If you are like me, you hear about great local bands, but you never seem to be able to catch some of them with the greatest buzz. I probably do catch more than my share, but I’m still missing some. Hudson K, The Malungeons, Tim Lee 3 – I haven’t seen any of them. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an opportunity to see them all together? Well, the time has come.
It’s called “Waynestock: For the Love of Drew” in honor of Wayne Bledsoe whose son Drew died at twenty-three years of age last month. If you don’t know Wayne Bledsoe, you must not care much about music or you must be new to Knoxville. Wayne has written about music in the Knoxville News Sentinel since 1984. I moved to Knoxville in 1982 and I can’t remember a time when I haven’t enjoyed reading Wayne’s columns. I always found his critiques to be spot on and he always pushed me to explore music I would not have noticed otherwise. Even when I didn’t like some of what he said about my various musical heroes, in the end, I would recognize the validity of his comments. He’s also always been open to being contacted when I’ve had questions or comments and is quick to respond to a humble reader when contacted.
So, the shows are to raise money to help with his expenses, but I think they are more to celebrate the life of Drew, who made his own contributions to the local music scene, to express appreciation for Wayne and to raise a glass in a pretty spectacular way to local music. The shows will be held in what I’ll call the downtown extension of Happy Holler at the Relix Theater (1208 N. Central Avenue). Thursday night is free and the next two nights are $5 each. How can you go wrong?
Here’s the schedule:
Thursday, January 27 – FREE
7pm – Singer/Songwriters-in-the-Round: Greg Horne, Jake Winstrom, Sean McCollough, Steph Gunnoe and more!
9pm – The Bearded
10pm – Hudson K
Friday, January 28
7 pm – Quartjar
8 pm – Todd Steed & the Suns of Phere
9 pm – Kevin Abernathy Band
10 pm – Mic Harrison & the High Score
11 pm – The Melungeons
12 mid – The Drunk Uncles
Saturday, January 29
7 pm – Katie & the Bass Drums
8 pm – Westside Daredevils
9 pm – Tim Lee 3
10 pm – RB Morris
11 pm – Senryu
12 mid – Psychotic Behavior (w/Ben Savage of Whitechapel)
I’m hoping to catch every night, but we’ll see how that goes. Occasionally real life gets in the way of what I would like to do. Of course, I’ll let you know what I see and hear. I hope to see you there.
