As autumn breezes blow orange, red and yellow leaves across the darkening countryside southeast of Syracuse, a spirited band of friends gathers in a 2,480- square-foot barn where they will be sheltered from the impending cold and supported by the fellowship of their musical family.

The music barn at Kellish Hill Farm, 3192 Pompey Center Road, Pompey, stands alone in its kitschy décor, its warmly lit stage and its welcoming atmosphere. The walls are plastered with road signs, banners, stuffed animals, samplers and photos of idols and icons from Roy Rogers to Willie Nelson as well as a pair of the famously hideous pants worn by local bluegrass promoter Bill Knowlton. Potted plants, wagon wheels and angel figurines festoon the stage in Hee-Haw style. Donated instruments and sponsor banners from Stone Creek Music, Beat Street Music and Kellish Tire and Auto Service hang prominently around the room. A bright yellow, 1966 MG Midget sports car is parked in a place of honor at the opposite end.

As pickers and fans file in, some write their names on the chalkboard that serves as the evening's agenda while others settle down on chairs or stools, sipping coffee, munching pizza and greeting friends. Everybody gets hugged by the head greeter, hostess Kathy Kellish, who has turned her childhood home, a 152-acre dairy farm, into her adult dream, a mecca for musical creativity and harmony. The music barn sits next to a log guest house and a cow pasture on the east side of the road while Kellish and husband Rick Harding live in the original house across the road. In addition to their herd of about a dozen petite, gentle Dexter cows, the couple tends a few horses; Harding works as a radiation therapist to pay the bills.

It's one of only three farms on the five-mile stretch of rolling hills between the villages of Manlius and Pompey Center, a hotbed of agricultural activities when Kellish's parents bought their spread in 1948. Nearly all of their neighbors have fallen victim to the staggering decline of family-owned farms, most recently the dairy farm next door, sold two years ago. Today, Pompey Center Road is a diverse mixture of dilapidated older houses and stylish newer homes, dense woods, farm stands, uncultivated fields and horse pastures with white rail fences-a rustic, but beautiful, patchwork.

While Kellish and Harding hang on with their livestock, their alternative use of the farm as a performance center is showing promise, having received some votes from the public for Syracuse New Times Syracuse Area Music Awards' Best Live Music Venue this year and winning praise from virtually every performer who steps onto the lavish stage. "I don't know another venue that, in its fourth year of existence, has been nominated for a Sammy award," points out Mark Matthews of Liverpool, the open-mike host for the evening. "There is an awful lot we can do here. They already do a tremendous amount."

Thursday open-mike nights are intermittently hosted by such local music favorites as Matthews, John Cadley, Mark Zane and Greg Hoover, and afternoon jam sessions are held every Sunday. Special events, like an appearance by acclaimed Northern New York bluegrass act The Atkinson Family this Saturday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m., add to Kellish Hill's prestige. "I don't think there's a bluegrass event that doesn't want the Atkinsons," raves Central New York Bluegrass Association Festival Committee chairman Mike Bonczek. "Everybody wants the Atkinsons. This is definitely a big thing." Event information is available on the website, www. rhbamericana.com.

The Kellish Farm is some eight miles from the hamlet of Delphi Falls, where Central New York country music history was written at a legendary roadhouse that was destroyed by fire in 2001. "{Musician} Ray Randall told me this reminds him a little bit of the Ozark Inn, what it used to be like," Kellish marvels. "That's a compliment. But after the Ozark-now it's just a parking lot-where's there a place for people to come?"

Barn Burner

Some of them come to Kellish Hill, where the town of Pompey has approved the barn for a capacity of 100 people. Bigger crowds can be accommodated, weather permitting, by sliding open large panels on two sides to create an indoor-outdoor venue. "We put up tents and extra chairs to bring the inside and the outside together," Kellish says. A priority improvement for the music barn, site of the couple's wedding reception 20 years ago, is the addition of indoor plumbing to replace the modern plastic outhouses that sit just outside.

But the most exciting potential for future prosperity is the gently sloping field behind the log cabin, 70 acres overlooking a stunning vista with a lovely valley rising to a distant hillside where the windmills of the Fenner Wind Farm churn slowly. Hosting major festivals or concert events in that bucolic setting could provide the economic resources needed to keep the operation healthy. For Kellish the dream embraces the land. "It's a good sanctuary," she assures. "Wouldn't you love to see nature trails? Then, we could have community gardens here. People get inspired because you're already in God's country. Get high on nature, your music and friends. How could it get any better?"

Like-minded businesses and friends have rallied around Kellish Hill Farm, making contributions toward the operation of the programs there, but consistent financial backing hasn't surfaced to secure its future. Formation of a more formal board of directors is one plan that's under consideration. "I've talked to people," Kellish reports. "The one big thing: How many organizations do you see out there that run smoothly? I'm looking for that. I'm looking for the answers. There is a good sphere of people around us that believe in us, that have helped us, very informally. But the bottom line, Rick and I are the ones that have to toe the line and if other people come, I'm happy. Down the road, I would like to have some sort of organization, but I haven't seen the right formula yet."

The inspiration for the entertainment venue came when Kellish, who plays autoharp, the instrument most famously associated with Mother Maybelle of the renowned Carter Family, heard a calling to bring music to the farm and started hosting house jams five years ago. Three years later, they moved into the barn. "We outgrew the house and wanted to have it out here," she recalls. "People come here for the music. I've had many musicians say to me, 'I have people really listening to me. We're not background.' They respect that and they love it."

It has quickly become a favorite venue for musicians from miles around, drawing a steady stream to the Kellish stage for open mike. "It's a very safe place for entertainers or people looking to get back into entertaining after years away, like myself," Matthews relates. "Everybody kind of checks their egos at the door. And a lot of credit for that goes to what Kathy and Rick have put together up here. It's most unique in the respect that people are sitting there really listening. Everybody gets appreciation for the effort, whether it's perfect or not."

One performer who used the open mike to test the waters for a return to performing publicly, singer and guitarist Jim Herlihy of Manlius, won instant fans one particular evening by accompanying his vocals with some truly dazzling fingerpicking. Herlihy hadn't played, except at home with his kids, in six or seven years. "Two weeks ago was my first time out here, just to listen, see what the performers were like and what kind of music they were playing out here," he reveals. "I was touched by the warmth of the place and how welcoming they were, even to me and I didn't have my guitar with me. I mentioned to Mark that I might like to come out and play and he was encouraging me. I was a little nervous about playing again. But I was very comfortable once I got playing. It's a comfortable place to play."

Like most who play at Kellish, Herlihy plans to return. "I hope this doesn't sound a little hokey, but this really is a magical place," Matthews reflects. "Everybody who has walked into this building has commented that it's either a spiritual or magical place. Those are the two adjectives that come up most often."

Across a pine tree hedgerow and beyond a gazebo and a swing set, the log cabin, built in 1982, serves as a way station for many a traveling musician, nestled among a grove consisting of every species of tree imaginable, most planted by Kellish herself. Inside, the living room of the cabin allows a smaller space for intimate picking, warming up or relaxing. A wood stove, beamed ceiling and player piano lend an air of old-fashioned coziness. The bedrooms are used to provide hospitality for guests.

The child-hearted Kellish never misses a chance to decorate for holidays, adding a touch of whimsy to the homestead she gladly shares. "Kathy has been a wonderful resource for anybody and everybody that just wants to play music," Bonczek says. "The thing about Kathy that favors her over just about anybody is that she listens. She doesn't care about the money. She's not asking for big bucks from anybody. She loves music. It's in her blood. For all of us to be able to go out there, put in maybe $5 or bring a dish to pass to enjoy ourselves for an evening or afternoon of music, for those who love it, it's absolutely perfect."

Between acts on open-mike night, Kellish takes to the stage to plug the coming weekend's events, a Sunday afternoon jam to be followed by a dance party the same evening. "Come for the afternoon," she raves. "If you want to take a nap during the day, you can go in the cabin." Following the jam session, the pickers know there will be a pot-luck meal to share: Sunday supper with the family.