I’m completely thrilled that this event has finally come about. On April 10th, make sure you’re at The Down Home early and bring a few cans of food. Slow Motion Trio, These Undowners, Jamen Denton and Wise Old River will perform for one night at the GoTriCities Homegrown Showcase.

This evening has been in the works for several months now with each band working on a brand new CD which will be debuted on this Saturday night in April.

The Down Home is the perfect listening room in East Tennessee to enjoy live local music from these find songwriters. There’s no smoking, no pool tables and years of legendary performances at this legendary stage in Johnson City.

Several weeks ago, we met with Ed Snodderly, singer/songwriter and owner/operator of The Down Home. We were excited to present our idea and was happy to work with him to put together a benefit with Second Harvest Food Bank to support local food banks.

Doors will open at 6pm and showtime is 8.30. Ticket prices for all three bands is $12.00 and all proceeds go to benefit the hungry.

You’ll have a chance to see these new artists up close and personal and buy CD’s at the event.

This is gonna be a great time and we’re working with several outlets to help promote the show for a sellout. Hope to see you there.

Here’s a press release from the show.

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Regional musicians support area’s hungry at CD Release Party at The Down Home

JOHNSON CITY, TN – On Saturday, April 10th, The Down Home, GoTriCities.com presents regional artists Slow Motion Trio, These Undowners and Wise Old River in the GoTriCities Homegrown Showcase. Tickets are $12 and proceeds benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank.

The GoTriCities Homegrown Showcase is a regional showcase of original music from East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. In partnership with The Kingsport Times-News and The Johnson City, GoTriCities is a regional entertainment resource in print and online. Artists performing for this evening will be promoting new CDs of local original music.

“At the end of last year, we knew several artists had been working to complete new recordings,” commented David Cate, interactive director for GoTriCities. “It’s amazing how much local talent call our mountains home and we wanted to showcase these artists and there was no better place than the Down Home.”

The Down Home located at 300 West Main Street in Johnson City is a smoke-free environment, and has been since the trend became popular. There are no televisions in The Down Home, nor will you find a pool table or a jukebox. The Down Home exists for one purpose – to create a listening environment for those looking to enjoy the finest music of our region.

Historically, The Down Home was where you may see Doc Watson on a given night or the earliest concerts of Alison Krauss and New Grass Revival just a few years back. The Down Home is legendary to today’s era of bluegrass, Americana, traditional, and progressive artists as one of the finest acoustic settings in the nation.

“GoTriCities is about the best this area has to offer and we wanted to present a night of great music, but we also wanted to make a difference in the community,” said Patrick Savage, marketing director for GoTriCities. “We all love local music, but the idea of bringing together some of the area’s best local talent seemed to be a great opportunity to give back to the community. We’re thrilled to have the level of talent for this night of giving to the Second Harvest Food Bank.

Slow Motion Trio has been described as having a unique sound and flavor that has been hung with many labels. Eclectic is a word that springs forth. As is polished. Original. Roots. Rock. Real. The label the band likes most, or feels encompasses their intentions and fits best, is “Mountain Soul”. An apt and succinct way to describe what you get from this group of well-traveled musicians. There are many parts to this collective, but the thread that holds it together is soul. Not soul music, but a soulful approach to the song.

Jared Bentley is the band’s principal songwriter and one of the region’s distinctive male vocalists with a legacy that threads to Joe Clark’s Remedy, Yukon, Clear and Culture Shock. Jared is backed by longtime collaborator Lance McCloud on bass, David Cate on keyboards, Lance Williams on guitar and Mike Sams – drums. You can listen to the band’s music and catch up with regional performances at http://www.myspace.com/slowmotiontrio

Since forming in the summer of 2008, These Undowners have never been insincere about their musical direction—they’ve just never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Their songs speak of love, loss, good times and bad times—bouncing around the gamut between edgy Americana and folk-infused funk. Although many of their “stories” are true (like Mary’s House, the dramatic under-story behind Lincoln’s assassination, or The Black Hole, the sad tale of a coal-mining boomtown’s collapse), it’s the clever writing and simple wisdom that make them compelling.

The band’s music showcases the songwriting of Clay Prewitt, and the phenomenal flatpicking of Blake Collins. Bassist “Doc” Marshall and Drummer Steven Reese create one of the tightest, most dynamic rhythm sections in the region. Together, the group gives rise to authentic mountain soul—and stories you can move your feet to. To learn more about this great band, go to http://www.myspace.com/clayprewittmusic.

Singer, songwriter, and son, Jamen Denton has played since he was twelve years old in the home basement with his brother Justin (drummer). As they grew up that was their passion. They went through a string of band names and musicians and in 2004 found a really wonderful sound with a talented group of musicians which they called Virginia Ground. Virginia Ground disbanded, but Jamen found himself an artist again with the help of his parents, who created with him Wise Old River.

From Wise Old River’s website (http://www.myspace.com/wiseoldriver), there is this description of their music:

“The songs we want to share are about the human condition, human experience, times of need, times of pain, times of being lost and times of being found, our searching, and finding hope, grace and truth and our times of spiritual growth. We sing about it all. Our desire is for our music to be stripped down organic, earthy, wires, wood and vibrations from our souls.”

Cate describes the night further, “These three acts look to make the night memorable, and the Down Home will certainly lend to the equation. Serving a great organization like the Second Harvest Food Bank makes it more than worthy of your attendance.”

The Food Bank is a non-profit organization serving the eight counties in Northeast Tennessee with emergency food for distribution. The mission of Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee is to feed the hungry by securing and distributing food and grocery products to non-profit agencies that provide services to the needy, ill and elderly in the eight-county region of Northeast Tennessee. Approximately 200 agencies distributed food to an average of 31,000 people each month during 2009. To find out more, visit them on the web at http://www.netfoodbank.org.

For more information about the GoTriCities Homegrown Showcase visit http://www.gotricities.com

Our guys with GoTriCities shot several videos of Slow Motion Trio at the 2009 Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion. These videos are using on camera mikes and do a fair job picking up the sound and we’re glad to have these snapshots of time. This performance was from Friday, September 18, 2009 at Borderline Billiards.

Heaven – A song Jared wrote about his daughter

Breathe – An original song we’ve worked with since 2008

Wash – A new original song we picked up in Spring of 2009

I Bent Down – A groovy old song from the Yukon days and one of my favorite originals from this period.

Lucky One – Another original from 2008 from Slow Motion Trio

All His Might – A new song from earlier in the year..

Jared Bentley has been writing some terrific new original songs lately and together with Slow Motion Trio and the talented Jeremiah Nave with East Coast Mobile Recording, we’ve just completed ten new songs.

The new music is in addition to the five songs we recorded back in the winter and represent the new sound and textures that we’re molding with the band. Ranging from reggae to soul, rock to country, the music is very different from the original mix.

Over the past several months, we’ve been culturing these songs at several performances and it’s been fun listening to them evolve. It’s also satisfying to have them recorded and part of a complete package. The best part is that we can now pass them along to our friends.

It was great fun to record these tracks at Lance Williams business in the hills of Hampton. They were recorded Tuesday, July 21 – Thursday, July 23rd.

The sessions were unique and didn’t require a lot of effort thanks to the magic and expertise of Jeremiah Nave. He’s an incredibly talented engineer and real pleasure to work.

His recording studio is in the back of a large panel van that he uses to record live concerts all over the Southeast. He’s been at some of the best festivals on the East Coast and comes to the console with an excellent ear for music as he multi-talented on several instruments. More importantly, he’s a wiz behind the knobs and completely patient with the performers at all times.

These recordings are still in their rough mixes and we hope to do a final mix-down and mastering here in the next few weeks. Until then, we offer these up to our friends and hope you enjoy them.

Below are links to the five new songs. Click to download them in their Mp3 formats.

Heaven - a new song Jared wrote for his daughter
WindChill - a song written about studies of the Civil War
All His Might - nice reggae toe-tapper and hip swagger
Wash- love this country outlaw flavor…we like to call this one “worsh”
Lucky One – a favorite among several of our closet friends

Last Monday night, we pulled an all-nighter almost…

Tucked back in the forests near Elizabethton, Lance Williams family business is an excellent place for the band to rehearse. Over the past several months, we had talked to local recording engineer and musician Jeremiah Nave about the possibility of tracking a few original songs with him and his mobile studio.

It’s was 4am when I left the hideaway on Okolona Road, but we’re starting the year with four new original recordings. These new sounds are five of several new songs on the way and include material written by Jared Bentley along with the backup from band.

The new tunes include;
1. Breathe
2. Forgive Me
3. Here I Stand
4. Wandering Lonely
5. This is Not A Love Song

Jeremiah has transformed a large Chevy van into a mobile studio and produces both live concert and video productions all across the Southeast. The truck has been customized and includes a mixing console that came ouf Abbey Road studios in the rear and Jeremiah has a cool setup. He drives the truck to your location, rolls out a large network of cables, a video camera and runs those connections to your room and mixes the sound in the truck with talkback provided by a video setup that’s quite a sight.

These new tunes are several songs we have been performing around the Tri-Cities and it’s fun to finally get these in a pro-format. Sure, the mix is till a little rough and we plan on adding/replacing several of the tracks, but I’m happy with what we’ve got so far.

I arrived at Lances sometime around dark and brought out the Hammond, The Roland, The Nord and the Leslie cabinet and Jeremiah did a great job getting that sounding as beefy as can be. I brought a couple of bottles of red wine and we poured a few glasses while we finished setting up the microphones to record Sams drums, Lances’s bass and the guitar rig from Lance Williams.

For the most part, we recorded all of the tracks live and Lance McCloud and Mike Sams did a great job laying down a good rhythm track. We spent very little time overdubbing through the night and came out with a collection of songs that augments Jared’s voice and his original music. Some of the songs sound a bit country and you might even hear a steel guitar here and there, but it’s a great beginning.

So download all you want. We’re still going to work on a few more songs and continue to shape these new tunes up and we’ll be back on the stage January 9th at Halo in Johnson City, so come see us and request the new music.

“The last time I saw you, you was on Saturday Night Live.”

It’s not often you greet friends with a comment like that, but not Matt Mahaffey. He has a stellar musical career and the last time I saw him, he was performing a live set with Beck – jamming on spoons and other instruments before a world-wide audience.

Matt was in town this past weekend to perform at Capone’s in Johnson City for an annual benefit that honors his brother Mike who passed away four years ago.

He talked about Borat in the SNL dressing room (in character) and how they played Letterman the next night. He commented, “Dave must have a sweat thing or something because that studio was frigid.” Here’s his performance on You Tube. Matt is at stage left on guitar – he gets to perform with Borat.

There plenty of women dancing in front of the band Saturday night at Halo in Johnson City. Slow Motion Trio was finishing our first set and it’s always a compliment for us to see so many people enjoying our music, especially on a cold winter night.

When we took a break, our guitarist Lance Williams looked at me straight in the eye and said, “David, now if I wasn’t playing music, you know I’d be out here dancing.”

It’s true, the first time I met Lance, he was dancing at O’mainan’s in Bristol, but what amused me even more was how focused he was on his next question. “You know what the hardest question for most everyone in this bar is tonight?”

Downtown Kingsport’s nightlife was busier than it has been in a long time last Friday night.

It was 8.00 and Main Street was lined with cars along Main Street at Kingsport Grocery Company. Rascals was glistening with cars in the moonlight and it was difficult to find a parking place on Broad Street. For the first time in a long-time, Downtown Kingsport was ground zero for entertainment too.

I haven’t mentioned much about Slow Motion Trio over the past several months as we’ve been working hard on creating a new vibe, but that will change soon. We’ve had several gigs over the past six month and last Friday was our first show in Kingsport at The Stir Fry Cafe.

We had a good time too, but I’ll have to be careful with some constructive criticism. I’m sure things aren’t always this way, but by the end of the night, it was like walking out of an episode of the Twilight Zone and like nothing I’ve experienced as a musician.

Fun Fest is over with and time to catch up on a few thanks and memories of this year’s summer festival.

I didn’t participate a lot this year because we’re simply covered up at work. But there were a few things I really enjoyed – especially the Wine Tasting Seminar at Ridgefields Country Club.

In the past, Fun Fest has consumed my time every Summer. I’m not complaining, but our organization has worked with this city-wide festival for several years now and we’re glad to see it continue to be successful.

This year we’re making some changes with our brand and covered up with plenty of interesting projects. We were short on time and resources and took a break this year as a sponsor. This decision allowed me to enjoy one of the events I always missed each year.

Several weeks ago, Pam Cox with Accuforce Staffing Services called to hire my services as background entertainment for the wine tasting at Ridgefields. This was an exciting opportunity for me because these small party/chamber gigs are always one of my favorites because they allow for more improvisation on the piano and the wine makes everyone a bit more forgiving.

“There’s a grave on a hillside way down in Tennessee.”

So begins another tall-tale sung to the toe-tapping acoustic Mountain Music that’s a cultural heritage here in East Tennessee.

The song’s title, “The Briars, Brambles and Me” is sung by Tennessee Skyline and is the featured song on the new Clinch Mountain Music Festival website we just launched at GoTriCities. It tells the story of a jealous lover who shot his wife and best friend and the only ones who know where they lay are…”the briars, brambles and me.”

I’d like for you to visit our new site. It’s been fun working on this as we’ve been covered up for the past few weeks on several interesting projects, but more important, you might win a custom-made treasure – An A.P. Carter Acoustic Guitar.

I really didn’t expect to win it. After all after six months of looking for a Fender Rhodes electric piano I was surprised to win one on eBay for less than my first bid.

We had just finished our afternoon Buzzcutz podcast when the email arrived and there were two questions on my mind. The first was how I was going to get the piano and two – why did the keyboard only go for $755 – a cheap price since my survey over the past several months made me believe there would never be one available under $1500.

The first answer was simple – my vacation started the next day and it didn’t take long to negotiate with the seller to meet me the following night. Besides, the road trip to Hampton Roads sounded great with all the other things on my mind for the past several weeks.

The reason the auction was such a deal had to do with a few things too and these are good lessons for any eBay bargain hunter.