I’ve never played a ‘SOLD OUT’ show before and last night they were turning them away at The Down Home in Johnson City for the CD release party for Reagan Boggs and what a night!
The full moon was straining to glow from behind the thick clouds that rolled in yesterday and the forecast was calling for a winter storm watch. It was Friday the 13th too and the heavy rain that drenched Johnson City was little concern as I was eager to get to the Down Home early and set up my gear.
It’s rare that I beat the rest of the guys in the band to a gig, but not tonight. I arrived at the Down Home around 6.30. There were a few people already having a bite to eat and Ed Snodderly’s old Mercedes was belching out diesel as I walked in through the stage door at the old ‘MontClair Hotel.’
The Down Home has been a sanctuary for original music for more than 30 years in our corner of East Tennessee and this stage is a sacred place for my experience as a musician in the Tri-Cities. I always love playing the place partly because of its legacy and the way they respectfully treat the talent.
A wood room with a small narrow stage and a warm ambience- that’s my short description of the place. They have many short order favorites on their menu and a good collection of popular beers, but the most important nuance about this club is the respectful ‘No Smoking’ policy they have during performances.
I got my gear set up fairly quickly and it wasn’t long before Greg, Reagan, Tony, Keith and Alan were on the scene ready to set the stage. Kevin surprised us all by waltzing in The Down Home with a dark suit and tie! My God. This was really gonna be ground-breaking. I’ve never seen the man dressed to kill and it made us all a bit jealous we weren’t sporting our best. Nevertheless, I’m glad I wasn’t bound with a tie. I suffer enough of that on the job.
The crowd at The Down Home began to swell around 8.00. I guess that was to be expected too because Reagan received great press coverage for this event. She spoke to Jim McGuiness at GoTriCities, Doug Janz with The Johnson City Press and John Sewal with the Bristol Herald Courier. They had an article in the Loafer too and WETS did a good join teasing the show with some of Reagan’s music from the new CD, ‘Never Looking Behind.’
Our sound check was amazing. I believe that’s the first time we ever played no more than two verses to get a perfect level. The monitors were audible to everyone and their sound guy was almost incognito as he weaved in and out of the stage. Kudos to the crew!
Now here’s something I did not know about the Down Home. I’ve played this room several times over the past years and I never knew they had a green room for artists. This cubby was overwhelming as I imagined 30 years of performers chilling before a show and enjoyed some quiet time here before the show.
The first set opened with a buzz in one of our line mixes and by the second song, everything was worked out and we performed many of Reagan’s new original songs to a room filled with interesting fans and performers from around the region.
We owe a lot of gratitude to lots of folks that came that night who have helped the band along the way including Ed Snodderly and Phil Leonard. Jeff Malone and Jared Bentley were floating the bar most of the night and it was a pleasure to see photographers Kim Miller and Paul Bishop. They created all of the images on Reagan’s new CD cover.
Jim McGuiness, Dave Sieg, Bill Perkins and Larry Roberts were also in the audience along with several close friends. Even Scotty Melton was inside The Down Home and it was especially enjoyable to perform his song ‘The Way I’m Loving You” which is on ‘Never Looking Behind.’
It was also a pleasure to meet the new director for Bristol Rhythm and Roots last night. Saundra Reynolds is no longer working with the folks at the region’s premiere music festival. They have some great enthusiasm for this year’s festival too and I can’t wait to be a part of that again. In my opinion, you won’t find a better music festival in our corner of the state all scheduled for mid-September every year.
We had a great audience tonight too. Lots of friends – and we were surprised to continue to pull out songs later in the night as the room was still crowded near midnight. It wasn’t long before we were out of songs and The Down Home was over as quick as it began.
A great night indeed. It was reassuring to see a of old friends and new fans gathered around Reagan purchasing the new CD and we’ve got some great times ahead promoting this new record with dates coming up in the next few weeks in Knoxville, Winston Salem, Bristol, VA and Black Mountain, North Carolina.
As I packed my cases into the Jeep, the snow started to fall in the amber lights outside the stage door. The Down Home did really well tonight too and went away with a few dollars in our pockets and enough time to grab a late breakfast at Perkins in Johnson City.
As usual, you’re likely to run into other night owl musicians late at night at any Perkins, since it’s the only one open. (Of course, someone has mentioned….The Mid City Grill – I’ll have to try that). As were about to leave, I recognized Mia and Dave Richards from Gretchen. They were finishing a show at Gatbsy’s and had close to 200 in attendance. I met there new drummer and came away with the feeling there is truly a music scene in the Tri-Cities.
Now it’s not a big scene with 1000 seat venues, but it is a regular feature of our region to feature great original music on any weekend here in the Tri-Cities and this was another fine example. Even though it was pouring rain, the weathermen were harping about a winter storm and the superstitious holiday was still not enough to keep our friends coming out to see the band and for that – our gratitude.
