Jared Sheets performs at the barn with his family band, Mudfork Blues.

Nora McKeown

The dance floor at Charlie’s Red Star Blues Barn attracts a motley group. As blues artists fill the space with lively music, generations of people — from grandchildren to grandparents — get up from their chairs to dance in rhythm to the smooth sounds coming from the stage.

Those performances happen three times a year, bringing residents from Athens and the surrounding areas to the remote venue in Meigs County to watch Mudfork Blues and other blues artists perform.

Jared Sheets became the barn’s fourth-generation owner after he bought it from his father, Jim Sheets, in 2007. When the barn was transformed into a musical venue, it was named after Jim’s father, Charlie Sheets, who would often drive out to the barn from his home in Pomeroy. Jim says the “red star” part of the name comes from the star that used to hang from his wife's family home in Pomeroy. Jared rewired it with red LED lights and set it up on the stage to shine behind the artists as they perform.

Growing up, Jared says, the barn wasn’t used the way it is now. It housed horses, hay and other farming supplies. Jim says he remembers swinging from a rope hung in the middle of the barn as a child, then watching his sons do the same years later.

“If you have ever read ‘Charlotte’s Web,’ the antics that went on in our barn are very similar,” Jim says.

This year, Mudfork Blues is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

“One day, I came home for Thanksgiving,” Jared says. “I started to play and take interest in blues music and I actually came with a set list. I said, ‘Hey, we’re going to start a blues band and here’s our first set list.’ So, that was the start of our band.”

Music has been an integral aspect of the family’s dynamic for years. Jim and his wife Jenny both play the piano and encouraged their children to learn to play an instrument as well.

“Music’s always been a part of the family,” he says.

The family gene for musical talent was passed all the way down to Jared’s children. The band is now composed of six family members: Jared, his wife, his brother, his mom and both of his kids.

“Our band has always been the core of all of this,” Jared says, referring to the legacy Charlie’s Red Star Barn has built.

In 2006, the Sheets founded the Foothills Music Foundation to support and encourage music and the arts in the foothills of Southeast Ohio. With that mission in mind, they started the Foothills Music Festival in the field outside the barn to provide a free event for artists to perform and local vendors to sell their products.

“We did the festival as a completely free community event,” Jared says. “So, all the artists could come free. All the vendors could come free. We had free admission and free camping, which is one of the reasons it became quite popular.”

Jared Sheets plays electric guitar during a concert at the barn.

The festival occurred annually from 2006 to 2011 until it gained so much popularity that the foundation could no longer sustain the event.

“We had probably 5,000 people there,” Jared says. “It wasn’t quite as big as [the Pawpaw Festival], but it was definitely headed in that direction.”

So, in 2011, after the barn’s traditional purposes had become less necessary for the family and the music festival needed to downsize, Jared suggested the family turn the barn into a concert venue. They switched from one big free festival to three smaller ticketed shows throughout the year.

The following year, renovations were started and in spring of 2013, Charlie’s Red Star Barn hosted its first concert.

“We didn’t have any idea how big the single festival would get,” he says. “Nor did we have much idea how popular the barn shows would be.”

Charlie’s success allowed it to partner with brands like Maple Lawn Brewery, a local brewer that sells its products during the shows. As the events change, the Sheets still try to bring in local food vendors for the barn concerts like they did at the original annual festivals.

“We have typically a different [vendor] for each show,” Jared says. “The couple who were [at the last concert] were a husband and wife who own a small, sustainable farm in Jackson County.”

Although the concerts are focused on featuring local blues artists, Jared says Charlie’s welcomes all genres, like traditional folk and Southern rock, as well. The barn has even seen a few performances from wider-known blues artists like Johnny Rawls, Biscuit Miller and Larry Garner.

The Wild Honeybees, a nine-person band, is a local group who frequently performs at the barn. Its New Orleans-inspired dance music always gets the crowd on their feet. The founder and trombone player of The Wild Honeybees, Mark Burhans, says the band enjoys the lively audience during its sets in the barn.

“I had no idea what their place was [when Jared first emailed us],” Burhans says. “I had never even heard of it, which is sort of what’s really interesting about Charlie’s Red Star Barn. It’s a sort of little-known thing, and yet enough people know about it that [it still draws] a huge crowd.”

The Wild Honeybees plan on continuing to perform at Charlie’s as long as the Sheets invite them back.

“It’s really one of our favorite places to play,” Burhans says, “because it’s like nowhere else.”