Long-time local promoter Aaron Snukals organizes give-back concerts to give three nonprofits a helping hand
Aaron Snukals is no Silvio Dante, who himself was no Michael Corleone, but the sentiment from “The Godfather Part III” remains the same: Just when he thought he was out, they pull him back in.
“They,” of course, refers to his own restless nature, especially where rock ‘n’ roll is concerned. The radio magnate turned concert promoter decided to retire roughly a year ago after a short-lived tenure with East Knoxville’s River Breeze Event Center – now slated for a return to the concert scene in 2024 – but it didn’t take, he told BLANK Newspaper recently.
“I suck at retiring!” Snukals said. “I tried to retire, but I realized I’ve got to have a reason to get up in the morning. Seriously, if we all wanted to talk about the reason we have a place on this earth, it’s this: to help people. I’m very fortunate in that I’ve had a great career in radio and marketing and doing events and other things, and now I get to put my expertise to work to help people. And by ‘expertise,’ I mean I’ve screwed up a lot and learned a lot of lessons!”
The latest project by Snukals, however, is a different beast than the ones he’s wrangled in the past. No longer is he a hired gun attempting to make ventures by others successful – he’s the founder (and, according to the website, “chief happiness officer”) of a for-profit LLC called Concerts for Our Own, the entire mission of which is to raise funds for East Tennessee nonprofits.
“I’m a for-profit for nonprofits, which is kind of different,” he said. “I run it like a business, as lean and mean as I can. That means I don’t get paid, and I don’t have any [paid] staff. Luckily, I have an office given to me in kind by one of my sponsors, otherwise I couldn’t afford to do this and give money to charity. And my sponsors understand this – these charities don’t have big marketing dollars and development people, but they do unbelievably good work that defines what Knoxville is.”
And in a way, Snukals himself defines the Volunteer spirit of Big Orange Country in a way usually associated with marquee names and big stars. He’s always preferred to work behind the scenes, however, where he has remained ever since he first got his start in Knoxville radio. For a decade, he led a sales team for South Central Media, promoting five stations under the company’s banner, including at the time FM classic rock station WIMZ and adult contemporary channel B 97.5, WJBX. In that role, he initiated relationships with many of Knoxville’s movers and shakers, and when he became general manager of Dick Broadcasting Company and WOKI (100.3 The River), the respect he’d earned gave the young station plenty of street cred.
From the late “Mayor” Joe Stutler to Benny Smith of WUTK, The River team became a powerhouse representative of local music despite its short lifespan. Over the next five years, he tried his hand at events promotion, organizing concerts and fundraisers for organizations like Marble Springs State Historic Site. He discovered that his radio-days contacts helped make the shows successful, and the reputation he built in concert promotion served as a launchpad to a new phase of his career.
“I think what happens is, I can go back to my experience. I’ve been taken advantage of before, because when you first start out in the business, they can smell that you’re new,” Snukals said with a laugh. “But over time, I built relationships with these agents, and today they know I’m not going to jerk them around.”
Beginning in 2008, he served as the director of marketing for Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson in Maryville, turning the adjoining concert venue – The Shed Smokehouse and Juke Joint – into a must-play venue for artists, like Blackberry Smoke, which would go on to garner major-label success. In 2013, Snukals joined Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee as director of development and media relations, organizing concerts and other events to help raise money to feed East Tennesseans. In 2019, he moved to BigWheel, a digital marketing agency in Knoxville, and in September 2021, he joined the team at River Breeze on Asheville Highway.
Retirement, however, didn’t fit. As a guy who spent a career dabbling successfully in promotions, an opportunity to do so for three specific nonprofits came across his radar, and he latched on.
“Nina Reineri [president of Ascertainment Marketing, a Knoxville-based media buying agency] had breast cancer, and she started Breast Connect, a nonprofit that helps those diagnosed with it navigate all of that,” Snukals said. “They do such great work, so I said, ‘I’m going to do something to raise some money.’ Another friend of mine volunteers with the Love Kitchen [a nonprofit preparing meals and food packages for the homebound, homeless and unemployed] every Thursday, so I met with them and talked with them and got them on board.
“Finally, someone else introduced me to Special Spaces, which gives bedroom makeovers to children with cancer; they go to treatment and come back, and they have a themed room. These are all wonderful charities, just not in the mainstream, and a lot of people don’t know about them. Concerts for Our Own is a way for people to learn about them, interact with them, donate time and money to them and, at the same time, get a wonderful night of entertainment.”
The launch of Concerts for Our Own took place last March, and thanks to sponsorship and help from volunteer Robin Hamilton, the organization pledged to donate 80 percent of proceeds of all events to the three charities. For the first year, the team put together three shows, all at the World’s Fair Park Amphitheater in downtown Knoxville: Jimmy Buffett collaborator Mac McAnally in June, Jay White’s Neil Diamond tribute in August and the mystery-funk ensemble Here Come the Mummies, scheduled for Oct. 12. It’s a production that wouldn’t be possible without sponsors – Lexus of Knoxville, Toyota of Knoxville, Food City, Visionary Horizons, Knox News and Cherokee Distributing Company among them – and even then, Snukals added, he wanted to start small.
“I wanted to do three or four shows a year, and for the first year of a new company, we’ve got a big surprise in store for the Mummies show,” he said. “Robin is the vice president of marketing for Jewelry Television, and we meet every Saturday at the Waffle House to talk about what we need. He built our website and takes care of a lot of the back-end stuff, and once he fully retires, he’ll come more on board.”
In the end, he added, it’s a way for two old guys who have been ridiculously blessed in their respective careers to give back by drawing on their prodigious experience to make Concerts for Our Own a success. And in certain cases, Snukals’ reputation precedes him; McAnally, he pointed out, donated 100 percent of his merchandise sales at the June concert back to the cause.
“This is the first year, and nobody knew what we were doing, other than shows at the Tennessee Amphitheater,” he said. “We’re building a new event that’s bringing people back to this great venue, so for starting out new and being able to give a chunk of money to these charities is a big deal.”
Not that Concerts for Our Own takes up all of his time: His work in the industry makes him an indispensable hand when big acts require multiple sets of hands. Snukals worked the recent Guns N’ Roses concert at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center, a gig he landed thanks to his ties to Tim Reece, the retired general manager of the venue. Together, Snukals joked, they call themselves “Old Guys Run It.”
“It gives us something to do, and it lets me stay involved with the concert industry and tour managers and production managers we meet along the way,” he said. “They call on me because I’m retired and have the time to do it, and it’s kind of fun. And it’s not every day – if I don’t want to go into the office, I don’t go into the office.”
But when he does, he’s still taking mental notes of the people he meets, the acts he assists and the behind-the-scenes folks who might come in handy for next year’s slate of Concerts for Our Own. Because if experience has taught him anything, it’s that one-and-done just isn’t in his nature.
“I’ve got to get my sponsors again, and I’m hoping to get more, because it’ll be year two, and with more I’ll be able to give more to charity,” Snukals said. “We’ve got the dates at the amphitheater booked for next year, but because this is new, we’re still figuring everything out. The biggest thing I want people to know is to come out and support us. It’s hard to get the word out now. Back in the old days, there was radio, television and newspapers, and that was it.
“Now, it’s hard to find folks and break through the normal activities and routines to get your message out. But we’ll pop up with little things now and then in the meantime. It might not always be a concert, but it’ll be an event here and there, and at the end of the day, it’s going to raise money for somebody.”
That desire – to give back without expectation of a payoff or payday – is the key to his personal satisfaction, he said. And that he can do so while spreading a little joy via live music makes it all the sweeter.
“If you can get to get people in an environment where for three hours they get to forget about all their troubles and smile, that’s important,” Snukals said. “In today’s world, with social media, we don’t have a lot of face-to-face contact anymore. So to get everybody on the same page to raise money for three local charities that need help and, at the same time, have a great time? That’s what it’s all about.
“To be able to do that, I’m a blessed man, for sure. I’m blessed to wake up every morning and not see angels and hear trumpets.”
wildsmith@blanknews.com
