{"id":32055,"date":"2016-03-14T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2016-03-14T18:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=32055"},"modified":"2016-03-15T14:43:59","modified_gmt":"2016-03-15T20:43:59","slug":"songwriter-series-debuts-and-larrys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/songwriter-series-debuts-and-larrys\/","title":{"rendered":"Songwriter Series Debuts at Proud Larrys’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cLarry\u2019s in the Round\u201d is a bi-weekly singer-songwriter series being held at Proud Larry\u2019s<\/strong> on the first and third Wednesday of each month this semester. Every other week, a diverse group of four local singer-songwriters take the stage for an evening of storytelling, insights into the songwriting process, and most importantly \u2013 the kind of music you can feel in the hairs on the back of your neck. The featured guests were Anne Freeman<\/strong>, Sean Kirkpatrick<\/strong>, Austin Smith<\/strong>, and Will Griffith<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"shane<\/a>
Shane Prewitt (left) and Will Griffith (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The project is being co-curated by two men who share the distinction of being not only fellow Larry\u2019s employees, but also both local musical heavyweights. Will Griffith<\/strong>, recipient of the coveted \u201cFavorite Bartender\u201d award in TLV<\/em>\u2019s 2016 Townies Awards, is the man who comprises the mythos that is \u201cBilly Shakes<\/strong>,\u201d and performs with Kell Kellum <\/strong>as duo \u201cThe Great Dying.\u201d Shane Prewitt<\/strong> meanwhile, has drummed for several Oxfordian bands of yesteryear such as E Meters<\/strong> and Unwed Teenage Mothers<\/strong>, and currently is the drummer for soulful local band Reels<\/strong>. I caught up with Will and Shane at Larry\u2019s, to talk psychology, songwriting, and their bold and dynamic plan to put an end to awkward jam-session \u201cfirst dates.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"CFW_8294web\"<\/a>
Austin Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Will Griffith:<\/strong> So my favorite thing to do when I was living in Nashville was to go to these writers\u2019 rounds. It was always four musicians, they\u2019d all be onstage and tell stories and joke with each other. They\u2019d tell a very small story about their craft and process, then they\u2019d sing a couple songs. If they knew each other\u2019s songs, they\u2019d sing together, and play along. The camaraderie was amazing, and I liked how intimate it was. So I told Shane about it, we started brainstorming. We want to keep all the songwriters in town supporting each other by attending this.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Shane Prewitt<\/strong>: I guess the big difference between what I\u2019ve heard those are and what we\u2019re doing, is instead of playing two songs, hop offstage, we\u2019ve kind of set it up where they\u2019re all sharing the stage for half of it. We give them a chance to play three or four originals, instead of just busting in and out. We have a few stock questions I ask them about process, aspirations, history\u2026 I have a psychology background, so just getting a little bit of that in there is almost the most interesting part to me. Kind of getting into the mind of the songwriter.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WG<\/strong>: [Shane] had a really good idea for the format. All the ones I\u2019ve been to, everybody stayed onstage the whole time. What we did was, to start it off we were all onstage together, and Shane asked us all the same question in succession. We answered, everybody was sitting down and listening, loving it. Then, we each played one song, took a break, and then each played a three song solo set.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SP<\/strong>: We compiled a list of almost thirty different people that live around Oxford, Taylor, and Water Valley. Almost everyone is a front person with a guitar, or a solo act, but it\u2019s not at all genre-specific. We\u2019re trying to show everything that\u2019s happening in the area. That\u2019s kind of the point, to be a little exposure\u2026 Every week, I\u2019ve made sure to schedule a range of ages \u2013 someone young that\u2019s newer and hasn\u2019t really gotten out there, at least one person that\u2019s thirty-plus, some people as old as fifty-five. Always a female every week\u2026 We\u2019re just trying to show that we have a big range of music happening.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"anne<\/a>
Anne Freeman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WG<\/strong>: Between everybody that he and I know, it\u2019s punk rock, it\u2019s indie, it\u2019s singer-songwriter, it\u2019s country, it\u2019s\u2026 You know, everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Caleb<\/strong>: So you try to program groups of musicians that go together?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SP<\/strong>: Yeah, it\u2019s like programming groups that are diverse enough within the week. It\u2019ll never be four friends onstage, you know what I mean? I\u2019ve shied away from that, because I know there are clusters of people who play together all the time. I was trying to ensure that there wouldn\u2019t be two of those people onstage [together]. So the dialogue is kind of more organic, and you\u2019re learning from whomever you\u2019re sitting next to.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WG<\/strong>: You\u2019re not playing songs with your fellow band-mate that you play songs with every night. You\u2019re playing with new people.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SP<\/strong>: Yeah, it avoids giving it that rehearsed quality.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WG<\/strong>: [Our first show on Feb. 17] was a really special night; we had a great turnout. Everybody was responsive and quiet, just into it. For the week after that, I just heard how good a time everybody had, so I think the next one will be even better.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WG<\/strong>: Wednesdays are the perfect night to do it. We try to have free music on Wednesday night most of the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SP<\/strong>: Definitely, it fills a good void for music during the week, there are rarely events anywhere in town. It\u2019s like this crossover period where you\u2019re a little bored, you want a couple drinks, but you don\u2019t really want to stand up and party. So you come and sit down\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WG<\/strong>: There you go. It might be the first time that a lot of people get out for the week, Wednesdays.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SP<\/strong>: Not us, but\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Will<\/a>
Will Griffith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WG<\/strong>: No. We kind of start and don\u2019t stop. But even if it\u2019s not the night you\u2019re performing, we still want you to come out. We want this to be writers singing for other writers. That\u2019s my favorite thing as a songwriter. I want there to be a community of people sharing with each other like that, enjoying it, getting to know each other through song intimately. I hope people meet each other and start the genesis of bands. It\u2019s a great place for musicians to mingle.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cLarry\u2019s in the Round\u201d is a bi-weekly singer-songwriter series being held at Proud Larry\u2019s on the first and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":32056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7887],"tags":[7963,642,2854,4,53,5808,3031,2111,753,7094],"class_list":["post-32055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-music","tag-larrys-in-the-round","tag-ms","tag-musician","tag-oxford","tag-proud-larrys","tag-shane-prewitt","tag-singer","tag-songwriter","tag-tlv","tag-will-griffith"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/2016-03-09-larrys-in-the-round.jpg?fit=650%2C354&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}