The Cabin was crowded with UW-Eau Claire students as they listened to their fellow classmate Joe Hunt perform Friday evening.

Hunt, a sophomore, played the guitar and sang a variety of cover songs as well as some of his own.

“I was in musicals growing up, but started playing the guitar about seven years ago,” Hunt said. “Since then, I’ve been playing with various people. I love playing bluegrass music, it’s fun.”

He said he has sang at the Cabin a few times before, but this is the first time he had his own show.

Three of Hunt’s friends, all Eau Claire students, played various instruments along side him during the performance.

“We were friends before we were fellow musicians,” he said. “We started playing and we realized it was fun. So we went to Water Street … made a little dough, had a little fun.”

That is what brought them together and made them want to perform on Friday, giving the audience an earful of music and a light atmosphere. For Hunt, that is what performing is all about.

“It’s obviously going to be fun up there for you, and if you are having fun they’re having fun, vice versa,” he said. “It’s participation on all aspects, from the performance and the audience.”

Hunt said he has played in a few coffee shops in the Twin Cities, but playing in The Cabin is always a memorable experience.

While he enjoyed all of it, he said one particular moment stood out to him the most.

“We did an a cappella version of the Christmas carol ‘Silent Night’ and at the end everyone in the audience came in this big chorus,” he said. “It was a beautiful moment.”

Freshman Rebekah Anderson said she was very impressed with the performance and the music Hunt chose.

“He’s a very talented musician,” she said. “You can tell that they were having a lot of fun, and I loved the songs too, such a great collection. It was really enjoyable.”

Anderson also said she would be happy to see him perform there again.

Emerson Freybler, a freshman, said he knows Hunt because they have a choir class together, and he was not disappointed to hear him perform.

“Joe’s just one of those neat guys that you wanna know,” Freybler said. “I think the music tonight definitely displayed his outgoing, sensitive and charming personality.”

Freybler also said Hunt was “too modest” to tell him he was performing, and he only knew because he had seen posters
advertising the show.

Regardless, the Cabin was full of classmates who heard about the show one way or another, and were more than excited to watch their fellow student and friends take the stage.