TN Songwriters 2023 Qualifying Round at the Harvester
02.02.2023 - One of several state-wide Qualifying Rounds of the Fifth Annual Tennessee Songwriters Competition was held for the first time ever at the Harvester Performance & Event Center in Historic Downtown Smithville, Tennessee, on Thursday evening.
The event was co-sponsored by the Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree, through the efforts of Kim Luton, the new President and Director of the Jamboree board –Kim also arranged for the very prestigious group of judges for the Songwriter Competition event, including:
Darrin Vincent (of duo Dailey & Vincent, Grammy Award Winner, and Grand Ole Opry Member)
Vanissa Braswell Murphy (past Chair of the Music & Arts Department at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire)
Michelle Canning (Member of the International Bluegrass Music Association and a member of IBMA Songwriters Committee)
James Kee (Member of East Nash Grass, Songwriter, Band Leader of “House Band” at Smithville Jamboree)
Our friends/partners from DTC Communications professionally recorded the entire event, which will be played back on DTC’s local access channel in the next few days (more info coming).
The 20 Songwriters who competed in Thursday night’s competition (in order of appearance) at the Harvester were:
Lorianna Carter
Todd Perry
Tony Banks
Kudos to all Staff, Security, Sound Techs, Judges, Heidi Short, Jake Nokes, our special guest food truck for the evening, Hardwoods Smokehouse Express...and, the deserving compliments don’t end there – I (and my associates) were amazed at the courteous, quiet respect, attention, and support that the Harvester audience provided to this amazing group of songwriters. As rarely as it occurs in any live music environment, “You could literally have heard a pin drop” during every single songwriter performance - then OUTSTANDING crowd response and participation after each performance! Impressive/ Classy audience...as was the Emcee work for the evening, which was handled very capably by our fearless leader himself, Mr. Bert (turn that **** phone off NOW!) Driver.
Although the judges all agreed there was definitely “stiff competition”, the winning songwriter who moves on to the regional competition (held at 7 Historic venues) from the Harvester Qualifying Round is Collins Horton, a strapping, engaging young man who’s pursuing his dream in Nashville - I’m thinking that was a good career choice on your part, Mr. Horton! We’ll be expecting big things from you in the future (and expect to see you back here at the Harvester soon while we can still afford you). We will definitely keep you posted on the Semifinals and Finale of TN Songwriters Week 2023!
Speaking of the future, ours is shining brighter at this very moment than ever before in our Harvester’s short history - we are most definitely pleased and excited to collaborate with the Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree and DTC Communications to provide the best environment, and the biggest impact possible for our rising songwriting stars!
Join us for the next Finally Fridays with Southern Sunrise on 2/10 and a night of rock ‘n roll. After that it’s 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!
