 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Musicians gear up for 'battle'
By L.A. Story
Staff Writer
SAVANNAH, Tenn. ‹ The front lines are being drawn and the locations have been set as the first skirmish in Tennessee River Run's Battle of the Bands is set to take place Thursday, Aug. 6. Details regarding the upcoming musical competition were recently released by
Battle of the Bands event coordinator, Ernest Harper, and Lee Ann Robertson, Public Relations, Media and Battle of the Bands representative for the Darryl Worley Foundation, Inc.
The first competition of the Tennessee River Run's Battle of the Bands is set for 7 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 6, at the Downtown Tavern, located at 208 North Liberty Street, in Jackson, Tenn.
The second competition will be held at 7 p.m., on Thursday, Aug. 13, at Bogart's, located at 854 North Gloster, in Tupelo. Bands who miss the first two opportunities to enter, will have one more chance with the third competition, which is set for 7 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 20, at P.J.'s , located at 701 Davison Avenue, in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
Winners of the three competitions will compete in the finals, set for 7 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 22, at Tumbleweed, located at 5345 Highway 128, in Savannah, Tenn. The bands will perform for music industry executives ‹ names to be announced later ‹ who will judge the competition. The winner of the Battle of the Bands finals will be the opening act for the notoriously well attended Tennessee River Run Saturday night country concert on Saturday, Sept. 12.
This is the second year TRR is hosting the Battle. The first year saw success as an inaugural event, according to Harper, and the winner was the Savannah, Tenn.-based band, LittleField. LittleField is still around this year as they will be one of the opening acts for TRR's Friday night rock concert on Sept. 11 and will also play the Saturday country concert, following the new Battle winners.
"The winner of this competition gets a tremendous amount of exposure, which is exactly what any band would want," Robertson noted. "Last year, we had about 36 bands to compete all together and we're hoping for even more this year."
Entry fees for the Battle of the Bands is $100 per band. Robertson said the competition will allow for single performers, but that they need to have a backup band with them.
All of the money collected from entry fees, as well as part of the club cover charges at each venue, will go toward the Darryl Worley Foundation, Inc., to benefit local charity projects, as well as the foundation's biggest venture ‹ building a cancer treatment center adjacent to the Hardin County Medical Center in Hardin County, Tenn. Official entry forms and rules will be located online at www.darrylworley.com, or for more information call event coordinator Ernest Harper at
(731) 267-1150.
