A held container for the work in your hands.
Four days. Sixteen to twenty artists. On-site producers and engineers in support. The studio open until two in the morning. The chef in the kitchen at six.
Come back to yourself. Then make the art.
The Artist Retreat is for artists with a body of work in motion. You arrive Thursday with a project — tracks unfinished, songs in stages, ideas you can't stop circling — and leave Sunday with finished and near-finished work — and the momentum to keep going.
Each cohort is curated by Jake and Jon. We pick for craft and for the kind of person you'd want to spend four days making with, and Madrone producers and engineers are in the room the whole time. The room is the difference.
Madrone Studios runs on-site — Live Room, Vocal Booth, Control Room. Engineers and producers in support. The chef cooks from the regenerative farm three times a day. The Solarium gets the longest light. Vinyl spins in the Living Room at midnight.
Two output blocks. One garden meal.
The schedule is a suggestion, not a curriculum. Hikes before sessions. Slow meals. Real sleep in real dark.
What else fills the four days.
The session blocks are the spine. These are the things the body remembers afterward — what you did in the hour between. Nothing is required. The menu is bigger than the time.
Movement in the Solarium
Yoga, breath, or quiet stretching at sunrise. A named guide for two of the four mornings. The other two are self-led.
Sauna and cold plunge
Wood-fired sauna on the property. Cold tub steps away. Pairs well with the second-block crash.
Massage and bodywork
On-call practitioner for the duration. Opt-in, billed separately to your room. Most cohorts book at least one session.
Lake swim at dawn
The lake is a five-minute walk through the meadow. Towels and robes in the mudroom. The water is cold and the morning is yours.
Property walk to the upper meadow
A slow forty-minute loop through the oaks to the high point on the property. Best at the open hour, or after the second block.
Garden harvest with the chef
Pick what's in season for the day's lunch. Twenty minutes with the chef in the rows. The least optional optional thing on the property.
Sound bath (once per cohort)
A named practitioner brings the room down on Friday evening. Forty-five minutes. Most people sleep deeper that night than they have in months.
Fire pit listen sessions
After dinner, by the fire. Whoever wants to play a rough out loud. No pressure to. Most people end up doing it by night two.
Vinyl in the Living Room
The Living Room is open until late. A shelf of records, a real system, two leather chairs. The unplanned hours land here.
Specific activities, guides, and timing are confirmed in the welcome packet a week before arrival. Cohorts shape what gets emphasized.
Concrete. And quieter.
Finished work
Finished or near-finished. Mixed roughs. Tracked on real gear in a working studio.
Stems delivered
Within seven days of departure. Clean folder structure, BPM and key labeled, contributors listed.
Stone House Sessions inclusion
Opt-in to the limited Madrone-pressed vinyl EP and the Stone House Sessions Spotify playlist. You retain all rights.
New collaborators
The cohort is the long-tail. Co-writers, producers, engineers you'd otherwise never have met.
A room built around you
Madrone producers and engineers in the work with you for four days — plus guest collaborators from the Madrone orbit when the fit is right.
Quieter shoulders
By morning two, your nervous system is different. You'll notice it before anyone says it.
The room is hand-picked.
Career stage isn't the filter. Body of work is. We curate each cohort for craft, chemistry, and the kind of person you'd want to make with for four days straight.
- Signed and unsigned artists working on their own material
- Indie artists with real audiences and a clear creative direction
- Recurring collaborators in the Madrone orbit
- Mid-tier indie acts breaking new projects
- Established artists looking for slowed time and a curated room
- Anyone who applies and earns the seat
Investment by tier.
Specifics by lodging tier (glamping, house bedroom, suite) are confirmed in your discovery call after the application is reviewed. Your seat covers three nights, all meals, studio access, on-site producers and engineers, and the cohort content kit.
Tell us what you're carrying.
An application takes about five minutes. We respond within 7 days, every time.
Three programs. One kind of weekend.
For working songwriters and producers.
Eighteen to twenty writers. Three co-writes a day. Daily listens. Mostly publisher-curated.
Learn more →For producers and a mentor.
Twelve to sixteen producers + named guest mentor. Teaching, hands-on, desk-reviews.
Learn more →