WhoGrass: Bluegrass meets classic rock in Bristol
January 30, 2020 BY DEBRA MCCOWN THOMAS A Feb. 29 concert at Paramount Bristol will tie together two near and dear musical traditions: bluegrass and classic rock. The HillBenders, a Missouri-based band with roots in both styles, will take the audience on a journey...
Oak Ridge Boys bring moving concert to Bristol’s Paramount
January 24, 2020 Tom Netherland | Special to the Herald Courier BRISTOL, Tenn. — Neither presidents Washington nor Lincoln, Roosevelt nor Jefferson, budged even an inch atop Mount Rushmore today. But mountains Golden, Allen, Sterban and Bonsall certainly moved. Those...
Center Stage: Paramount Center for the Arts presents Oak Ridge Boys
January 23, 2020 BY TOM NETHERLAND | SPECIAL TO THE HERALD COURIER Country’s Oak Ridge Boys own a history as deep as Richard Sterban’s bass voice. The Oaks began as The Georgia Clodhoppers, became gospel’s Oak Ridge Quartet in the 1940s and eventually country’s Oak...
Henry Cho: From class clown to a standing ovation
January 16, 2020 Tom Netherland | Special to the Herald Courier Since the latter days of Ronald Reagan’s tenure as president, humor fueled Knoxville native Henry Cho to the upper echelon of America’s comedy circuit. From the stage and screens small to large, Cho’s...
Daily and Vincent incorporate country music into bluegrass roots
December 26, 2019 Tom Netherland | Special to the Herald Courier BRISTOL, Tenn. — A pedal steel guitar occupied the stage of the Paramount. Nearby, keyboards awaited talented hands. A full-on kit of drums anchored a bass guitar, acoustic guitars, a banjo, a fiddle and...
A rock ‘n’ roll Christmas show for all ages
December 20, 2019 Tom Netherland | Special to the Herald Courier Trans-Siberian Orchestra pioneered wedded styles of heavy metal with opera and classical with Christmas, presented in spectacular form. A decade ago, The Wizards of Winter birthed in similar fashion. New...
Blue Stocking Club hosting fundraiser for Paramount to celebrate 100 years of helping community
December 10, 2019 BY TOM NETHERLAND | SPECIAL TO THE HERALD COURIER Make way for a band of heroes. Call them the Blue Stocking Club. They’re 35 women who equate to prayers answered in the form of community works undertaken and issues solved. Next year marks 100 years...
Robert Earl Keen
December 06, 2019 BY TOM NETHERLAND | SPECIAL TO THE HERALD COURIER Texan Robert Earl Keen sings and writes songs much in the manner of a seasoned Major League Baseball pitcher. He might lull you with an off-speed number, then buckle your knees with a heater. So it’ll...
Tinsley Ellis gives listeners a tour of his life through breathtaking blues riffs
November 21, 2019 BY TOM NETHERLAND | SPECIAL TO THE HERALD COURIER B.B. King reached down as if from his perch as the king of the blues to bestow upon a little white kid from Georgia with a love of the blues. “Ever since then,” said Tinsley Ellis, blues man lifer,...
Short Takes: Music Notes
November 21, 2019 BY TOM NETHERLAND | SPECIAL TO THE HERALD COURIER Best not pout or cry, particularly as a sleigh full of Christmas shows abound as coming soon to Bristol. In the course of the next month, those who seek holy jolly shows will find them in abundance....