Danny Holland said he remembers when the most fun nights in Starkville were filled with performances by acoustic guitarists.
Holland, who owns The Bar Formerly Known as Cheers, hopes to recreate those nights with the Starkville Kings of Acoustic, an event that will have several acoustic musicians performing at the bar.
The event will be held Wednesday night.
Holland said that 15 years ago acoustic music was everywhere.
“Back in ’88, ’89, Starkville was inundated with acoustic musicians,” Holland said. “You couldn’t throw a rock without hitting one.”
Starkville still has plenty of acoustic musicians, but Holland says it’s just not the same as it used to be.
“I find that the acoustic acts are growing more lax in performance,” he said. “Not in a talent sense, but in an entertainment sense. They’re talented musicians, but not entertainers.
“Back in the day, if you sat down on a stool and played, people wouldn’t listen to you. You had to jump up and down,” he added.
Holland, an acoustic guitarist himself, said he hopes to reunite veteran entertainers Wednesday.
Performing musicians include Bill Cooke, Earl XI, the Rev. Jim Beatty, Jeff Cummings and Columbus mayor Jeffrey Rupp, all old friends and musical colleagues of Holland. Combined they have over 100 years of experience.
Rupp said he is most looking forward to Cummings.
“We played together for over 10 years and we really became family,” Rupp said. “We were just in the right place at the right time when the whole acoustic unplugged thing came around.”
Rupp said Cummings’ vocals will be one of the highlights of Wednesday night’s shows.
“He’s the best vocalist I’ve ever worked with,” he said. “That allows me to fill in the spaces-I’m more of a guitar player than a singer.”
Holland hopes this night will event will give people “something to look at as well as listen to” and local acoustic musicians a new perspective on performance.
“It will be a night of more acoustic entertainment than you can see anywhere at one time,” Holland said. “It’s a night to get my old friends together and have a good ol’ time.”
Although Holland said he didn’t know if a night of acoustic music would immediately catch on with students, some seem to like the idea.
“I love listening to acoustic bands, but I also like it when the musicians look like they’re having a good time playing,” freshman Dean Ladner said. “It really gets you into the music when they’re into it too.”
Rupp said that if nothing else, playing acoustic guitar is good for meeting women.
“Jeff Cummings was a hairdresser in Starkville,” Rupp said. “He used to walk around and talk to girls-tell them their hair looked good. What a racket.”
The Starkville Kings of Acoustic will benefit the family of Randy Bouchillon, a Mississippi State University employee who was injured Sept. 4 in an electrical fire in Allen Hall.