On a blustery Monday night in the Scruffy City, downtown slows its pace as the frigid February air rolls down Gay Street.
But the blue black bitterness of downtown’s freezing winds are long forgotten inside the Knoxville Visitor Center as the Tennessee Shines live music and radio special is just tuning up for the evening ahead.
Tennessee Shines is a Monday night radio show broadcasted by local radio station WDVX. Similar to its sibling radio show, the Blue Plate Special, the show hosts these live performances in front of a live studio audience in the heart of downtown Knoxville.
“It’s different from going to a little bar to see music or going to a club to see music,” said Paige Travis, radio producer and host of Tennessee Shines. “We’re trying to bring that element of the people in the audience are really also part of the show.”
“There is that slight thrill of ‘We’re live for an hour. And anything can happen.'”
There is a certain rhythm and rhyme to the radio show and its guests though. The show seeks to showcase all forms of East Tennessee culture, varying from sequences of live music, the occasional artist interview and spoken performances from the night’s poetic guest.
From Celtic Bands to poets, Tennessee Shines has had various talents grace their intimate corner stage; however, these acts all have an intertwined theme.
“We really like that kind of interplay between music and the kind of feelings and thoughts and stories that songs tell — and also the kind of feelings and the resonance that poems, that different kind of art, can bring into the show,” Travis said.
Though telegraphed through radio waves and seen only by those in the audience, these performers feel an air of openness in such a live acoustic setting, as musical guests Craig Market and Thomm Jutz, mentioned during this Feb. 2’s Monday night performance.
“At some point Craig said, ‘Man, there’s nowhere to hide, no drums, no bass, no nothing,'” Jutz said. “We took that sentiment of not being able to hide anywhere — and you can take that in a more emotional and spiritual way if you will.”
The pair’s latest album is appropriately titled “Nowhere to Hide” due to the acoustic circumstance they endured while recording the record. The two also related this same mindset with their show at Tennessee Shines.
“It’s just two guitars and two voices,” Market said. “Nothing slick, no effects, no help.”
Tennessee Shines offers a laid-back, evening atmosphere as compared to Blue Plate Special, a daily afternoon show.
“It’s a little looser. People, hopefully, don’t have to go to work after they’re here at Tennessee Shines,” Travis explained. “They can have a beer. They can have some moonshine samples. It has more of a night-life vibe, and we try to go with that a little bit.”
The performers, hosts and audience members aren’t the only factors in creating the show’s atmosphere; Tennessee Shine’s listeners are tailored to as well.
“Whatever they’re doing at home, the people get a sense of the live audience and the band on stage and the reader, and they kind of get that theater of the mind concept,” Travis said. “Because people can listen anywhere in the world and we may have listeners out there who have never been to Knoxville, they’ve never been inside the visitor’s center, and we really want every show to have something that they can imagine.”
To paint this Knoxville music-themed picture in the minds of the listeners, Tennessee Shines uses live sound effects and audience applause to enhance listeners’ experience.
Though the pouring of liquid and ringing of a dinner bell near a mic during the Sugarlands Distilling Company and Tomato Head advertisements added this element to Monday’s show, Travis also rallies the audience for audience sound effects.
“I try to coach people at the beginning of the show,” Travis explained. “If someone does a crazy guitar solo and you’re just like jumping out of your seat, give a shout. I think it’s one of those things that people really like about live music, about hearing live music on the radio or hearing live music anywhere. It gets you that much closer. It has that live quality.”
“They imagine this little place where Tennessee Shine happens.”
Tennessee Shines is currently located on the bottom floor of the Knoxville Visitor’s Center on Gay Street but will move to Boyd’s Jig and Reel in the Old City starting in March. The show starts at 7 p.m. on Monday nights and admission is currently free for college students with a valid I.D.
