Music matters to Karin Williams-Ullrich and Kyle Ullrich who, for nearly two decades, have brought national and local performers to the community through their business Lost On Main in Chico.

“‘Music matters’ is our tagline and our mission,” said Williams-Ullrich. “We see ourselves, see Lost On Main, as more than a great live music venue. We’re a cultural hub were people come for the music, meet other people and make memories.”

The 8,000 square-foot venue offers up about four live concerts a month featuring jam band, funk, new blue grass and jazz among other music genres. Some of the performers who have taken the stage at Lost On Main have included local favorites such as Smokey the Groove, Blu Egyptian, Swamp Zen and The Funnels. National artists including Coolio, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Floater Turquaz and Stanley Jordan have also entertained crowds of up to 300.

“We’re not pigeonholed into one genre,” explained Williams-Ullrich. “We highlight emerging local talent and national acts from all genres. Our goal has always been to build a home for music lovers and a platform for musicians to grow.”

Williams and Ullrich are equally committed to providing the best possible venue for their patrons. Some of these patrons have come as strangers and left as friends, while others have found their future spouses at Lost On Main.

“Being a venue owner is like being the silent architect of other people’s memories,” said Williams. “We’ve built a space where moments happen — deals are made, grief is shared, love stories begin — and people remember the event. Being the owner is an invisible yet powerful, behind the curtain stewardship of other people’s life moments. It’s an odd stewardship because we don’t just manage the space, we cultivate possibility”

The couple opened Lost On Main in 2006. Ullrich had been working as the “door guy” at Duffy’s Tavern but had let his mind “wander, as it will” to what it would be like to own his own bar, said Williams-Ullrich.

“It was that one rolling stone of a thought that started the avalanche,” said Williams-Ullrich. “Originally we wanted something smaller, a dive bar that offered live music but then this space became available and came with a liquor license so we rented it.”

The couple not only rented the space upstairs from a pool hall; they did their first remodel. It was the first of three renovations, two of which followed their purchase of the building at 319 Main Street in 2010. Following the acquisition, they renamed the pool hall, bar and restaurant downstairs the Down Lo and expanded the offerings at Lost On Main to include food from the downstairs business.

“The latest remodel in 2014 put us on the map to be an exquisite boutique live music venue,” said Williams-Ullrich. “But I will never renovate anything again in my life. Kyle and I talk about everything but we come from different perspectives. I’m more business hard-headed and he’s more creative, pie-in-the-sky. We have very different approaches to things but we found a way to meet in the middle. It’s all about balancing business with passion.”

Open seven day a week, the Down Lo is “first and foremost” a billiards parlor and bar with a small stage where open mic and karaoke nights are hosted. But it’s also a “phenomenal” restaurant, said Williams-Ullrich. In addition to cooking traditional pub fare, Chef Osbert Jimenez, a native of Guadalajara, serves up fresh, authentic Mexican dishes such as birria tacos as well as innovative specials such as apricot habanero sweet chicken sandwiches and vodka pasta which are “off the hook,” said Williams-Ullrich.

‘Good Time Guarantee’

Having booked many bands and solo artists over the years, Williams-Ullrich said she’s rarely enamored, but an upcoming booking has her “star-struck.”

On May 22, Lost On Main will be hosting Bombargo, an international touring band based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada that’s “quickly gaining momentum for their electrifying live performances,” said Williams-Ullrich. “Some have even compared their energy to the Rolling Stones.”

She added, “I’ve booked many acts over the years, but this group has me especially excited. I don’t get fan-girl syndrome. I usually keep my cool, but I think do have a degree of fan-girlness happening here.”

According to the six-member band’s biography, the group “drops a vibrant splash of soul over their distinctive ‘vintage-pop’ sound.” The biography goes on to say Bombargo received “massive acclaim when pop star icon Taylor Swift added their 2018 single ‘Mr. No Good’ to her Spotify Playlist titled ‘Songs Taylor Loves’ alongside mega artists including Ed Sheeran, Camilla Cabello and Kendrick Lamar.”

Said Williams-Ullrich, “They’re known for their signature experience called ‘The Goodtime Guarantee,’ a bold promise that no one leaves their show without having fun. As if that weren’t exciting enough, after booking them, I discovered they actually have a song titled ‘Chico, California.’ What are the odds? It feels like a special connection worth sharing with our community.”

The three-and-a-half hour concert is scheduled to start at 8:40 p.m. for anyone 21 or older. The doors open at 8 p.m., and general admission tickets are $21.05, which includes the service fee, and may be purchased on-line at ilovelost.com.

Looking forward

For the couple who’ve been together 19 years and married one year, building a business where music and people — employees, customers and performers — not only come first but come together as community is “pretty fantastic,” said Williams-Ullrich.

Plans for the future are to keep the “good vibe” strong and “thriving” as they continue to keep their fingers “on the pulse of what’s current and going to bring people in.

“We’re very proud of Lost on Main as it sits today,” added Williams-Ullrich. “We’ve build reputation with agents and artists for how we treat people on and off the stage. We’re proud of our great hospitality.”

Reach Kyra Gottesman at kgottesman@chicoer.com