drinks keep coming.
- Venue website: cedarridgedistillery.com
About Bell & Field
We’re a piano-and-guitar duo that likes to keep things pretty simple: we build a night around the room in front of us. If people are talking and catching up, we’ll lean into steady, familiar songs that sit under the conversation. If it gets quieter, we’ll bring out more of our own tunes and arrangements that reward listening a bit more closely.
About the Venue
Cedar Ridge Winery & Distillery is out in Swisher, with the winery, distillery, and tasting room all on the same property. When we played there last time, the tasting room stayed busy from the moment we set up: wine flights on one table, whiskey on another, plates coming out from the kitchen, and people drifting between the bar and their seats. It’s clearly a place folks plan around, not just somewhere they wander into by accident.
They’re known for their whiskey and locally crafted wine, and the live music is woven into a full evening there instead of being an afterthought. From our side of the stage, it feels like plugging into a place that already has its own rhythm; we just add a soundtrack to whatever kind of Friday night people are building for themselves.
If you’re looking for a post-Thanksgiving Friday plan that doesn’t involve more leftovers and the couch, we’ll be at Cedar Ridge from 6–9 PM. Come by whenever you’re ready to trade dishes and football for a glass of something and some live music.
Going into this one at Coal Creek Brewing in Princeton, we honestly weren’t sure what we were walking into. A Tuesday, 5–7 PM, a private group Jim was hosting, and a room we’d never played before. We didn’t know where we’d set up, how loud we should be, or if people would be listening closely or just chatting over us.
One of those musicians was Payton Schott, who owns West Main Coffee & Books in Toulon. I used to play music with her a few years back. Our side project never totally found its lane, but it ended on good terms, and I’ve always thought the world of her as a person and as a musician. She’s also the one who helped connect us with Jim for this Coal Creek date, so this gig was kind of the Toulon–Galva–Princeton triangle closing a loop.
Between sets and after we wrapped, we worked through that beer flight Tom had ordered, comparing notes like we actually knew what we were talking about. Tom eventually settled on a full 16 oz of a blueberry/blackberry wheat draft called “Plot Twist,” which pretty much nailed the whole night in one phrase. Neither of us expected a Tuesday at Coal Creek to turn into one of our favorite recent gigs, but there we were.
Sometimes you pull into a town, start unloading gear, and you can just tell it’s going to be a good one. That’s how it felt rolling into Monmouth for our Market Alley Wines show on July 11.
Once we kicked off the first set, it felt like the whole alley kind of clicked into place. There was that low hum of conversation, glasses clinking, and then this slow shift as people started actually listening. By the time we hit “I Feel Fine,” Greg was sneaking in some extra piano runs and Tom just looked over and grinned. Those are the little moments that make a live acoustic duo performance fun for us.
We wrapped up, packed the gear, and then hung out a bit with Sarah and Jeff to catch up. They’re the kind of venue owners that make Market Alley Wines entertainment feel like a collaboration instead of just a booking. Monmouth’s got a good thing going with them anchoring that alley.
If you’re the kind of person who likes a low-key Saturday night where you can have dinner, catch up with friends, and still hear the words to the songs, this one is right in that lane.
Outdoor gigs in July are always a bit of a gamble. Heat, humidity, storms – usually at least one shows up. Our live acoustic duo performance for Valley View Club’s 60th anniversary in Cambridge managed to flirt with all three and still let us get through the show.
his whole night was about anniversaries – 250 years of America and 60 years of Valley View Club. The course has been there for about one-fifth of the country’s history, which is kind of wild when you think about it.
We wrapped the main part of the night with “Wild Night,” which is always a fun one to end on, and then closed things out with “America the Beautiful” on the eve of the 4th. Greg and Paul leaned into a version that stays close to the Ray Charles arrangement – soulful, patient, and not rushed. It felt like the right way to nod to both the country’s birthday and Valley View’s 60 years.
We don’t play a lot of museums, so getting asked to be part of the Kewanee Historical Society’s 50th birthday party already felt a little different in the best way. Instead of a stage or a corner of a bar, we were set up on the mezzanine, looking down over the main floor while people came in, grabbed food, and found old friends.
The star of our setup area, though, was this bright orange vintage sofa under a painting of a Hawaiian woman who is… let’s just say, not overdressed. The painting used to hang at the old Waunee Farms restaurant, and once we saw it, we knew there was no way we were getting through the night without a photo or two.
Our second Father’s Day at Tuggers in Port Byron looked pretty different from the first one. Last year it was all sunshine on the patio and people hanging out by the river. This year: nonstop rain, temps in the upper 50s, and us hauling gear inside instead of out to the deck. Still, by the time we finished playing, it felt like exactly the kind of Father’s Day we both needed.
This show had an extra layer for Tom: his whole family was there—parents, kids, significant others, Malissa—taking over a couple of tables and making it very clearly a Father’s Day thing. Somewhere in the middle of the set, Tom took a short break to open his gifts. From Greg’s vantage point, it looked like a mini living room scene right there in the bar, which fit the mood of the day perfectly.
This was Tom’s first gig since turning fifty the week before, and that milestone was definitely in the back of his mind, as he reflected on his appreciation for family, life, and music.
We’ll be at Coal Creek Brewing Company in Princeton on Tuesday, July 21, from 5–7 PM.
Rams Riverhouse is starting to feel like our own little experiment in how many tiny things can go sideways before a show and still add up to a really good night.
Kewanee has one of those downtowns where you can still picture what it looked like a few decades ago just by walking a block or two. The Historical Society sits right in the middle of that, with the murals and old storefronts close by and the museum quietly holding all the details the sidewalks don’t show anymore.
