Finally Fridays with Caleb Lathrop and Presented by The Realty Firm Smithville

03.31.2023 - Five Degrees of Smithville. Again demonstrating the crossroads of this eclectic hamlet near the beautiful Caney Fork River and Center Hill Lake. Our built-in talent level from here seeking new performers has been a blessing to us all. DeKalb County natives Lucas Philllips  and Clark Adcock brought this idea to us recently and wow!! They knocked it out of the park with success as Caleb and Hazi moved the audience, and that makes me swell with pride that we have such talent on The Flatwoods Stage. Thanks to having the vision – it’s called Local Vibration. 

It was a heartfelt Finally Fridays live music event at the Harvester Performance & Event Center, located in Historic Downtown Smithville, TN, late afternoon/early evening…seems like everyone agreed last week was another “What??!!” week, and with the impending bad weather forecasts and all, “The pump was primed” shall we say, for a special event, and we were pretty much ready to “rock and move on”. 

Bert Driver, and our friends/biz associates Clark Adcock and Natalie Stout from the Smithville branch of The Realty Firm got together and came up with a bill of musical artists that was one of the best ever overall displays of songwriting/singing talent ever assembled in the Harvester’s Flatwoods main room. With Clarke and Natalie’s group of family, supporters, clients and friends mixed in with our bunch of  “usual suspects” who are Finally Fridays devotees at the Harvester, the downstairs area was pretty much full and we were in the mood for some GOOD news…the Harv did NOT disappoint. 

Jimmy Wayne Garrett, an Arkansas traveler who wound up here (thankfully!) showed up with his fam and kicked off at 4:30p.m. as the crowd was just starting to build and set the mood of the evening with his wide repertoire ranging from some authentic old-style blues to his country w/ some rock influence originals - Jimmy Wayne has become one of our go-to entertainers who cut his musical chops busking out in Eureka Springs, AR, who now calls the Upper Cumberland home. 

Caleb Lathrop, who hails from Eastern Oregon (and another AR young songwriter/artist),  filled the second slot with his songs that are certainly in the category of New Country music, but I sense there is a second-level to Caleb’s excellent performance that indicates there’s more meat there than just some clever rhymes and modern chord progressions. His ballads about his family (especially) conveyed strong deeper emotions in a well-written, accessible format. I think Caleb’s poised to become a hit songwriter. 

And then there was Hazi….Hazi, Hazi, Hazi. 

I’ve been around musical concerts a long time and I’ve rarely seen a “Hazi” - Hazi hits the stage with an energy that is rare, folks – he’s all alone out there, but he’s got the feel, the rhythm, the soul, the voice the guitar chops…AND, a large dose of unabashed spiritual enthusiasm that is “there but it’s not”, and I trust you know exactly what I mean when I use that term. Hazi hails from Kodak, TN, and he loved the Harvester audience immediately and they poured it right back to him, and this rare, rare phenomenon occurred during the very first song - “It” almost happened during his 2-minute sound check prior to his official performance! 

Thanks to the Smithville Realty Firm’s Clark Adcock, Natalie Stout, Hardwoods Smokehouse Express food truck, all our musical guests, and the staff of the Harvester for another very successful Finally Fridays - we all feel much better now!  

Here’s the upcoming docket for The Harvester Performance & Event Center and the Burlap Room: Bert’s on Thursdays at the Harvester, 4/6, with the Joey Fletcher Band, Comedy Night with JJ Barrows, Amber Autry, and Doug Sanders on 4/13, Earth Day X on Saturday, 4/22, with Bee Taylor, Zion Stovall and “The Mojo Kingz”, an authentic taste of NOLA prepared by the Boil Bros. at the Burlap Room, Finally Fridays at the Harvester, 4/28, with Tom Tippin, and Bert’s on Thursdays at the Harvester, 5/4, with Cam Pierce and Craig Anderson. And be on the lookout for our first theater performance as the Nashville Shakespeare Festival makes its way to Downtown Smithville on Thursday, May 18 - details coming soon! All the details for upcoming events at burlaproom.eventbrite.com. Stay up-to-date with all the events in the Bert Driver Network (Nursery, Burlap Room, and the Harvester) by signing up for our Burlapper Newsletter - released every other Tuesday morning straight to your inbox!

📸: Bill Luton