Friday night at The Cabin welcomed local talents Len Voy and D. Janekey for an evening filled with folk music.

A small and intimate crowd gathered at tables and on couches to listen to Nick Lanser, lead singer of Len Voy, and David Janecke, who uses the stage name D. Janakey, as they sang and played original songs of the folk genre.

D. Janakey took the stage first, performing his songs with a guitar, mandolin and harmonica. Len Voy finished up the night with songs about his personal experiences in his life, such as growing up Catholic and spending time with his grandmother.

Lanser originates from the Milwaukee area and attended school at UW-Eau Claire for four years before moving to Minneapolis. He said he first started getting into making music during his time in Eau Claire.

He summarized his music as revolving around “self-growth,” as it typically pertains to personal matters.

“Originally inspiration kind of came from personal, emotional things, and it was more of a direct outlet of that,” Lanser said. “I think since then it’s grown a little bit, but more so it’s kind of just following whatever spark there is.”

Some artists he said he looks up to are Bob Dylan, John Prine and artists from Eau Claire, including Bon Iver and Chris Porterfield, the lead in a band called Field Report.

Lanser said he isn’t as into the performing side of his music as he is into creating the music itself. The part of “self-exploration” is what means the most to him.

“I like playing shows because I get to meet new people and share music that I’ve made,” Lanser said. “Maybe people get, maybe people don’t. It’s not really what I’m more concerned about. I’m more into the creation part of it and kind of building something.”

Janecke was born in Kenosha, but his family moved to Santa Cruz, Bolivia when he was young. He moved back to Eau Claire three years ago.

Like Lanser, Janecke’s inspirations include Bob Dylan and John Prine. He said he also enjoys Woodie Guthrie and Pete Seeger.

Janecke said he enjoys “just playing” his music for people to hear. His current music involves “tweaking” and reinterpreting ideas he has had over the years and putting those ideas into song form.

“Most of the songs I’m working on right now, I‘ve been writing over a number of years,” Janecke said. “I’m borrowing portions from old things that I came up with that I like and rewriting based on what the true emotion behind the thing was …”

Christie Clark, a senior accounting and information systems student, attended the event as someone who was already a fan of Len Voy. She saw Len Voy perform in May 2016 and was impressed with the band’s music. Of Friday’s performance, she said it was very relaxed.

“It was really a fun environment where they interacted with the crowd,” Clark said. “It’s very relaxing music especially after a long day. I was very into it.”

Both Lanser and Janecke have songs on Bandcamp. Janecke has an EP that came out approximately two years ago and is working on an album expected to be released sometime early next year. Lanser said Len Voy will be taking a break from shows to work on new music.