Our “scruffy little city,” as she is often called, has become a mecca for various musical genres and talents over the years. And Friday, the Family Weekend Concert is here to prove Knoxville’s reputation with two local up-and-coming bands.
Crab Apple Lane and Subtle Clutch will take over Circle Park at 8 p.m. following Fall Fest, a campus event full of information on campus involvement and student groups.
Subtle Clutch, a four-man Americana and bluegrass band, will open the show. Briston Maroney, the band’s lead vocalist, said the group formed under unusual circumstances.
“Eli was doing a school project, and as a portion of that project you have to do a service aspect, so Eli did a benefit concert for WDVX,” Maroney said. “We played a song or two there, and it was the first time we had done something that wasn’t that bad, so we all got together after that.”
Since their subtle beginning, the band has played in numerous venues throughout Knoxville including last April’s Rhythm N’ Blooms festival.
“We’ve used the term ‘classgrass’ before, like bluegrass with class,” Maroney said.
The band combines a bluegrass meets contemporary folk sound in a Mumford & Sons meets Old Crow Medicine Show fashion to create a musical mixture all their own.
“It’s Americana. We’re kind of blending these instruments with songs that progressives are not,” mandolin player Jonathan Bailey, said.
Subtle Clutch will be followed by country band Crab Apple Lane. The headliner combines the knock-out vocals of Knoxville native, Deena Robbins with country crooner Kirk Wynn to create a rock meets country sound. Robbins said their live shows showcase this collaboration.
“We’re country for sure, but we’ve got a little edginess of rock that comes along with it,” Robbins said. “We’re kinda loud and rowdy.”
That rowdy sound is hardly foreign to UT or Crab Apple Lane. The country band won the Campus Entertainment Board’s “Battle for Vola” in April and opened last semester’s Volapalooza. Now, they’re bringing that original, country sound back to campus once more.
Though these bands will bring two different genres to campus on Friday, they are planning more collaboration in the future.
“We’re in the works of recording something with them [Subtle Clutch],” Robbins said. “They’re super talented, and we wanted to work with them, so that is in the works.”
Following their appearance at the Family Weekend Concert on Friday, Subtle Clutch is planning a release party for their EP entitled “Southern Wind” on Nov. 15 at Remedy Coffee House in addition to an upcoming show at this month’s Square Room Showcase. Crab Apple Lane plans to begin a radio tour this October to promote their latest single “Hit The Ground Running,” which premiered in late July.
