A Feature for Area Musicians Performing Original Material
We are fortunate to live in an area that is pretty flush with some really talented musicians and bands – some creating their own original tunes, as well as others who offer original musical arrangements of covers you may know in another way.
That can be a conundrum for famous artists as well as those on the rise, who want to offer up crowd pleasers their fans expect, but also want the audience – and the owners of venues they play at – to give something new they’ve written a listen.
It’s fair to say that many of us have attended a concert and ended up being wowed by an opening act we never heard before or the cover of a song that might just be better than the original. For example, The Eagles opening for the Allman Brothers Band, oh, so many years ago (Boston Garden, 1974). Pure Prairie League for The Outlaws (Cape Cod Coliseum, 1978).
As for performers who can make a cover seem like their own, think Joe Cocker, With a Little Help from My Friends, “She Came in the Bathroom Window. Eva Cassidy’s renditions of Over the Rainbow, Fields of Gold, and pretty much anything else the late artist wrote her own arrangements for.
This is a way to shine the spotlight – give these talented artists a little love – and also a nudge to local music lovers and venues that host live music gigs as a way to help nurture the arts right here where we live.
Really, it’s okay to venture out of your own nostalgia to get a taste of something new. So give these area performers a look and a listen.
Musicians who produce original music or their own unique arrangements to cover songs and would like to be featured are welcome to submit queries to mmiller@whatswhatnewportrichey.com.
Michele Miller, What’s What New Port Richey.
Julie Black & Her Band
Justin Theory
