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SHOCKOE
CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL
Friday
and Saturday, Aug 24-25, 2007
Kanawha Plaza, Downtown Richmond
FRIDAY
5-10pm
Shockoe
Bottom Boys, Billy Ray Hatley & The Showdogs and
Jackass Flats
SATURDAY
12-7pm
ThermUs, The Taters, The
Atkinsons, and
Scott
Miller and the Commonwealth
Taste
some of the best our Mid-Atlantic Brewers have to offer with over 50
craft beers from over twenty different craft and microbreweries. The
purpose of the Shockoe Craft Beer Festival is to showcase local,
regional and microbreweries in order to present the wide range of beer
styles and flavors that these brewers make available to the public
everyday.
Delicious eats and
treats, cool beer gadgets, educational seminars, and great music await
you at this end-of-summer festival. In keeping with the tradition of
great, homegrown music, the concert lineup showcases tunes to get your
feet tappin’!
For
further information, call 804-249-9123. Kanawha Plaza is
located between E. Byrd St and
E.
Canal Street between 7th and 8th Streets in downtown
Richmond, VA. RAIN OR SHINE!
BAND
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THE ATKINSONS
SCOTT
MILLER AND THE COMMONWEALTH
The songs and albums of
songwriter/guitarist/vocalist Scott Miller have always possessed a strong sense
of place. Citation, Miller's third release with Sugar Hill Records, is no
exception. It sports songs that emerge, breathing heavy, from the broken-in
seats of the vehicle that gives the album its name (one interpretation of the
title, anyway) and that roar down the highway, songs set stateside and on
battlefields, songs that seem to spring from the pages of historical
biographies. And, perhaps ironically or perhaps fittingly, he had to go two
different places to create the album. First was the Fort Sanders area of
Knoxville, just west of downtown, where Miller rented an apartment to write
songs for the album. And then he traveled to Memphis to work with legendary
producer, musician, and character Jim Dickinson. _In the '70s, the Fort Sanders
area had an active arts and music scene, but 30 years and short memories have
conspired to steal the vibrancy. "Old mansions knocked down, burned up, and
replaced with giant apartment buildings. The streets filled not by hillbilly
hippies, but by rich kids with healthy hair, perfect teeth, their parent's SUVs,
and their arms permanently bent up to their ears holding cell phones," is
Miller's description. "By going back there, maybe I was looking for some
kind of lost inspiration." The songs that Miller wrote while staying in the
room that he dubbed "the Maid's Quarters" suggest that he found what
he was looking for, be it courtesy of the ghost of one of those hillbilly
hippies or of Miller making the time to tap into his rich experiences and
boundless curiosity. "Freedom's a Stranger," jokingly dubbed
"Summer of '89" by Miller, moves from Springsteen tapes in steamed-up
cars to mortgages as a way to express the passing of time while trying to ward
off the dousing of dreams. For "The Only Road," he accepted a chorus
offered to him by Maid's Quarter visitor and former V-roys mate Mic Harrison and
built a memorable, tragic tale around it. The lively "Say Ho" is about
Sam Houston, who, as history and Virginia buff Miller is quick to point out,
"was a Virginian, an East Tennessean, and then a Texan. Don't forget
it."
With close to a record full of
songs in his pocket it was time for Memphis, where Dickinson had chosen working
with Miller over doing a Stephan Seagal blues record. (Sometimes you just have
to let a statement like that speak for itself.) "I really went down there
with an East Tennessee chip on my shoulder, ready to do battle and justify 'The
State of Franklin,' which is what East Tennessee was for a short time,"
Miller says. For the most part, Miller hung close to the studio, and, as he did
during his Fort Sanders stay, tried to draw inspiration from wherever he could
get it. "I would stay in the studio and write, just sit there and drink
beer," he recalls. "I'd hang out, and these guys would just come
walking through. I met a ton of people." Among those passing by were Otis
Redding's trumpet player, a gentleman who had survived the plane crash that took
Redding's life, and Justin Timberlake. ("I swear to God, the guy emanates a
light," Miller offers.) For added measure, Miller stayed in the same hotel
that the Replacements stayed in when recording Pleased to Meet Me with
Dickinson._The atmosphere clearly agreed with Miller as well as members of his
kindred spirits, The Commonwealth. Bassist Jeremy Pennebaker,
multi-instrumentalist Eric Fritsch, and drummer Shawn McWilliams constructed a
wall of sound that could make one think that Beale Street had temporarily been
replaced by E Street. The Commonwealthers roared through their parts during a
whirlwind four-day stay, leaving rockers like "Only Everything,"
"8 Miles a Gallon," and "Jody" in their wake, not to mention
a rowdy and timely cover of "Hawks & Doves," the title track of
the 1980 album from Miller favorite Neil Young. "The only thing that Jim
(Dickinson) said was 'It'd take me another two weeks to get y'all to slow down
to a normal rate,'" laughs Miller. "You know, 'cos we're a live band,
and we just came in and blistered through everything."
That exchange with Dickinson
highlights the rapport that was established. The pair shared an appreciation of
obscure folk records and, says Miller, "he was very impressed that I knew
who Jerry Kennedy was." Miller continues, "He was demanding and as
tough as you'd think he'd be, but I found a good kindred spirit there. He was a
folk musician too; that's what he did. And he wrote obnoxious songs. He brought
in some tapes of his stuff when he was younger, the same thing I'd do at
Hawkeye's. If you can't run half the people out of the room, then your show's
not going to be worth it, you know?"
Across the 11 songs on
Citation--none, by the way, threats to run anybody out of the room--Miller is,
as ever, hard to pin down. You can find him embracing pessimism and fate
("This is a train-ride start/You know where it's ending before you
depart," from the lovely album-closing "Long Goodnight") and
preaching optimism and hope ("If you're not going to make your dreams epic?
Why bother to dream anything at all"). "Well, I am 'where' I am, I
guess," he says. "And I try and write what I know." And, damn, if
that's not the perfect place for Scott Miller.
Website: www.thescottmiller.com www.myspace.com/thescottmiller
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THE ATKINSONS
JACKASS
FLATS
Starting out in 2000 as a group of like minded
musicians, Jackass Flats has taken their sound from their hometown of Richmond,
VA, to the nation's premier venues and festival stages. Fueled by original
songwriting, award winning musicianship, and exhilarating bluegrass
instrumentation, Jackass Flats epitomizes the new generation of acoustic string
bands who combine creativity and tradition to produce something all together
unique. Since taking home Virginia State Champion Bluegrass Band honors in 2002,
the boys have been crowd favorites on the bluegrass, Americana, and world music
scenes. In the summer of 2005 alone, the band performed at the historic Ryman
Auditorium in Nashville, TN and has shared festival billing with groups as
diverse as The Wailers, Ani Difranco, Victor Wooten Band, Railroad Earth, Keller
Williams, Xavier Rudd, Drive By Truckers, and J.D Crowe and the New South.
In 2003 Jackass Flats took their local music
scene by storm and were awarded Best Bluegrass/Country Band by internet magazine
Richmond.com, who called the band "masters of backwoods symphonies".
Most recently, in 2004 the band was presented with a Virginia Music Award for
The Best Americana Jamband. With these awards under their belt and reputed, high
energy live performances, Jackass Flats has gone on to share the stage with
heros: The Del McCoury Band, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Sam Bush,
Vassar Clements, Gillian Welch, Marty Stuart, and Earl Scruggs to name a few.
The typical show has Jackass Flats picking their
way through original material, fresh arrangements of bluegrass standards, and
non-traditional tunes from genres as varied as rock, reggae, and jazz. With the
release of their second album Purgatory Mountain in September 2005, the band
have fulfilled one of their longtime dreams, to release an album of all original
music that reflects their love of bluegrass tradition and their determination to
create a sound that is all their own.
Website: www.jackass-flats.com www.myspace.com/jackassflatsband
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THE TATERS
 BILLY
RAY HATLEY & THE SHOW DOGS
Billy Ray Hatley is a lead singer, rhythm guitarist, harmonica player, and songwriter and has been packing the house with Richmond, Virginia's roadhouse rockers "Big City" for the past fifteen years.
With over 30 years experience and three CDs, Billy has established himself as Richmond's premier frontman and singer.
With his first Show Dogs CD released in 2003, "More Years Than I Got", Billy
proved himself an impressive studio artist and accomplished songwriter.
Their most recent CD "Deuce" is even more impressive and is bound to
gain the band even more attention and praise.
"One of the main characters in the forthcoming novel TOWN HALL (which profiles the early 70's in a southern college town) is based loosely on Hatley and will make him
famous." - Michael deRosset Strong, Chapel Hill, NC In 2003 Hatley had his song "One More Chance" released by
Michael Burks on Alligator records, and was the featured Alligator records contribution on the August 2003 compilation disc in Blues Review magazine.
Review for
"More Years Than I Got": "For those of us who have followed Billy Ray Hatley's songwriting and performing art for years, finally we have a portrait we can take home. This collection of personal stories for everyman showcases skillful writing, with stellar performances and production.
Is it blues, country, rhythm & blues, americana? It's all of the above.
Show Dogs on the runway, in all their glory. See for yourself; you won't be
disappointed." -Page Wilson, Out of the Blue Radio Review 88.9 FM
Website: www.brhatley.com
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THE TATERS
 THE
TATERS
The
Taters play an eclectic mix of roots rock, pop, country, skiffle &
Americana, a sound that's been compared favorably to a mixture of Everlys,
Orbison, Beatles, and Nick Lowe.
When
Craig Evans and Brad Tucker started singing together in the early 1980's,
neither could have guessed how long that partnership would last. With the new
release of Just One Night, their 4th album as The Taters, it's obvious to
listeners that their music is still getting stronger all the time. And now those
new to the band can get a glimpse of what goes on during a live show the
interplay and harmonies, and just the wide range of song styles that make up
their musical identity.
A lot
has been written over the last 10 years about the influences of the band, and
comparisons have been made to Roy Orbison, The Everly Brothers, The Mavericks,
Nick Lowe and others. "We decided it was time to do a live album this time
out, said Craig in a recent interview, since that's where we meet most of our
listeners, and vice versa. It gave us a chance to do some covers that are
regular requests at our shows, and to kind of pay tribute to some of the
influences that have guided us for so long. We're also using the album as a
chance to re-work some of the tunes from our early albums. The cool thing was
how well all of it came together in a single show!
Just One
Night was recorded in Ashland , VA , and includes Craig & Brad along with a
host of side Taters, including Diana Carr (pedal steel) , Stu Grimes (drums),
Jim Wark (guitar), Ned Henson (guitar), and Alan MacEwen & Chris Watling
from The Grandsons on horns.
Writing
in Billboard magazine, the internationally published "bible" of the
music industry, critic Gordon Ely described the Taters as "determinedly-and
gleefully-forging a path with no limits or end in sight. This is music for which
you've been waiting a long, long time... Without a trace of self-consciousness
or pretension, the Taters draw up a formula that can rightly be claimed as their
own".
Website: www.thetaters.com
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THE ATKINSONS
 THE
ATKINSONS
The Atkinsons formed in the fall of 2003 in
Richmond, VA. Their main focus was to write and perform their own brand of
original music, as well as incorporating select cover songs that complement
their Americana style. Rooted in rock, touched by country, and rich in
harmonies, The Atkinsons merge their signature sound with bittersweet tales of
woe and heartbreak. Their originals are written with a hardcore honesty that
chronicles Americas lost and lonely souls and their life struggles and turmoil.
Influences range from Whiskeytown, Old 97s and Son Volt - to Old Crow Medicine
Show, The Avett Brothers and Scott Miller - to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers,
The Rolling Stones and Nirvana. The soulful lyrics and whiskey-stained vocals of
Dickie Wood are complemented with three-part harmonies offered up by Jamie Wood
and Kris Krull. Kris also gives the band a new edge on drums working with Ricky
Breland on bass to create a pounding rhythm section. Combine Mike Ferry's fiddle
with Jeff Williams mandolin, and you got a potent mix of rock and country
creating one kickass rockin' Americana band.
"American
Gothic” (self-released): "Dickie Wood has a lot of words floating
around in his head. That’s the thought that comes to mind listening to the
new release from this ubiquitous Richmond group. Serving the role as lead
singer and guitarist, Wood is accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Jeff
Williams, bassist Ricky Breland, fiddler Mike Ferry, drummer Kris Krull and
percussionist/ vocalist Jamie Wood. Throughout 10 tracks (and a bonus track),
they weave stories of loneliness, desertion, romance, boozing, traveling . . .
very much a cross-section of the American experience. Songs are written
more in the form of rhyming prose than as couplets, which helps bolster the
storytelling. Sonically, the group resembles alt-rock pioneers Uncle Tupelo or early
Ryan Adams. The idea behind the music is well-communicated, and the songs
are executed with precision. The Atkinsons have been performing on Richmond
stages for more than four years, and the time and experience are reflected in
the maturity of this recording."
- Style
Weekly, Local Bin by Josh Bearman June 2007
Website: www.theatkinsons.us
www.myspace.com/theatkinsons
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SCHNITZEL
 SHOCKOE
BOTTOM BOYS
In
the spring of 2004, three downtown architects who shared a passion for bluegrass
music
decided to pick a little one day at lunch down in the Shockoe Bottom area of
Richmond,
Virginia. When the mandolin player brought his guitar pickin' brother along, a
band was
formed. Taking their name from the area that has been the home to many of their lunchtime
jams, the Boys' music is drawn from the catalogue of early bluegrass pioneers.
Songs from
Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Jimmy Martin and the Carter Family dot their
playlist.
Website:
www.shockoebottomboys.com
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SCHNITZEL
THERMUS
The members of ThermUs have known each other for
decades but never knew it. With a chance meeting in the Fall of 2006 between
Taylor & Jim, an instant friendship and musical connection was made that
resulted in numerous nights plowing through hundreds of songs in Taylor's
garage. The guitar and mandolin duo was challenging and inspiring and just down
right a blast. It only got more interesting and fun when Jeff was enlisted to
supply his interpretations on the pedal steel. Drawing from a vast array of
musical influences both old and new, ThermUs has developed a repertoire that
highlights the diversity of Americana music ranging from Gram Parsons, The Byrds,
The Grateful Dead, Tim O'Brien and Ryan Adams to name a few. Also, adding into the mix an original song here and
there, as the muse strikes us, has kept things very fresh. ThermUs keeps things
hot when they need it, as well as cool and fresh. We hope you enjoy what we have
to offer as much as we enjoy offering it to you. In the end you have to ask
yourself the question "How do it know?"
Website:
www.myspace.com/thermusband
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RICHMOND ROOTS REVIVAL
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RICHMOND ROOTS REVIVAL
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RICHMOND ROOTS REVIVAL
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