words by Andrew Norman | photos by Bridget McQuillan, Andrew Dickinson, Jeremy Buckley, Hilary Stohs-Krause and Angie Norman
We stood on the lookout tower — high above where the Platte River bends briefly south before stretching back north and east to pour itself into the Missouri — witnessing the sun set in brilliant orange-and-purple hues. We sat silently on the cold gravel in the pitch dark — feet away from a coal-hauling Union Pacific train — listening as it barreled past us rhythmically, methodically like an enormous steel bullet, blowing a gentle breeze.
At the 2013 Nebraska Music Retreat, Sept. 7-8 at Platte River State Park, we burned logs and cooked dogs, botched jokes and strummed guitars. We picked wildflowers and shot cheap whiskey, slept on teepee floors and (maybe one of us) in a busted lawn chair.
While the Niobrara River Sanctuary has customarily been home to the annual retreat, we changed things up a bit this year and retreated a little closer to home, for most of us. The park proved a perfect spot to find peace and quiet, and to get to know our interns and contributors on a more personal level. That's the point of the retreat, after all, to say thanks to and spend precious time with some of the dozens of talented writers, photographers, videographers, designers and utility players that have helped Hear Nebraska produce more than 10,000 pieces of content since our official launch fewer than three years ago.
Because of these people, Hear Nebraska is kind of like that night train — just chugging away, picking up speed and, hopefully, impacting everything and everyone in its path.
Below are some photos from this year's Nebraska Music Retreat. (You can see them all here.)
