Back in the day, the much-vaunted V-Roys wrote a rollicking little ditty called “Can’t Shake Knoxville,” borrowing heavily from “Jailhouse Rock” to convey a sentiment that’s pervasive among musicians across genres and generations:
You don’t gotta get out of town to make it big in rock ‘n’ roll.
Connor Kelly and the Time Warp are insistent on it, and there’s precedent for it, after all. At BLANK Newspaper, we decided to reach out to some of the local music scene’s biggest names, the artists who have notched some big-time success while staying true to their small-town roots, and asked them a simple question: What is it they can’t shake about Knoxville, even if they wanted to?
Cruz Contreras (formerly of Robinella and the CCstringband and The Black Lillies, currently a solo artist)
“Guys like Connor Kelly are proving that artists of all genres, if you’re willing to work smart and hard, can reach their audiences from anywhere. My story personally is that when Robin and I were getting started, the No. 1 thing that made it possible to stay here was local radio. WDVX, WUTK and other independent stations demonstrate what’s unique about Knoxville: a music community that loves and supports local radio, and radio that supports these local artists.
“There’s no one way to do it. For me, the decision to stay here was because of family and lifestyle decisions, and the fact that Connor and those guys are making a conscious decision to stay here is pretty cool. Nashville is close enough that you can hop over in one day, but I think the Knoxville music scene reflects that there’s going to be more opportunities if you’re not an industry town. We’ve got an incredibly diverse music scene here, and I tell people all the time: Whatever you think it is, it’s more, and it’s different.
“A lot of artists have made that move to an industry town like Nashville, but I think the younger generation realizes that there can be this real healthy back and forth, where you can stay wherever you call home and go to Nashville or wherever when you need to. The younger generations know they can ultimately live where they want, and Knoxville is a good place to live. There’s something in the water here with the history, the culture and the talent across generations, and there’s no other place that has the Smokies.”
Todd Steed, of ’80s “Strip” scene legends Smokin’ Dave and the Premo Dopes
“I always studied R.E.M., as they seemed to have a sense of what didn’t have to be sacrificed for being in a working band. They stayed in Athens [Georgia], and it actually helped them on an artistic and spiritual level. I felt and still feel Knoxville does the same thing. And you never are expected to wear a bolo tie. A big plus in my book.”
Rus Harper, Knoxville’s answer to Iggy Pop, of Neowizard, Evil Twin, Melungeons, Teenage Love
“Knoxville usually has an amazing music scene. I’ve got to play shows all over the South including Nashville, Atlanta and Athens. It’s always fun to play somewhere different, especially after you’ve built up a following, but Knoxville has some mystery ingredient that makes it more real, more inviting to the musical spark. It’s somehow a near-perfect petri dish.”
Scott Miller, formerly of The V-Roys, now a solo singer-songwriter
“When I started out, I weaseled my way into opening for anyone and everyone I could. Sometimes it would be some pretty major hitters on the national scene, and more times than not they would come off stage and say something to the effect of, ‘Man, this audience is weird!’
“What it was, was football. No; I’m kidding. Just dropping some Andy Griffith on you … but Go Vols.
“You know why there are SO MANY great entertainers that come out of East Tennessee? It’s because East Tennesseans demand that their entertainers work. These practical folks figure they have paid their hard-earned money for a show, and they want to be entertained, and they will sit on their hands until someone does.
“You gotta earn an East Tennessee audience. Period.
“There are areas of the country that love live music regardless, and they are fun to play. But when you get east of Crossville, you better do your job, Jim.
“I can’t think of a better region to work and keep up your chops.”
Jeff Heiskell, formerly of the Judybats, now a solo artist
“I always thought it odd that people asked if I was moving to L.A. or N.Y.C. after the Judybats were signed to Warner Bros. The logistics of six people up and moving to a larger city … I couldn’t wrap my mind around [it]. In addition, I was always aware that the recording-artist stint wasn’t in perpetuity. Reinventing myself via a geographic relocation has never been of interest to me. There are so many cautionary tales from film and literature. I saw this as akin to running away with the circus, knowing that in the majority of cases, one ends up a sad old lost clown.”
John Davis of Superdrag, Lees of Memory, Rectangle Shades
“We always looked at being from Knoxville as an advantage, not as a setback. Because it WASN’T Nashville, L.A. or New York or any other place that was saturated by the industry, where you’d have 1,000 bands chasing all the trends, trying to be famous, moving from ‘It City’ to ‘It City.’ We just stayed here and focused on doing our own thing. Once touring becomes a way of life, you realize that you can be from anywhere.”
Karen E. Reynolds, songwriter
R.B. Morris, singer-songwriter, Knoxville’s first poet-laureate
“Knoxville is a city that’s always being born, always trying to come into itself. If you’re from here, or find yourself transplanted in this Bermuda Triangle of the Appalachians, you want to be part of helping such a rich garden blossom. That’s reason enough to make a stand here. But if fame and fortune are really the driving forces of your inspiration, you’ll probably need to go to the big pro-town meccas and stand in line with the rest of the world. One would think, and maybe hope, that in this age of high communications and visibility, what happens here can be illuminated and revealed globally, that you could have your world and eat it, too. I’ve traveled and hung out in all sorts of towns and cities and communities, and performed in N.Y., L.A., San Francisco, Chicago, London, Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Paris. That was good, but those places always belonged to someone else. Knoxville was mine.”
