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A quarter century of Knoxville’s music scene
Posted By katie allison granju
When I landed in Knoxville in 1986, I didn’t know a soul. I was a sophomore in college, having ended up at UT in my second year, after royally annoying my parents during my freshman year (I went through two colleges and a study abroad experience in the first 12 months of my collegiate career). When they left me at UT that fall afternoon, they told me I was staying, no matter what.
I literally did not know one person in Knoxville, one person at UT. I had only been to Knoxville once before - as a day visitor to the 1982 World’s Fair. I didn’t even really know where the dorm at which I’d been unceremoniously deposited was in relation to the rest of UT.
So that first evening, after sort of unpacking my stuff, I started walking. As it turned out, I was walking toward Fort Sanders. I kept walking in that direction because the architecture and the people on the sidewalks and porches grew more interesting with each street I crossed. At about Laurel Avenue, I started hearing what sounded like live music coming from a few blocks away. By now it was dark, but I kept walking, thinking that live music of any kind was likely more entertaining than sitting in my cinderblock jail cell dorm room by myself all evening.
After a few blocks, I stumbled into a giant outdoor party on, I think, Forest AVenue - behind what later became Vatican Pizza. There were hundreds and hundreds of students and Fort Sanders denizens packed into an alleyway. Some were onthe rooftops, others were dancing in front of the stage. Everyone was happy and friendly and enthusiastic.
And the band was GREAT. It was Sea Seven States, and I became a fan within two songs. By the end of the night, I had numerous new acquaintances (several of whom I remain in touch with to this day), and a feeling that Knoxville might not be so bad after all.
And I’ve been a Knoxville music fangirl ever since.
Through the years, a few of my very fave K-town bands have been: Everything Tool, Big Stickmen, Jesus Chrysler, Flying Polecats, Carl Snow’s various incarnations, Superdrag, Pegclimber, 1-900s, Westside Daredevils, Christabel and the Jons, Stewart Pack solo, John Baker Solo, Angel and the Lovemongers, The Tenderhooks, Taoist Cowboys, Smokin’ Dave, 30 Amp Fuse, Gut Truck, The V-Roys, Scott Miller and the Commonwealth, The High Score, Mic Harrison….and the list goes on and on. My children are even growing up listening to lots of Knoxville music.
As a Knoxville music fan, two local media outlets have been critical to me in keeping up with what’s going on in our scene: Metro Pulse and WUTK. And today, Metro Pulse (in its cool new look) reports on a very important new Knoxville pop music history project being produced by WUTK. It’s a CD chronicling a quarter century of great K-town music:
General director Benny Smith wanted to do something special to celebrate the station’s quarter-century anniversary in 2007, but it took a little longer than he anticipated. It’s coming soon, though: the local compilation CD Re-Distilled, which features 17 covers of local songs from the last two and a half decades by some of the city’s biggest contemporary acts as well as a few old-timers, will be released on April 15.
The bands and performers covered on Re-Distilled range from the obscure (Roger Smith, whose “This World Is Run by Weasels” is sung by R.B. Morris) to the wildly popular (the V-Roys’ “Goodnight Loser,” recorded by Angel and the Love Mongers, and Superdrag’s “In the Valley of Dying Stars,” by Stewart Pack). Some of the pioneers of Knoxville’s music scene—Teenage Love, Balboa, Sea 7 States, Smokin’ Dave and the Premo Dopes—are featured, as are bands from the heady days of the 1990s (Taoist Cowboys, 1-900s, the Judybats, 30 Amp Fuse, Dim Kitchen). Morris, Superdrag, Todd Steed, former V-Roys Mic Harrison and Scott Miller, Tim Lee, and former Judybats frontman Jeff Heiskell appear on both sides, with new performances and songs of their own covered by new bands.
Re-Distilled will serve as a fund-raiser for the station, which receives no financial support from the university. Smith urges fans not to burn copies of the compilation, since proceeds go to WUTK.
“It’s a way to put something in people’s hands for the money they put in our gift fund,” Smith says. “This is what they call in public radio a premium. It’s a document of a lot of history and what’s been on the air for a lot of those years. But the number one objective is to raise money for the station. It’s been a tough semester for us.”
WUTK is also planning an all-ages benefit concert at the Valarium, with as many of the artists from the disc as possible, on June 27.
This is going to be great. And WUTK really, really needs more community support. Plus, I look forward to taking my teenage son (who spent much of his babyhood living in our Fort Sanders apartment) to the show in June.
Apr 3rd, 2008
Wow! I look forward to this.
I loved Dim Kitchen…I had a cassette of their album in high school and lost it somewhere along the way. Immortal Chorus was a favorite, too.
How about the blair brothers they were the hottest around from the mid eighties to early 90’s they covered all the motown stuff at Sassy Ann’s, Hooray’s etc….
Party in the Alley! Who-hoo!