MetroPulse Stories: Eye on the Scene

Local Songwriters Launch "Career-Management" App for Musicians

mconnergibson@gmail.com (Mike Gibson) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:13:00 -0000

The world’s wastebaskets are filled with tattered bar-naps scribbled over with big ideas that never got off the ground—product concepts, book titles, and fragments of movie scripts. But when Knoxville’s Jonathan Sexton ran into former Whiskey Scars bandmate Matt Urmy at a house party last year, the ideas they scrawled on a rumpled napkin not only safely survived the night, they turned into a million-dollar-plus software platform the duo are now marketing as a veritable how-to kit for up-and-coming artists.

Square Room Prepares Scruffy Concert Series

mconnergibson@gmail.com (Mike Gibson) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:59:00 -0000

One of the Knoxville’s favorite performers is coming back home, at least once a month, to front a monthly concert and interview series with everyone’s favorite local columnist.

Dirty Guv'nahs Wrap Up Nashville Recording Session

everettm@metropulse.com (Matthew Everett) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:43:00 -0000

The Dirty Guv’nahs have just wrapped up recording sessions in Nashville for their upcoming, still-untitled new album, due out sometime this year.

Wampus Cat: 'Wampus Cat'

everettm@metropulse.com (Matthew Everett) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:08:00 -0000

Knoxville doom quartet Wampus Cat takes is name from the mysterious wampus cat of Cherokee mythology and Appalachian folklore, a foreboding half-woman, half-feline harbinger of death.

New Film Project to Document a Year in the Life and Culture of Knoxville

everettm@metropulse.com (Matthew Everett) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:02:00 -0000

Knoxville Films and veteran television producer Melissa May have teamed up for a year-long film project to showcase Knoxville.

Matt Morelock: A Hillbilly in Paradise

everettm@metropulse.com (Matthew Everett) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:34:00 -0000

An interesting fact, according to banjo aficionado and hillbilly fashion plate Matt Morelock: His namesake music store on Gay Street has actually done better business since its owner quietly slipped away to paradise last fall.

4620 Space Gets Makeover as the Well

everettm@metropulse.com (Matthew Everett) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:31:00 -0000

The eccentric downstairs bar/restaurant/music space at 4620 Kingston Pike, previously home to Velvet and two iterations of a club called 4620, is getting another makeover this month.

Stewart Pack: 'Epic Ditch Demos'

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:27:00 -0000

Stewart Pack is one of the elite usual suspects who have shaped Knoxville’s sound. With a tenure that stretches beyond 20 years with great bands like the 1-900s and Dinky Doo, Pack is notable for his prolific music-making and, more importantly, for the unerring high quality of all his projects.

Filmmaker Keith McDaniel Steps in Front of the Camera for New TV Show

coury@metropulse.com (Coury Turczyn) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:07:00 -0000

This Sunday at 3 p.m. on East Tennessee PBS, Keith McDaniel—the auteur behind Oak Ridge’s annual Secret City Film Festival—will debut his new monthly talk show featuring Tennessee filmmakers.

New 54-Hour Film Contest Gives Filmmakers Just Enough Time

coury@metropulse.com (Coury Turczyn) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:02:00 -0000

Have you ever competed in one of the annual Knoxville 24-Hour Film Festivals and thought, “What I really need is 30 more hours.”? Well, your filmmaking contest has arrived.

Knox Musicians Come Together for the Late Phil Pollard

everettm@metropulse.com (Matthew Everett) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:48:00 -0000

It’s good news that members of Knoxville’s music community can organize a three-day benefit for one of their own as quickly as Waynestock 2 has come together. It’s just too bad that they have to.

The Vaygues: 'Dead Town and Other Selections'

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:42:00 -0000

As fashionable as it’s become to plunder old genres for easy cheers, there’s no sign on Dead Town that Knoxville mod-rockers the Vaygues have anything less than complete, qualified commitment to the jangly guitar pop of yesteryear.

High-School Band Ergo We Play Competes for National Teen Band Award

everettm@metropulse.com (Matthew Everett) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:09:00 -0000

The local high-school alt-rock band Ergo We Play has already outstripped most of its peers simply by staying together long enough to write and record two songs. The band has an even bigger opportunity next month

Knoxville Jazz Orchestra: 'Christmas Time Is Here'

everettm@metropulse.com (Matthew Everett) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:04:00 -0000

Knoxville Jazz Orchestra pulls out all the stops on this smooth and swinging disc of holiday standards, which will fit nicely next to A Charlie Brown Christmas and Christmas With the Rat Pack in anybody’s seasonal CD collection.

Jubilee Community Arts Unveils 1961 Recordings by May Justus

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:40:00 -0000

May Justus was a children’s book writer, teacher, and longtime supporter of the Highlander Folk School and its later incarnation, the Highlander Center. She was also a singer and folklorist, passions that are at the heart of a new CD released by the Tennessee Folklore Society and Jubilee Community Arts.

Dirty Guv'nahs Raise $20,000 for Next Record

everettm@metropulse.com (Matthew Everett) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:38:00 -0000

Further evidence of the Dirty Guv’nahs’ level of local celebrity: Before we even had a chance to report on it, the band’s Kickstarter campaign to pay for a new album has already surpassed its goal of $20,000.

Fifth Street Saints: 'Reason to Run'

everettm@metropulse.com (Matthew Everett) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:34:00 -0000

On the Fifth Street Saints’ first EP, Reason to Run, slickly produced by Travis Wyrick, singer/guitarist Eddie Self adopts Metallica frontman James Hetfield’s barking grunt, and both the band’s groovy rhythms and guitar solos owe considerable debt to Hetfield and company.

Knoxville Early Music Project Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary

everettm@metropulse.com (Matthew Everett) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:09:00 -0000

When Thomas Tallant, Mark Kiser, and Kevin Lay began playing early music together in 1991, they had no idea that their jam sessions would quickly evolve into Knoxville’s longest-lasting professional early music group.

Sound Off Competition Continues

everettm@metropulse.com (Matthew Everett) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:07:00 -0000

Sound Off continues on Wednesday, Dec. 7, as the third round of contestants face off against each other and in front of a panel of judges at the Square Room for a spot in the finals in March.

Johnny Newman: 'More Than Ever'

everettm@metropulse.com (Matthew Everett) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:03:00 -0000

Local composer and prog-rock mastermind Johnny Newman may have outdone himself when he hired metal veterans Yanic Bercier and Steve DiGiorgio to perform on his new album.