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.

———————

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

There are a lot of things I like about local songwriter Clay Prewitt.

He’s a handsome young man with a gorgeous girlfriend and a promising career as a wordsmith for Tombras Advertising and he knows a thing or two about writing a catchy tune too.

What I like most about this local musician though is his calm and determined humility. Like most dedicated players he shrugs off his talent and seems genuinely thankful for any audience to listen to his music.

This past Friday, I enjoyed a night out with a local band that has cultured into a respectable gem on the local music scene and there’s a good chance you’ll have a chance to enjoy their music too this year as they break out with a great cast of players and memorable 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?”

It was several years ago when my friend Bobby Woody first introduced me to sushi in a bar somewhere near Stone Mountain, Georgia. His endorsement of fresh raw fish and spicy wasabi just didn’t excite me that much at the time.

At lot has changed since then and I still miss my friend. He was always on the forefront of anything new and that’s one of the things I appreciated about him the most and things have changed for me too – especially with sushi.

Earlier in the year, we ventured to Edo’s in Kingsport and dabbled with a little tuna and that lead to salmon. From there, we’ve been trying sushi all over town and although I’m not a complete expert about the culinary varieties of sushi and sashimi, we’re making still making our rounds.

Last Friday, we celebrated Dan’s last day of 47 with a toast of single malt scotch and a decision to try out Sushi Blues in Johnson City. This was one of the first sushi bars in the Tri-Cities located in the little strip mall near the movie theatres. Plenty of folks have mentioned the place over the years and we were excited about a new adventure for our taste buds and wrapped up our visit with a couple of glasses of red to toast a friend’s birthday.

It’s rare moment when a songwriter inspires me as much as Darrell Scott did this past weekend at the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion. Inside The Paramount Center on Friday night, it was standing room only and I kneeled near the front of the stage to take pictures, but I was overwhelmed with a poet who touched the heart and spirits of all in attendance.

I first heard about Darrell Scott from Reagan Boggs. She still sings his popular song, ‘Never Get Out of Harlan Alive’ and although I still enjoy her voice singing these haunting song lyrics, it wasn’t until I experienced this organic performer behind the words that I discovered what so many have been talking about. Leah Ross, festival director for Rhythm and Roots is in love with him too and now I know why.

Scott is a Grammy nominated songwriter, noted for writing songs for The Dixie Chicks, Garth Brooks, Brad Paisley and many more – but he wasn’t wearing makeup. He didn’t have a black hat or a white hat (required attire for male country artists) and he didn’t have a band competing for attention in the fog and lights.

Instead, he was dressed in a black corduroy jacket, a green shirt, disheveled hair and he channeled a mystical presence through the auditorium last Friday with his native songs that touched the hearts of everyone in the room.

He played an acoustic guitar, a piano and a Weissenborn slide guitar, but what was epecially moving was the rich aura between fans and songwriter. It was a prescence like nothing I’ve experienced in a long time and his attention and humility reminded me of James Taylor, Paul Simon and Sting.

We had planned on taping many of the performances at last week’s festival and captured some great moments at the festival, but when I slipped into a seat in the auditorium, I was startled by Dave Carter from WETS-FM.

Dave and I go way back in time and I am blessed to call him a friend. We’ve shared many musical moments together and he seems to show up at some of my most inspiring moments.

At first, I was still in awe of Scott’s performance, gushing about his soul and Dave interupted my infatuation with an invitation to join him on Studio One the next day. He told me Darrell would be performing a live performance at this popular local radio program and I couldn’t wait.

Matthew Carroll got up early on Saturday and Jared brought all of our cameras to the radio studio on the ETSU campus. We had been there less than a year ago to record Charlie Goodwin and it was great to be back on a beautiful September afternoon.

When we walked in, I was surprised to see Darrell Scott and his father Wayne, seated in the studio.

One of the things that immediately occurred to me was the natural organic talent of this singer/songwriter. He was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt and looked like they hadn’t been up long. He was playing random melodies on his guitar and seemed completely unconcerned about the cameras and confusing rush of cables, and photographers that moved around the studios. We were scrambling to get out of the way too because we arrived about 20 minutes before air-time and they were all completely understanding and calm despite our interruption.

His dad had drove down from Kentucky and Dave had the terrific idea of having them both perform in the studio.

Wayne Scott is 75 years old and had on flip-flops and a black t-shirt. His ’66 Hummingbird guitar was resting in his lap while he sorted his laminated song lyrics on the music stand in front of him.

We scrambled around the room to setup three video cameras. Matthew and I grabbed our hand-helds and set a stationary HD camera in the middle of the room. The lighting was a little dark, but that didn’t seemed to matter. We just tried to stay out of the way of the artists and Darrell had his two teen-age sons with him whom seemed to have a handle on stashing the cases and remaining music gear out of the way.

It wasn’t long before the 1.00 ‘On The Air’ sign came on and Dave Carter began his weekly introduction to one of the area’s most influential and distinguished live music shows. I still have great respect for the passion that he and engineer Mike Strickland put into this weekly effort and they never seem to lose their passion.

Dave introduced Darrell and Wayne and together they had a splendid volley of Q&A and followed by some of the most down-to-earth original music that I’ve heard in a while.

Wayne began with his song ‘Whiskey” with the lyrics – “It ain’t love, it ain’t money – it’s the whiskey that heals the pain.” We taped every single minute of it.

Darrell Scott shared many of the stories behind his songs. He also mentioned a love of poetry of which he spent time in school studying. He shared with me his own appreciation for Walt Whitman and other contemporary authors.

The most important comment made during the show that meant the most to me was the comment that Wayne shared with Darrell early on. The key to songwriting – “tell the truth.” Now more than ever, that’s certainly a distinguishing characteristic for this minstrel poet and one listen and it’s easy to see this instruction has moved across two generations.

Darrell and Wayne played songs from the “Weary Way” project and “Modern Hymns,” plus several other original tunes Scott is famous for including the touching, “My Father’s House,” “Sunday with My Son” and “Never Leave Harlan Alive” which was spellbinding.

After the show, Dave seemed a bit misty-eyed and he stated, “if he never produced another radio show – he would be satisfied with this one being the last.”

He was right too. The stories Darrell and Wayne told about each other and the shared souls that are still creating great songs made for a tremendous radio show and we’re glad we had another chance to document the moment.

Special thanks to Dave Carter, Mike Strickland and production assistant Dan Sewall for allowing us in the studio. Thank you also to Darrell and Wayne for some very special moments.

A few weeks ago, we finally had enough of the memories of Freedom Hall.

Together with Jared and Tom on The Buzzcutz Podcast, we were recalling all of the great rock and roll concerts we attended at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City back in the seventies and eighties and we can’t figure out what happened since then.

It seemed almost every weekend, you could join your friends in Johnson City and see a rock show from one of the nation’s biggest acts. Although we have one concert coming up in a few weeks, the most popular “shows” at Freedom Hall now are Jehovah’s Witness conventions, gospel concerts and church gatherings.

The only other rock show this year was ZZ Top back in May and you have to wonder what’s up at this – our municipal auditorium.

We’re doing some research on that question and before we discuss those ideas, we thought it would be a good idea to put together the definitive list of all the concerts held at Freedom Hall and compare what we had then and what we have now.

If anything, it’s a good index for our memories because it’s hard to recall those dates and times, but having that information connects the dots and more importantly it reveals the difference between then and now.

Perhaps after we get the list, we can all work toward finding out what the deal is at Freedom Hall.

This facility is supposed to be a “Civic Center” and I personally feel the need to wonder why the leaders and marketing department here refuse to culture this complex as an entertainment center and with-hold great cultural opportunities for the citizens in this region..

You can help. Review our list and help us gather any additional dates. Our goal is to have the complete concert calendar for Freedom Hall and we’ll start with what we know. Feel free to chime in with dates or memories.

(Above – Elvis Presley at Freedom Hall in 1976)

November 26, 1974
Foghat

April 24, 1975
Rush
Fly By Night Tour

August 4, 1975
Poco
The Eagles

August 21, 1975
Jethro Tull
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

October 13, 1975
Rush
Ted Nugent
Kiss
Artful Dodger

December 6th, 1975
Black Sabbath
Manfred Manns Earth Band
Ruby Star
Grey Ghost

January 31, 1976
Deep Purple

March 17th, 1976
Elvis Presley

April 20, 1976
The Bruce Springsteen Band
- Bruce at Freedom Hall – Courtesy of D Cortner

April 24, 1976
Kiss
Rush
The Kids

May 14, 1976
Santana
Ted Nugent
Starcastle

May 31, 1976
Yes
Pousette Dart Band

July 7, 1976
Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band

July 19th, 1976
Kiss

December 11, 1976
Kansas

February 13, 1977
Stevie Ray Vaughn

February 19, 1977
Elvis Presley

February 26, 1977
Kiss

April 15, 1977
ZZ Top with Blackfoot
World Wide Texas Tour

May 19, 1977
Peter Frampton
The J. Geils Band
Foghat

August 16, 1977
Bad Company

November 24, 1977
AC/DC
The Motors
UFO

December 10, 1977
Todd Rungren and Utopia

March 10, 1978
Emerson Lake and Palmer

June 23, 1978
Rainbow

July 12, 1978
Kansas

April 29, 1978
Journey
Montrose
Leblanc and Carr

September 9, 1978
AC/DC
Cheap Trick

January 27, 1979
Boston
Don’t Look Back Tour

April 17th, 1979
Eric Clapton
Backless Tour

April 27, 1979
Cheap Trick

March 17, 1979
Rush

October 20th, 1979
Blue Oyster Cult
Robert Palmer

September 29, 1979
AC/DC _ Highway To Hell
Mother’s Finest
Sammy Hagar

December 14, 1979
ZZ-Top

June 28, 1980
Alice Cooper
- Flush The Fashion

August 15, 1980
AC/DC – Back in Black Tour
Nantucket

October 25, 1980
Van Halen

November 7, 1980
Frankie Valley and The Four Seasons

July 11, 1981
Iron Maiden
Judas Priest

October 7, 1981
Judas Priest
Point of Entry Tour

December 12, 1981
Rush

April 23, 1982
Ozzy Osbourne
Diary of a Madman

December 4, 1982
Van Halen
The Bandit Band

Saturday, May 28, 1983
Def Leppard

June 1, 1983
ZZ-Top

October 18, 1983
Iron Maiden
Quiet Riot

September 30, 1984
Ratt
Blackfoot

November 2, 1984
Rush

January 3, 1986
Kiss

April 3, 1986
Aerosmith
Done with Mirrors Tour

May 3, 1986
Metallica

August 11, 1986
Dokken
Krokus

Friday, May 2, 1986
Sunshine Promotions presents
Ozzy Osborne
Metallica

Friday, January 22, 1987
Def Leppard

February 13, 1987
Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble

March 20th, 1987
Bon Jovi
Cinderella

July 6, 1987
Motley Crue
Girls, Girls, Girls Tour

January 1, 1988
Kiss
Ted Nugent

January 22, 1988
Def Leppard
Hysteria

April 29, 1988
Aerosmith
White Lion
- Permanent Vacation Tour

May 2, 1990
Aerosmith
- Pump Tour
With Joan Jett

July 18, 1990
Kiss

December 4, 1990
Ratt
Vixen

February 1, 1991
AC/DC

November 8, 1992
Bad Company

May 9, 1993
Joe Walsh and Glenn Frey
Party of Two

March 28, 1996
Widespread Panic

April 2, 1993
Metallica

May 1, 1997
Stone Temple Pilots

December 5, 2000
Elton John

November 20, 2001
Widespread Panic

August 30, 2002
Tesla

October 29, 2003
Three Doors Down
Seether
Shinedown

March 11, 2004
John Mayer
Guster

August 23, 2006
Staind
Three Days Grace
Soil

March 8, 2008
Three Days Grace
Breaking Benjamin
Seether

May 30, 2008
ZZ Top

Our consulting group has enjoyed an incredible summer as we are preparing to engage some of our most intriguing Internet projects from here in Kingsport, TN.

We have the privilidge of working with customers all over the Tri-Cities and we couldn’t be happier to work with One Stop Wines in Johnson City. These folks run probably one of the finest businesses in the region with decades of praise – now in their second generation.

Last week, we launched the new One Stop Wines website and congratulate alot of folks who participated on this production. It’s a local idea which forges complete online content management and a special wine pairing tool that automagically suggests what would go best with tonight’s prime rib or whatever you like.

We also worked with these folks to create customized software so they may communicate with their customers via email and special online sales which we plan to work together on as the months proceed.

Of course, I have a special interest with this business for a number of reasons. It used to be most notably the wine, but I also appreciate my new friends who continue to be amused by our efforts. We loved working with them and had a great time on Boone Lake a few months back with Mel, Josh and the lovely Kelley who share the secrets of Wine Tasting 101 – all online.

Thanks again to my staff and our new friends at One Stop. We look forward to watching your traffic grow.

Visit One Stop Online.

This year’s Blue Plumb Festival in Johnson City was a bit surreal for me. I’ve got a list of rants and raves later, but for now, let me just say I was pleasantly surprised about the new happenings in downtown Johnson City.

Usually when you attend outdoor music festivals in East Tennessee, you’ll hear an up-tempo acoustic or bluegrass song, but not this time.

‘Round Midnight’ was drifting in the heat of the June evening as the 9th Annual Blue Festival got under way last Friday Night. Named after an old post office, this festival attracts thousands each year for a celebration of art, food and music in the historic downtown.

Before the weekend was over, we braved the excessive summer heat to be a part of an interesting weekend of entertainment and discovered a new business interest that may alter the landscape in Johnson City.

Lots of pictures too…

Friday night we stopped in for Johnson City’s First Friday downtown festivities and had a ball at Nelson’s Art Gallery as they celebrated the ETSU Pottery Class Graduation in an event called “Seize The Clay.”

You gotta love the Latin title and together with Matthew and Jared, we captured some interesting video footage from several young artists and Dick Nelson as he described some of the plans for the summer in Downtown Johnson City. Carson also shot plenty of pictures who can check out here.