Time to widen musical horizons

Charlie Wilson, famed for Gap Band disco-diamonds such as "You Dropped the Bomb on Me," for crooning solo hits and collaborations with practically every hip-hop/rap superstar on the planet, last played the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater back in 2012.

As seasons go, that second year turned out to be one of the venue's more diverse, bookings-wise. There's always going to be a lot of country at the Amp, as long as those shows sell out, but 2012 also brought in Alabama Shakes, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Erykah Badu, Gotye, Missy Higgins, Train, Counting Crows, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly and Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band, featuring, most prominently the legendary Todd Rundgren. And that Beatle guy.

If only it were possible to book as widely as that every season. Vagueries of artists going out on tour, being available at the right times, in the more-or-less locale, and for the right prices, makes booking a complicated gamble, any season. Just two years later, 2014 offered relatively slim pickings: classic rock from Foreigner, Styx, Don Felder, Peter Frampton and the Doobie Brothers; a contemporary Christian rock show; the oh-so-meh jam band Umphrey's McGee; an "American Idol"-ish night; and three country shows, one starring Brantley Gilbert, another Jake Owen, and the third Miranda Lambert.

For the next year, 2015 leaned again on nostalgia -- which, like country, tends to sell better than the rare contemporary acts offered -- with a "Sounds of Motown" package, though not with any of the superstars that would jump out at you; classic rock from Steve Miller Band, 38 Special, Boston, and Kansas; a Christian contemporary show led by Casting Crowns; old-school country band Alabama; rock legends-in-the-making Alabama Shakes with Southern rock legends Drive-by Truckers; extra-meh jam band Phish (maybe I'm a wee bit burned out on jam ... maybe); ultra-meh Dave Matthews Band (OK, definitely); one more contemporary lineup in Needtobreathe, Ben Rector, Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors and Colony House; and what became one of the finest shows yet at the Amp, starring red-hot singer-songwriter Jason Isbell, with similarly scorching Sturgill Simpson opening.

A relatively tame 2016 followed, then 2017 came back with a healthier mix, including rock from Kings of Leon and Soundgarden; country/jazz crooning from Willie Nelson; pop-rock from Hall & Oates, Rod Stewart and Cyndi Lauper; soul, hip-hop and R&B from Tyrese and John Legend; R&B from Jaheim; folk-pop-rock from Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds; classic rawk from Def Leppard, Poison and Tesla; gospel from Mary Mary and Tasha Cobbs; and country from Eric Church and Kenny Chesney.

This year we've had the Americana-rock mix of Tedeschi Trucks Band with Drive-by Truckers; laidback pop-folk-surf dude Jack Johnson; Casting Crowns again; the obigatory classic rock teaming of REO Speedwagon, Styx and Felder; mind-boggling George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic; and country from Jason Aldean, Alan Jackson, Chris Young and Brantley Gilbert. After Wilson on Friday, and an odd-band-out choice in electronica duo Odesza on Oct. 9, there'll be three more country nights, with Keith Urban Aug. 26, Cole Swindell Oct. 4, and Chris Stapleton, Marty Stuart and Brent Cobb Oct. 18.

That is one lumpy wall of bro-country and nostalgia. Again, in fairness, it sells. The Amp seems obsessed with popularity. 

I'm only partially tongue in cheek here, because yeah, we get it, any and every venue, especially one as expensive to run as the Amp, must put butts in seats just to stay alive. Early estimates ran than it costs $30,000 just to turn on the lights at the city's largest venue. That's not literally meant as in flipping a light switch, but in cranking up all the various stations and employees required to put on a show for several thousand, across an outdoor venue with multiple vendor stations, ticket booths, gates, bathrooms and so forth.

With the loss of David Allgood's Acoustic Nights at the Bama shows, there are only so many places for rising or quirkier musicians to play in town. The Amp's a popular gig; name bands often bypass Birmingham's Oak Mountain to play the newer, lovelier and more comfortable Druid City spot. But for those St. Paul and the Broken Bones kids, those Alabama Shakes and Drive-by Truckers and others who didn't start at the top, with some "AI" marketing presence, who fought their way up through dirty gig after nastier gig, where do they get a shot?

Green Bar's keen on original music, though its schedule seems to have dropped off this summer, and Elvis help you if you actually look to the web site for clues. Druid City Brewing Co. books a healthy blend of music and musicians, though it's rather limited by space. Speaking of shotgun shacks, Egan's has re-opened, and new owner Mike McWhirter is dedicated to booking at least three nights a week, most weeks, and possibly more.

Brittany Howard, powerhouse superwoman of Alabama Shakes, told me once that Egan's, one of the dives that gave the band a shot back when, remains close to her heart: “We’ve traveled through Europe, halfway around the world. People ask me my favorite place to play, and they always expect me to say a theater, and I always say Egan’s. It’s a hallway, you have to walk through the band to get to the bathrooms, there’s grit and beer on the floor and it’s my favorite place. It’s rock ‘n’ roll.”

In late June, monster player Live Nation Entertainment purchased Birmingham's Red Mountain Entertainment, which has booked and run the Amp since its opening in 2011. The City Council voted on a three-year contract extension for RME back in May, and Mayor Walt Maddox said little will change in the day-to-day, but that the connection with Live Nation could help the Amp land more urban, R&B and rock bands and musicians.

Bro country and classic rock have their places, sure. But let's face it, they already have their places. So here's to optimism, and widening horizons in 2019.

Reach Tusk Editor Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0201.