Secrets – on a spectrum they fall somewhere between good and bad. Secrets don’t make friends, but anyone who has ever uttered that phrase also knows the joy of coming across a “best-kept secret.”
One of Knoxville’s newest and best-kept secrets is Knox Secret Shows. The shows offer listeners the opportunity to hear talented artists from here and elsewhere, like local artists Steven Wesley and Joey English as well as Nashville-based duo Carolina Story and Joseph LeMay.
While there is no mystery as to which artists you will see, tickets are purchased without advance knowledge of the location of the venue. And it’s not just a matter of if the show will take place at a usual venue like The Bijou, The International or the Pilot Light; rather, you can rest assured the venue will be an experience in and of itself.
The first secret show was held at Saw Works Brewery, located in the Warehouse District near the Old City, and the second show was at The Salvage Shop –a program of Knox Heritage that re-sells donated historic building materials to prevent them from going into a landfill.
The shows take place thanks to Kent Oglesby of Knoxville Music Warehouse and Garrett Thomson of Asterisk Management. Oglesby explained that he and Thomson wanted to create a really good listening environment for music patrons and artists alike.
Utilizing atypical spaces and turning them into venues shows off some of the cool places across Knoxville and helps to connect different communities.
“The stage setup at Knox Heritage [Salvage Shop] was awesome,” Oglesby said. “We got to use their art and stuff they were selling for the stage and it worked out great.”
Thomson elaborated on how one man’s trash became a Knox Secret Show treasure.
“We used doors as backdrops, and it was cool to be able to tie part of their element into the atmosphere,” Thomson added.
But each show is more than just creating a cool atmosphere; it is also about sharing the spotlight with each unique venue.
One audience member from the second show told Thomson about his or her plans to return to The Salvage Shop and purchase two doors to make them into a headboard.
“We want to highlight great music, we want to highlight a great event that’s unique and special and intentional, so I think the space goes along with that,” Thomson said. “It’s hard but it’s also exciting – we’re having to create a space that’s not intended for music. So each time there’s a bit of, ‘Um, how is this going to work?’”
So far, it has worked out just fine—and the community really seems to be getting behind the concept.
“It’s starting to gain enough momentum to where the community is saying, ‘This is cool. How do I get in?’” Thomson said.
Thomson and Oglesby were pleasantly surprised when The Casual Pint of downtown contacted them about donating beer for the second show. Additionally, they have had volunteers show up to help out in various ways.
Aside from local support and interest, Oglesby says the pool of local musical talent in our area is huge.
“That’s what I spend all day every day telling everybody – how vast our local talent pool is here,” Oglesby said. “Per capita, given the size of the market, I think it’s pound for pound the best in the country.”
And most likely, you can expect to see local talent performing at every show.
“Why wouldn’t we put local guys or girls we love on stage for a big audience?” Oglesby said.
An emphasis on local talent and community is a major factor behind each show.
“I think that music in general, especially on the local level, really gives identity to the culture of a city,” Thomson added. “And I think blending a musical event with a local business or a non-profit and allowing a space to tell that story in a musical setting ties those things together really well.”
With two shows under their belts and a third on the way, Oglesby and Thomson have a lot of dreams and ambitions, and they plan to keep working to get more people on board with their ideas. One thing they want to ensure is that they keep building upon the excitement that surrounds the secret shows.
Oglesby recounted a story of a lady who came up to him and said that she and her friends are going to come to every show that’s held when they’re in town.
“She said she was going to buy tickets for the next one,” Oglesby said. “I asked her if I had told her who the band was, and she said, ‘Nope.’ That’s awesome.”
And the excitement isn’t just coming from the fans. Ben Roberts from Carolina Story took a moment during his set at the second show to rally support.
“Keep behind this thing and stay behind this thing and hopefully it continues to flourish,” Roberts said.
And seeing as Oglesby and Thomson plan to keep things interesting, there’s really no reason it shouldn’t flourish.
“Don’t expect us to settle into just solely singer-songwriters,” Oglesby said. “There will be bands.”
“We use a lot of words like ‘intimate’ and ‘connection with the audience’ that people just naturally assume is a seated acoustic show,” Thomson said. “… while it has been that so far you don’t have to be seated in room that’s dead silent to connect with the artist and to feel the emotions that they’re trying to convey through their music.”
And this is something the two are interested in exploring: What is a premium listening environment? Not every shows is going to be seated, Oglesby and Thomson explained, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a premium listening environment.
“We definitely want to make sure as we go along that the secret show has a certain novelty to it,” Thomson said. “We don’t want it to lose that appeal, so we’re definitely going to explore ways to keep this different and interesting. I think that as soon as people get comfortable with the idea of what this (the show) is (that) will be when we’ll probably change it.”
