Finally Fridays with Southern Sunrise
02.10.2023 - If Historic Downtown Smithville has EVER rocked ‘n’ rolled on a Friday Night like it did at the Harvester Performance & Event Center’s latest edition of Finally Fridays with regionally homegrown band Southern Sunrise, it was before my time…(45 years now comin’ up to Smithville).
I distinctly remember sitting in Bert Driver’s office out at his Burlap Room over two years ago, and hearing him tell me how he surmised having live music concerts at his live tree nursery made perfect sense…the one thing that really struck me about that conversation was that Bert had a truly honest appreciation of the wonderful part of the world that we live in, as well as the incredible individuals and artists who were either lucky enough to be born here, or discovered this is definitely where they belong and moved here. We both agreed that there are several “world-class” musicians, singers, painters, sculptors, and others with great ability and expertise who live within one hour of Center Hill Lake…and how artists of all ilk and business people who live in the Upper Cumberland region have a common potential customer base...and we might possibly create a space/place to show both groups off to our friends and neighbors and the “outside world”.
Boys and girls, Mommies and Daddies, that type of synergy is exactly what is beginning to develop between business owners who rely on the Upper Cumberland region growing as a “destination”, and regional artists who also depend on that growth to sustain their art. Now in operation at the right place at the right time, the Harvester is poised to be the perfect venue to showcase the Upper Cumberland’s artists, talents and amenities.
Here’s an example of some of that “local vibe” talent we were referring to: Southern Sunrise- These guys aren’t fooling around folks! They’re based out of Cookeville and Crossville and all have day gigs for the 401Ks, but it’s hard to find a reason they aren’t languishing on an island somewhere getting ready to record their fourth hit album and do another tour…certainly not from a lack of talent, savvy, or stage presence - they showed up early for soundcheck and stayed till we tracked down every buzz and whistle (an immediate indicator of professionalism), were very polite to everyone on staff (another good indicator of pros), and showed up onstage right on time (they even had individual Setlists printed out for attendees- Classy!).
Southern Sunrise consists of four members who all sing: KC Cope and Lucas McCoy on guitars and, the dynamic duo rhythm section of "Ground and Pound", Jim Brigham on bass and Travis Humphrey on drums. You can find their first recorded release (Feb 2021), titled Keep On Runnin' on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Tidal, and anywhere you stream your music.
It’s hard to pigeonhole Southern Sunrise’s musical genre - let me suffice by saying this about their rockin’ performance Friday night and the discerning, music-lovin’ crowd at the Harvester…I’ve seen a BUNCH of bands play their big opener song, and I’ve seen TWO bands get spontaneous applause following a cool little harmony dual guitar solo in the middle of their first song - one is the Allman Brothers...the other is Southern Sunrise. That was very impressive to me, and felt great to see the Harvester folks love the band and let ‘em know it with their enthusiastic response.
Tio’s Taco Truck was “on the road” again at the Harvester (YUM, as always!) - thanks to Harvester Staff & Security, and Tabitha Thierjung for her brief dissertation about the Appalachian Center for Craft as a resident artist, and for displaying her lovely unique glass art (as ONLY Tabitha can create!).
Join us for Romance in the Streets (a free event presented by the Shoppes on West Walnut), Bert’s on Thursdays at the Harvester with John Rose on 2/16, Finally Fridays with Harry Clark and Maddie Denton on 2/24, and Finally Fridays St. Patrick’s Day Celebration with the John Boulware Trio on 3/17. New event announcements coming next week so stay tuned!
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!
