Diversity, community, and an abiding love for the art
Time once again for The Pulse’s annual review of the music scene here in Chattanooga—the article in which we stand the music scene against the kitchen wall and make a pencil mark to see how much it’s grown in the past year. I tend to be a bit of a cheerleader for Chattanooga’s musical community, and I make no apologies for that.
Simply put, I know where it was when I came to town in the early nineties, I know where it is today, and I couldn’t imagine not being enthusiastically proud of the gains made. Certainly none of the talented kids who used to play at the Scarlet Tanager’s open mic in ’93 would ever have believed we’d come this far.
That’s my attitude and I’m sticking to it, but it doesn’t necessarily lend itself to a well-rounded view of how things are today, so this time I thought I’d enlist the help of some local performers, engineers, producers, promoters, venue operators, and other assorted musical riff-raff to offer a broader perspective. What follows is drawn from the consensus of feedback from all parties. My thanks to all of you who took the time to share your views and experiences with me.
What it is that makes a scene? First and foremost, there has to be talent, and Chattanooga has that in abundance. It always has, really, but there was a time when you wouldn’t have known it. When I first started writing about music in the mid-nineties, I was dumbfounded by the number of bands and artists who were making real strides on a regional, national, and even international level, yet remained virtually unknown here in their own hometown.
The talent pool back then was impressive, but never got to be especially large since anyone who wanted to make a real go of it had to leave to find opportunities. Chattanooga was a place you were from, not a place you stuck around. That’s not quite the case anymore. Chattanooga has given performers a reason to stay local and because of that, the talent pool has increased dramatically.
The unintended consequence of this is that artists, intentionally or otherwise, inspire one another, push each other to be better, expand each other’s range and experience, broadening their mutual creativity. All of this leads directly to the next necessary component of a music scene, diversity.
If you have fifty great bands in your town all playing more or less the same thing, their greatness is sorely diminished. We are a mid-sized city, yet we boast a diversity of musical styles and genres to rival some of the great metropolises. Week to week you can find every variety of rock music, from vintage and rockabilly, to punk, surf, heavy metal, new wave, alt-college, art, experimental, psychedelic, Brit pop, and more. Blues, jazz, hip-hop, rap, reggae, folk, bluegrass, Americana, gospel, swing, big-band, parody, pastiche, and the delightfully indefinable are all well represented in the city.
Talent and diversity are a strong start, but it’s all for nothing without venues. The Signal, Songbirds, Feed, Hi-Fi Clyde’s, Slick’s, Southside, Bud’s, Mayo’s, Ziggy’s, Tremont, and the cultural nexus that is JJ’s Bohemia are just a sampling and that doesn’t even consider Sidewalk Stages, Chattanooga Market, local festivals and more breweries than you can shake a stick at, all of which offer opportunities for performers.
Besides venues, we have resources like never before, including The Studio at the Library, Sound Corps, Hip-Hop CHA, Chattanooga Girls Rock, Doors Open Jazz, Fiddlers Anonymous, and Dynamo, all of which contribute to the next condition any healthy music scene requires, a sense of community.
I grew up in a small town, just big enough for a handful of bands and a couple of music stores and very few opportunities to play that weren’t someone’s backyard. It was an ignorantly cut-throat environment and when a band DID get a chance to do something worthwhile, half the crowd was other bands coming to mock and deride. It wasn’t until I moved to a city proper that I saw musicians sticking up for and supporting each other.
If someone stole your gear before a big show, the band your band openly competes with for gigs would come lend you theirs. Rivalries were generally good-natured, overshadowed by the understanding that no matter what or where you played, everyone was in the same boat. Play a gig, big or small, half the crowd would be other bands coming to cheer you on, to encourage you, to clap, scream, and stomp.
You can have a scene without community, but it a nasty, soulless thing, and what was already a hard road to walk becomes much harder. Conversely, the love and mutual respect and admiration here in our town is a thing of beauty. The number of benefits, fundraisers, and tributes alone is a testament to that and if there are a few unpleasant players, well, every village is going to have a few idiots. It does nothing to deter the bonds and friendships so prevalent here today.
Talent, diversity, opportunity, mutual support; when you have those things, the fans are inevitable. Years ago I described Chattanooga as a fickle town when it came to supporting local music, and I still think that was true at the time. I don’t think so anymore, and the feedback from most of folks suggests the same.
There is still the occasional light crowd, an unfortunate side effect of there frequently being too MUCH to see and do, but by and large, Chattanooga comes out to show some love and appreciation which is, at the end of the day, the linchpin that holds it all together.
And there you have it, folks. The state of the musical union in a nutshell is that things are the best they’ve ever been and on track to be bigger and better still. I’d like to leave you with a few thoughts from some of the folks who help to make the scene what it is.
Nick Lutsko: “The talent in this city is as abundant as it is diverse. I can name a great act for just about every genre of music, and I can name just as many acts that can’t be confined to a specific genre. Nonetheless, there’s a great sense of camaraderie in the music community.”
Jim Tate: “JJ’s is excellent. We need more of this level of clubs with such committed owners. There is a seriously high price to get into some venues—president tickets make sense, but tickets at $20 and higher are not exactly sensible—they kill the ability to hit two to three clubs in a night. It is ultimately unsustainable. That said, some folks do it really right (Tremont Tavern has a great sound setup and has a great mix of open mics and artists they bring in with no cover, and several others are the same caliber). We could use a nice central resource for both club owners to promote outside of their own page, and for acts to be able to resource for booking.”
Jack Kirton: “Seven days a week you can catch talented players like Jonathan Wimpee, or Lon Eldridge on guitar, Jessica Nunn on strings, or Dan Pinson, Marcus White, Tim Starnes, or Yatti Westfield on any instrument. Most of these shows have FREE ADMISSION during the week! We are working towards national/international recognition as a music community. The Songbirds museum put our name out there and we have local acts like John Myers (James Leg) and Strung Like a Horse performing in Europe. Also I hear there are plans to send Nick Lutsko and Greezy Rick into outer space to promote his next album.”
Eroc Russell: “The music lovers in the area are very supportive of their favorite bands and that is an integral part of a band’s success especially when they venture outside of their home town, which seems to be happening more frequently recently. I’m looking forward to seeing where we can go from here.”
John Shoemaker: “Metal is climbing, with new bands like Basstronaut, Taverns, Toad Smoke and Terminal Overdrive. Hip hop continues to make gains and Chattanooga’s own BbyMutha has been crushing it all over the world. Indie rock has seen some new notable band[s] making waves like the Fridge, Dolphin Group, Lewis and Clark, Psychic Dungeon, Shaky’s Bad Knee, Tunnels and Oweda.”
Matt Shigekawa: “The local music scene has grown tremendously in the 15 years I have been playing here. It’s the support from the local fans and fellow musicians that has really perpetuated the growth as a whole. People coming to your shows and coming to know the music that comes from your heart builds the confidence to keep pouring yourself out there.”
Jon Wimpee: “I really think we have a lot of good talent and a lot of good venues, but not a lot of proper communication. There’s more options than ever for places to see live music and for the most part the new places put together local lineups. This makes it seem like there’s a loss of musical talent but in reality it’s just spread thinner.”
The bottom line is simple: no matter what your taste is in music, there’s a band and a venue here in town to meet your needs. So go out and support local music. There's plenty of it out there just waiting for you.