- [Announcer] Production of "Applause" on Ideastream Public Media is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation, the Kulas Foundation, and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

(upbeat jazz music) - [Presenter] Coming up: All aboard for an up close look at one family's passion for model trains.

And later we stop in Cleveland's Gordon Square to spend time with a jewelry maker from the south of France.

You'll also hear from Akron Honky-Tonkers, The Shootouts, getting their shot at the Grand Ole Opry.

Welcome back, everyone, to your arts and culture show "Applause" I'm Ideastream Public Media's Kabir Bhatia.

Tucked away in Huntsburg Township in Geauga County, a family owned train museum delights visitors from near and far.

Let's head inside for a tour of the Corner Field Model Railroad Museum and Trading Post Train Shop with Ideastream Public Media's Carrie Wise.

(train chugging) (whistle blows) - [Reporter] The trains here talk, steam, whistle, and at times whizz right by.

The museum is a family affair started from a lifelong collection and passion for trains.

- We always had the dream of the building a building, giving the trains to the people.

I always wanted to make a layout 'cause I was tired of hearing the people say, "The hobby is dying."

It's not dying, it just goes in phases.

- [Reporter] Getting everything up and running took the Elesh family about 15 years.

- The layout is 32 by 145 feet and we're very proud of the size and the way it is 'cause it's the biggest in our area.

(train chugging) (whistle blows) - [Reporter] The elaborate display features intricate details from Amish buggies to handcrafted picnic tables, with much of this layout paying tribute to Northeast Ohio.

- My end here is incorporated with a lot of industry to the lake area to the town area.

We have a city amusement park, which you might see is replicated into like Geauga Lake, which has an operating rollercoaster called The Big Dipper.

- [Reporter] A popular site in the city section is a replica of New York City's Empire State Building.

- It has the changing colors on top too.

I can select different colors but it's a big piece because people like the size and the height of it.

- [Reporter] The Elesh family's large collection also incorporates trains and pieces people have donated to their museum.

(cheerful organ music) - There's a 70 year old white church on the layout and it has a wedding going on.

He knew the gentleman he had passed away from cancer, but he was really special.

That is one of my favorite pieces.

- [Reporter] Visitors can lose track of time taking in all of the scenes throughout the layout which features a mix of city and country life.

- As you come into my side, we have the Amish area, more like Geauga County area, more like Cleveland, east side of Cleveland.

This is my pride and joy of section that my dad let me have.

Basically I control this whole end for the public to see.

We also have the Best Sand Company which was made in honor of my great-grandfather, which my brother made.

And we all took turns on different creativities and we basically would go travel around and we would get ideas of different buildings, how things would look, the nature.

So we kinda would get a good replica of how things would look so it wouldn't look too much and it wouldn't look too little.

- [Reporter] Ashley Elesh and her brother, Tom Junior, run the trains and control the features on opposite ends of the museum.

Two popular pieces on Ashley's side include the drive-in theater and the rocket ship ride.

- Everyone loves the rocket ships, as everyone thinks of Euclid Beach Park.

They were also at Geauga Lake Park and everyone always talks about the cars that they ride on 'cause the kids and families always talk like, "Oh, well, they actually work."

And they do.

They actually start and stop.

- [Reporter] Of course the trains delight too.

Keep an eye out for the bullet that speeds along the outside track.

And watch the trains brought in on the roundhouse.

It all gets people talking.

- I like modern diesels like steam engines and stuff, but you gotta have like steam engines.

A lot of older people like the steam and kids and stuff love the railroads like CSX, Norfolk, Southern.

It's just things like that that you gotta have it for a variety for everybody.

Can't have one particular railroad.

- [Presenter] The museum also includes the Trading Post Train Shop, carrying on the name of a longtime Cleveland business where Tom Senior once worked.

- Back in the time, in the '70s and '80s, there was a time period when I was there at the store, a lot of people would come in holiday times but you never hardly seen the children.

They'd come in with their parents but mostly it was the parents that came in.

So today it's because we have this massive train display, I get the chance to share it with the children of the country and our world and that's very important to me.

- [Reporter] The plan is to keep all these trains running well into the future, with the next generation of the Elesh family eventually taking the reins.

- And that makes me feel very happy and relaxed because a lot of businesses like this died.

They closed 'cause nobody's there to take over.

- [Reporter] The museum's name, Corner Field, is a nod to another family dream pursued, a large ball field that was built for Ashley when she was 10 and sick with meningitis.

- I asked my dad to build me a big ball field in my front yard, and he's the greatest dad in the world and my role model and he made that dream come true for me on Christmas.

- With that, and then building this at the time, we've put two and two together to make the name 'cause that stuck and then this stuck, and now it really sticks and then it's now it's Corner Field and Trading Post Train Shop.

And by God, I'm so proud of that.

I can't put it in words.

- [Presenter] The Corner Field Model Railroad Museum and Trading Post Train Shop are open Wednesday through Sunday and located on Pioneer Road in Huntsburg Township.

(soft jazz music) We now head to Columbus where the Jazz Arts Group, or JAG, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary of jazz education.

It's an offshoot of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra known for working with Central Ohio students aspiring to make their mark in music.

- My mission in playing music and delivering it to the Columbus community is bigger than just come see a concert.

There are connections that bring us together in terms of our unique similarity in humanity.

Our humanity can, that's a place where it can grow and come together.

You leave and you're changed.

There's something different that happens.

50 years means that you have a legacy and that also means once again that word, responsibility.

It's planting seeds in a garden that you never get to see.

I feel that what we do educationally is exactly that.

So why do we do this?

Why do we do education?

It's for those who don't necessarily always feel comfortable in every class in school.

We have to fulfill this gap where people have said, "No more music 'cause we can't afford it."

To me that's like saying, "No more heart.

(laughs) Let's dispense with happiness."

(laughs) Right?

When you take music away or theater or drama, or all those beautiful artistic things.

"No more drawing, you're on your own now.

Figure it out."

See, when we have art, we can use art as a delivery system for hope and healing and love and passion and all of those things.

(relaxing piano music) - I was very lucky to be around when Hank Mayer was still here and I went to his house a few times and I always wanted to have lessons with him.

And he said, "Just come over to my house and I'll try to show you what I can."

And having that kind of mentorship, a very organic mentorship, I think is so essential to the longevity of this music because it's very interactive.

I mean, you can listen to as many records as you want, but unless you get real experience performing with older musicians, you know, getting your butt whooped a little bit on the bandstand and gaining that kind of wisdom and knowledge that's so essential to the legacy.

- For jazz, if we can engage these people when they're young which is our responsibility to keep this music going, that's part of our mission is the education component of it.

If you had a powerful musical experience when you're younger and typically that's just seeing a concert.

See, 'cause the thing and the distinction that's really important to remember is that what we sell, if you wanna call it selling, what we sell is invisible.

It's not tangible in the traditional ways.

You can't hold music in your hand.

I mean, you can hold a CD or a record, of course now it's virtual so you're really not holding anything.

(upbeat jazz music) So what we're selling is something that is invisible.

We sell feelings.

And so our idea is that when people come is that there's a piece of hope, there's a piece of healing within what we do.

And so our goal is to, and the legacy of now 50 years, is to continue that but even take it up a notch or two or three or 1,000.

(upbeat jazz music) - Music is so much a part of my being.

It has become so ingrained into my life, into my everyday lifestyle, and into who I am.

Everywhere I am, I'm either listening to something or I'm humming something or I'm playing something.

My time with Jazz Arts Group had started in 2013 in the fall going on nine quick years, nine eventful years, nine great years with the organization, starting in the Youth Jazz Workshop Ensemble.

After that I was in the Studio Ensemble, and then finally getting into the pinnacle of the youth program which is the Columbus Youth Jazz Orchestra.

Around 2018 or so, I think, like my senior year in high school, they asked me to do a little bit of teaching with them which was really such a positive representation of my time, well spent at Jazz Arts Group.

And working up and getting to the point and building my confidence and refining my skills in both, again, performing and teaching, to be able to get to that point to be able to teach, to be able to talk to kids the way that at one point Mark Donovan, Ryan Hamilton, and Zach Thompson spoke to me.

(upbeat trumpet music) - When you're playing music, it's something that forces one to make negotiations and compromises in, if you're playing in a ensemble especially, knowing when it's time for you to shine or stick out, knowing when it's time to be supportive, when to be bold, when to be more in the background.

(upbeat piano music) In understanding the essential nature of teamwork and working together, in a way that I think as great as sports are, you have some of those same ideals in sports.

But in music, I don't necessarily think it's about the competitive nature of music.

It's more about the communication, learning how to communicate in a very rich and varied way.

I think there is certainly a lot that can be learned from that.

(upbeat piano music continues) - Every person in the Columbus Jazz Orchestra is a virtuoso on their instrument.

This thing of practicing and refining and shaping and molding and sculpting your craft.

That's what we are.

We're craftsmen.

See, you have to have your credentials to stand on stage.

If you want an audience to leave you, don't have your credentials.

People are expecting something from you.

They don't know all the nuance to what you do and how you got there, but they know if it feels good to them.

When people see the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, which is drawn from people in this community, those same people are also the ones that are making dynamic things happen in the Southern Theater every time we perform.

And some of them teach a little bit, some of them are solely musicians who, after they finish with us, that next Monday they're at another nightclub and then they go to a concert venue, then they drive an hour here and they play a concert there.

So they make their livings solely as musicians.

We have a system through the Columbus Jazz Orchestra here and the organization of the Jazz Arts Group that provides a place for musicians to grow but to showcase their talents.

That's all any artist wants is we just want a place to showcase and make people feel good.

And Columbus provides that.

(upbeat trumpet music) - It's so interesting to think about where I might be but I know that Jazz Arts Group has really just provided so many opportunities.

Number one, a place to play and a place to meet other fellow musicians at that age that are in middle school and high school, but also the opportunity to meet the professionals who do it big time, who do it legitimately, who are part of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, people like Byron Stripling.

Just to be around those kinds of folks is really special.

It's a confidence builder.

It's something where we're able to witness what this is really like and then we can go home or we can have our own performances when we're younger and pretend to be in their shoes and apply what we saw and attempt to be that.

That is the incredible benefit that comes with being associated with Jazz Arts Group that came with my association with Jazz Arts Group.

If we hadn't had that, if we were in any other city, if Jazz Arts Group wasn't in Columbus, I can't say I'd be the musician I am.

(upbeat trumpet music continues) (upbeat music) - [Presenter] Next time on "Applause."

Cleveland Institute of Art student Derek Walker shares his take on the 216 and his generation.

Meet the Clevelander making a name for himself with the bold strokes of his paintbrush.

Plus check out a hall of fame pinstriper from Cincinnati who puts the hot into hot rod.

And the Cleveland Orchestra performs a moving work written at the start of World War II by a British ambulance driver.

All that and more on the next round of "Applause."

(enchanted orchestral music) (cheerful music) Growing up in the south of France, Anne Harrill had never heard of Detroit Shoreway or Gordon Square, but after moving to Northeast Ohio 20 plus years ago, she's found a home in Cleveland's Art District for her modern French style.

(tool scrapes) - Being an artist but still owning a business, that's already super challenging.

Just being a mom and trying to be good at everything that you do.

Like there's definitely that pressure of being a good mother and feeling like you're not messing that up, you know?

(cheerful music continues) Hi, my name is Anne Harrill, and I am the owner and the designer of Oceanne Jewelry.

So Oceanne is actually a hippie French name.

But Oceanne, I came from across the ocean and then my first name, Anne.

I grew up near Avignon and near Cannes in the south of France.

And then when I started going to college, I was studying English and I was really hoping to become little more fluent, so I came to Cleveland when I was like 20 and spent the first summer here.

Kind of really liked it, connected with a few people, and then came back for like the following summer and I met my husband.

I started making jewelry maybe 10 years ago and we've been doing shows and traveling kind of around the area, and I was like, "Wow, this is really cool way to meet people."

So I started making jewelry, started bringing them to shows, and then I got totally hooked to the process of making pieces.

And when we did open the store, we were able to also expand from just jewelry design but also to apparel.

We now have some other brands that are either local or smaller brand that we carry as well.

So we make a lot of pieces that are like modern and simple.

Even our statement pieces I'd say are pretty simple.

We work well with brass and we forge metal, we stamp it.

So right now I am stamping Trust the Journey.

This is actually one of our staple piece.

Trust the Journey has been one of our, my first pieces that would stamp and eight years later, still one of our favorites.

So it's kind of cool.

Those are just like a simple silhouette of a woman and then you know, you just like shape it with wire.

It's been kind of a thing that is happening in our culture the past few years with politics.

So trying to like just empower women and helping women to find their own voices and style.

I mean like originally jewelry is such a easy way to like set yourself apart, you know?

But now like helping people having a voice and being part of their journey as they become empowered.

So yeah, it's been really fun to design around that and then be part of that movement in the community, for sure.

When people ask me, "Why aren't you in France?"

I'm always saying like, "I could never do what I do here in France."

I'm so amazed and humbled.

I've been able to like grow.

And you know, like from a hobby to becoming my full-time job and now being able to have grown so much and able to have a few people working with us, and it's really exciting and obviously be part of the community.

And we love being part of Gordon Square.

And it's been awesome.

- [Presenter] For more in our "Making It" series of Northeast Ohio entrepreneurs, visit ideastream.org.

(upbeat bluegrass music) From the Akron Civic to Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, here's a honky-tonk success story, Northeast Ohio style.

In February, The Shootouts released the new album Stampede and make their Grand Ole Opry debut.

We turned the "Applause" performances spotlight on The Shootouts not too long ago.

- One, two, three.

(drumsticks bang) (upbeat honky-tonk music) ♪ I went to my kitchen closet ♪ ♪ Reached in for my broom ♪ ♪ Thought I oughta do something ♪ ♪ To straighten up my room ♪ ♪ Summing up some courage ♪ ♪ Right down to my last ounce ♪ ♪ If it up and kills me ♪ ♪ I'm gonna clean this house ♪ - Ryan, up until now you've been known around Northeast Ohio as kind of the Indie kinda singer-songwriter kinda guy, but how did you fall into this honky-tonk thing?

- Yeah.

So, you know, I mean I've always loved country music.

I mean, I definitely grew up with that thread running through the music that I listened to.

I would go downstairs and I would root through my dad's music collection while he was at work and I would listen to Waylon Jennings and Neil Young and a lot of the old classic rock and country stuff that he had down there.

And then my grandpa was a big part of that as well.

When I first learned how to play guitar, I played with him and his brother and we would do old country gospel tunes and old Johnny Cash stuff.

- Just playing around the house?

- Playing around the house.

I did a couple things where I just played guitar for them to sing at church, even, a couple things like that.

- [Host] Oh wow.

- And then my mom was a big part of it as well.

In the '90s, you could still really hear good country music on the radio.

You know, you'd hear George Strait- - There you are, right?

- And the Mavericks and so many great bands.

Dwight Yoakam.

And I was a kid driving around in the car.

My mom would listen to that and that stuff really stuck with me.

And so, you know, as a singer-songwriter, that's always been something that's interested me.

I've always loved that form of music and I would definitely dabble in it.

I mean, over the years we definitely did some things that were a little more twangy, but it was really when Brian Poston joined The Ryan Humbert Band about five years ago, we kinda bonded over a love of mutual, just love of classic country, real country music.

And it was about a year, if I'm not mistaken, that we talked about it.

We said that we would like to just go out and just play some of the music that we love, not for any particular reason, let's just go out and play it and have fun and see what happens.

And we did and it stuck.

♪ Cleaning house ♪ ♪ Cleaning house, stir up the dirt ♪ ♪ Cleaning house, sweep up the hurt ♪ ♪ Cleaning house, pick up the parts ♪ ♪ Of this broken heart ♪ ♪ Cleaning house, there's dust and gloom ♪ ♪ Cleaning house, in every room ♪ ♪ Messes left I'm throwing out ♪ ♪ There's work to do and I'm cleaning house ♪ - [Host] And speaking about influences, you were talking about your grandfather a second ago and the next song has to do with your grandfather.

- Yeah, so in February of 1953, my Grandpa Ron Humbert was a Corporal in the Marines and he hitchhiked from Camp Pendleton, California, all the way back here to Hartville, Ohio to see my Grandma and their newborn baby daughter, my Aunt Denise.

And that was just the beginning of four kids, nearly 65 years together before my Grandpa passed away in October of 2016.

And so this song has always meant a lot, and Grandma and Grandpa loved it.

I'm so thrilled that he had a chance to hear the song and know the song before he passed.

At his 85th birthday party, we played this particular tune while him and Grandma danced down front in front of the stage, you know?

- [Host] Aw.

- So it meant a lot to us that he knew the song and that he loved it.

♪ February of '53 ♪ ♪ Dress blues on 10 day trip ♪ ♪ Her picture in my hand ♪ ♪ Thumbing my way though South Cheyenne ♪ ♪ Route 30 and heading East ♪ ♪ With a stranger next to me ♪ ♪ 1,300 miles ♪ ♪ Till I see my baby smile ♪ (soft upbeat music) ♪ Waking up in the passenger seat ♪ ♪ Of a '49 Mercury ♪ ♪ Johnny Ray on the radio ♪ ♪ Counting strings as it starts to snow ♪ ♪ Staring into the morning Sun ♪ ♪ Her name on the tip of my tongue ♪ ♪ Two days down just one more day ♪ ♪ Till I see my baby's face ♪ ♪ Well, I cross the Mississippi as the daylight fades ♪ ♪ Hold on, honey, I'm on my way ♪ - Your outfits kinda remind me of a very famous tailor, Nudie Cohn, who made clothes for folks like Hank Williams and Elvis Presley.

Who's the band's fashion designer?

- Well, kinda Emily and I really.

I mean, mostly me.

(group laughs) Yeah, mostly me.

I have a whole closet of these shirts now from... You know, getting over the last couple years of doing more stuff with the band, we needed more clothes.

(upbeat music) ♪ If I could make my living going fishing ♪ ♪ Then I would make my living with a line and pole ♪ ♪ Put food on the table, pay the money to the landlord ♪ ♪ Buy some working clothes the same ♪ ♪ Making money, making love like I'm paid in the factory ♪ ♪ If I could pay all my bills with this guitar ♪ ♪ Then I'd pay some bills playing rock and roll ♪ ♪ Put food on the table, pay the money to the landlord ♪ ♪ Buy some working clothes the same ♪ ♪ Making money, making love like I'm paid in the factory ♪ ♪ Well, if I could ♪ ♪ If I could ♪ ♪ Then I would ♪ ♪ Then I would ♪ ♪ Make money doing something that I love ♪ ♪ I'd thank my lucky stars above ♪ ♪ If I could just get by loving you dear ♪ ♪ Then I'd just get by making love to you ♪ ♪ Put food on the table, pay the money to the landlord ♪ ♪ Buy some working clothes the same ♪ ♪ Making money, making love like I'm paid in the factory ♪ ♪ Waha ♪ (upbeat music continues) - [Presenter] If you're enjoying the honky-tonk sounds of The Shootouts, why not catch this full show on demand?

You can by visiting the "Applause" performances page via the PBS app.

♪ Well, if I could ♪ ♪ If I could ♪ - [Presenter] It's time to close these roadhouse doors and say so long for now.

Be sure to come on back next time for another round of "Applause."

♪ Loving you, dear ♪ ♪ Then I'd just get by making love to you ♪ ♪ Put food on the table, pay the money to the landlord ♪ ♪ Buy some working clothes the same ♪ ♪ Making money, making love like I'm paid in the factory ♪ ♪ Well, put food on the table, pay the money to the landlord ♪ ♪ Buy some working clothes the same ♪ ♪ Making money, making love like I'm paid in the factory ♪ (relaxing music) - [Announcer] Production of "Applause" on Ideastream Public Media is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation, the Kulas Foundation, and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.