When singer Pat McGee played the second-ever concert at Spring Lake’s new Seven Steps Up venue, he answered fans’ call for an encore this way: He unplugged his acoustic guitar, walked to the middle of the room and played his song Beautiful Ways while standing on a chair.

“It was an awesome moment,” recalls owner Michelle Hanks.

Musical moments like that are a big part of what spurred Michelle, a partner at a CPA firm, and husband Gary, a longtime corporate executive, to open Steven Steps Up and start the Pin Drop Concert Series, which will bring critically acclaimed touring musicians to Spring Lake.

Housed in a renovated Masonic Temple, the intimate venue is made for music. The brick walls and hardwood floors provide a natural resonance for singers and acoustic instruments. For the concerts, the furthest seat from the stage is less than 35 feet and the number of tickets sold is limited to 110 – about 50 fewer than the room’s max capacity – to maintain the intimate feeling for shows. Drinks are available, but no cash is exchanged during the concerts, another nod to keeping things pin-drop quiet during the performance.

“You can hear the performer’s foot tapping or the nuances of the fingers on the guitar strings – the things you don’t hear in a big noisy nightclub,” Gary says.

The quiet and the proximity between artist and audience also fuel the performance in magical ways, says Michelle, a singer-songwriter herself.

“When you put a performer in a room like this in front of people who love music – and love to listen to music – the energy and the effect has a way of ratcheting up. When the singers stand up there with the energy of 100 people coming at them, they want to give it back to the audience, and it just keeps escalating. It’s such an amazing thing.”

The next Pin Drop show features critically acclaimed New York singer-songwriter Ari Hest on Sunday, Sept. 25. Tickets are $22; private tables of four are $125. Alice Peacock returns with Danny Myrick on Saturday, Oct. 22 ($28/$170) for a show.

In addition to the Pin Drop Concerts, the Hanks intend to launch a twice-monthly music series featuring up-and-coming acoustic acts on the first and third Friday of each month. The series’ cheeky name: F&3 Acoustic Fridays.

Photo: Alice Peacock and Danny Myrick, courtesy of artists.