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Rachel Link Starnes, Café Jude’s and Dawson Hollow
I moved to Lebanon when I was twelve, but my roots in Missouri go deep.
I was born in Mountain Grove, technically Mansfield, in the old hospital. My mom’s side has been in the Mountain Grove area for at least six generations. There are tombstones from the early 1800s, maybe even the 1700s. My dad’s side is from Southeast Missouri. We ended up in Lebanon because of my dad’s job with Edward Jones.
I was homeschooled from the beginning. My parents both have education degrees, and they started homeschooling me and my four younger brothers two weeks before public school started, just to test it out. Apparently it went well, because they never looked back. It was a great fit for me. I was self-motivated, and I had great curriculum and resources. I even called on some really smart cousins when I needed help with math.
Music was always a part of our lives. My mom and grandma both taught piano, so we were learning theory and music from an early age. We sang in church, played bells, and sang in the kids’ choir. After we moved to Lebanon in 2000, my dad went to the Starvy Creek Bluegrass Festival and brought home some CDs. That was it. We all fell in love with bluegrass.
We started lessons at Morgan Music with Kyle Wiles, who’s amazing. Paul Mansker, a distant cousin of ours, also taught us. He really got us going in this genre. My mom would take what we learned and turn it into set lists. We performed for nursing homes in town, which helped us learn how to be on stage and interact with people. You’d see people come alive when we played songs they remembered.
In 2001, Silver Dollar City had a family band contest. My dad had never even played a show with us, but my mom taught him a few notes on bass. We were awful, but we had fun. One of the music directors, D.A. Calloway, saw something in us and invited us back that summer to play a small stage. That was the beginning.
We went full-time not long after that. My dad retired from Edward Jones, we bought a bus, and started touring. We were called The Link Family at first, then Link Union. We toured churches, festivals, and later began incorporating folk, Celtic, singer-songwriter, even some classic rock influences. We always loved music. There were sports and orchestra and other activities, but eventually, my parents said, “You’ve got to pick.” We picked music.
One of my favorite shows we’ve ever played was at Fort Leonard Wood. It was a long time ago, back when my parents were still in the band with us. The auditorium was packed with soldiers who had just finished basic training, and they were so ready to have a good time. My brother Ben was only about twelve, playing a banjo nearly as big as him, and the soldiers were going nuts. But the best part? At the end, they didn’t want to talk to us. They wanted to talk to my mom. They missed their moms, and our mom became their mom for the day. It was beautiful. They stood up and yelled the Soldier’s Creed at the end. I’ll never forget it.
In 2016, we launched Dawson Hollow as a separate project. We’d started writing original songs, and they didn’t quite fit with the venues that knew us as a gospel and bluegrass family band. Dawson Hollow gave us the freedom to grow. We fully retired the family band in 2018.
Dawson Hollow is named after a place. It’s near Mountain Grove, where our old family farm was. We lived there before we moved to Lebanon. Dawson is the area, and our house sat down in a hollow. The name reminds us where we came from.
Touring is still a big part of my life. We play year-round, about 80 to 100 shows a year, and I also teach music lessons upstairs in the studio above Café Jude. I’ve taught for years. Piano, cello, mandolin, voice, even tin whistle and woodwinds. I’ve got nearly 20 students right now, a mix of kids and adults. It’s one of my favorite parts of what I do.
My husband Matt and I live upstairs from the café. We bought Café Jude in 2020 from Kylie Bartholomew, and it’s become such a special place. I use the cooking skills I learned from my mom, and I’m kind of the gap-filler. I make drinks, clean, fill shifts, whatever needs doing. I wanted to create something for the community, a calm, welcoming space that feels intentional and peaceful.
We let the building help shape the design. We kept the spirit of the old bank and of Norman’s. We kept that green theme. It’s important to me that the menu and atmosphere reflect Lebanon, not just what I’ve seen in other cities, but what our town is ready for and excited about.
Music is still core to who I am. My band has played all over the country, from Tampa to L.A., and I always try to make time for personal connection, whether it’s on stage or behind the counter at the café.
When people ask why we keep doing this, I always talk about the four M’s: Music, Money, Message, and Me. Some people play because they love the music itself. Some are driven by the message, wanting to put something hopeful and good out into the world. Some do it for money, and yes, music can be a business. And then there’s Me. Some people just love to perform and be on stage. For us, it’s a mix of all four.
We’ve had our setbacks. 2020 tanked everything. We were just starting to make money, and it all disappeared. We had to rebuild. But the impact of what we do keeps us going. People tell us a silly song we wrote helped their depression. A mom said one of our songs got her through newborn sleep deprivation. That means the world to us.
Downtown Lebanon is part of that journey now. I teach lessons here, live here, work here. I miss having a yard, but I love being part of this community. Downtown is coming back. We see it happening all over the country, people rebuilding their town centers. And I love being the downtown coffee shop people discover when they visit.
I’m so excited to play in downtown again for October First Friday. We had so much fun last year playing for our community. It means the world to bring our music back home.
Rachel Link Starnes, Café Jude’s and Dawson Hollow
