If you ever spark up a conversation with someone about music, you might agree upon the notorious opinion that the southeastern regional area does not have much of a music scene. You may hear that the majority of their musical culture consists of being known for its traditional blues, jazz and country vibes–not much else, and that the music deriving from each location is not much to bother with when you have much more prominent scenes with more driven musicians elsewhere in the U.S. However, dedicated locals might beg to differ.
If you go out one evening to see some musicians in Starkville, home of Mississippi State University, you will come to realize that we may not exactly have an established scene, but we definitely have a small yet rich and homey music community. One of the main contributing factors is Rick’s American Café off of Highway 182. The owner, Rick Welch, attended MSU back in 1986 and worked as a bartender. As his passion toward his engineering major digressed, his position both physically in the bar and emotionally toward supporting the local music scene progressed, which led him to buying the bar and incorporating a restaurant and venue into it to bring more music to the collegiate demographic and overall Starkville community. He has had numerous musicians not only come through, but remain loyal to their ties with Rick’s over the years as he supports each on their endeavors through their own individual musical journeys. For example, this past weekend he hosted three local Mississippi bands, Chasing Edom, The Red Thangs and Rock Eupora, who either already knew each other from playing music together in the past or were genuinely excited to get to know each other throughout the evening. They stole the stage for the night with their indie sounds flooding the room and were able to give me their own perspective on the local music scene.
Rock Eupora said they love the adrenaline from playing live and being a part of the music scene drives their pursuit in playing authentic music.
Adam Ray, guitarist from The Red Thangs, said, “There is nothing else I’d rather be doing on a Saturday night.”
Each band has not only impacted the scene in their own ways, but the impact has reciprocated itself for each musician as well. Although some of them were influenced to pursue music through their own experiences, such as listening to Led Zepplin, Billy Joel, or Michelle Branch, the impact they have received personally being in bands is just as substantial. Rock Eupora and Chasing Edom felt being a part of their bands and receiving the feedback they have from local supporters has challenged them to grow as musicians, individuals and as a band altogether thus far. Blair Bingham from The Red Thangs and Heath Walts from Chasing Edom both agreed that being the ones on stage is much different than being the one in the crowd, and not many people get that opportunity. Chasing Edom revealed they will be departing on good terms fairly soon, but each hope to continue playing music because they not only need that creative outlet but want to pursue music in their separate ways after experiencing Chasing Edom for so long.
Their musical drive may stem from their own personal experiences, but it carries over to their audiences without a doubt.
Hunter Walt, Chasing Edom’s auxiliary percussionist and keyboardist stated, “Our music keeps the Mississippi heritage and culture alive. Hopefully people hear that and recognize that there can be good and creative music that comes out of Mississippi.”
Rays said, “It’s really amazing how many high quality and dependable, nice people you find around here.”
Clayton Waller, vocalist and creator of Rock Eupora, proudly explained how Starkville is different from Nashville in the fact that the city has shows practically every night while shows in Starkville that bring people out become an event and are more cherished.
Each of these locals that are involved in the music community and the overall scene stressed that supporting each other is a necessity.
Rick made his point saying, “I wish when I tell people about a band playing at my venue that their mentality would change from, ‘Oh, I’ve never heard of them, so I’m not going to go see them’ to, ‘Oh, I’ve never heard of them, but let me check them out.’ The more bands they come see, it gives me the money to afford to take risks on more bands. It just snowballs.”
He also emphasized how local bands should also support each other just as much as they hope other people support them by either playing with each other, attending shows, buying merchandise, or even collaborating. When approaching the concept of supporting local musicians, it’s better to have a constructive rather than destructive mentality.
Rick’s publication assistant Allie Gaylon said “The local music scene is really important in every community and Starkville is no exception. As long as people continue to support local music, local musicians continue playing and pursing what they love, whether it’s just playing on the weekend or pursuing a career in music, and as long as we all form a community and support each other, we can keep going and keep thriving.”
Although the entire scene is changing at an incredibly fast pace with music being so easily accessible through the internet, podcasts and streaming services, it is still possible to keep your favorite musicians afloat and trending. The southeastern music scene may be on the road of rediscovery and reinventing themselves with a new wave of technology pushing and challenging them along the way, I agree with Mod Mobilian when they say, “There is a nascent Southeast music scene.” Once you finish reading this, I encourage you to seek a new perspective on either local Mississippi music or southern music in general, whether it be checking out one of the bands that played at Rick’s this past weekend, buying a ticket for an upcoming show at Rick’s, or browsing the Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify. I think Dakota Davis, guitarist of Rock Eupora, put it best as he was describing their passion for continuing music in an industry already so heavily saturated and how it has impacted him when he said, “It is about being a part of something much bigger than yourself.” I guess you could say it all starts with each band going to the beat of their own drum and that new tune carrying you to a new perspective of impacting the southeastern music scene altogether starting with simply initially supporting your talented and genuine local musicians.
