Let the music play: Lewisville’s lineup of 12 bands heads list of local communities offering free summer concerts
Published 12:10 am Thursday, May 30, 2024
Lead singer Craig Woolard of the Embers directs a young group he created and called the Lewisville Emberettes in Monday night's concert. - Jim Buice
Lil Red of the TAMS dances on top of a table in the crowd in last Saturday night’s concert in Bermuda Run. - Jim Buice
A large crowd estimated in excess of 2,500 filled Shallowford Square for Monday night's Military Appreciation concert featuring The Embers. - Jim Buice
A couple took to the dance floor early as The Embers' Craig Woolard sings. - Jim Buice
The TAMS’ lead singer Lil Red works the crowd. - Jim Buice
Stacy Howard, Lewisville’s office manager/special events coordinator, introduces Embers’ lead singer Craig Woolard (center) in Monday night’s Military Appreciation concert. - Jim Buice
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By Jim Buice
For the Clemmons Courier
LEWISVILLE — When Stacy Howard starts putting together Lewisville’s concert lineup at Shallowford Square each year, she likes to put her years of experience as a musician and songwriter to use.
“I try whenever I can to go hear a band first in person because I want to see how they’re interacting with the crowd and how they sound live as opposed to YouTube or on the Facebook page,” said Howard, who serves as the town’s office manager/special events coordinator. “I always like to experience that and see if it’s going to be the right fit for us. I like bands that engage the crowd.”
Certainly, it’s that time of year with live music coming to various venues in the area, also including Bermuda Run, Clemmons and Tanglewood Park.
Lewisville leads the way with 12 concerts, including starting with the Military Appreciation Concert on Memorial Day featuring The Embers and going into October with the Kruger Brothers on Oct. 5.
Howard said that concerts at Shallowford Square in the heart of Lewisville started more than 20 years ago (she has been with the town for 18 years), and her goal is always to offer a wide variety of bands “because not everybody likes the same kind of music.
“We had some bands last year in 2023 that we had never done before. We also had Sounds of the South, an Alabama Tribute Band, but the concert last year with the largest attendance was Tell Me Lies, a Fleetwood Mac Tribute Band. It was super, super good.”
Howard said that it was fun to look around at people around 30 years of age singing all the words to the legendary band’s songs.
“They said their parents used to listen to them when they were growing up,” she said. “That’s really cool. My son, who is in his mid-30s, knows all the Fleetwood Mac songs, and I guess that’s from me playing it over the years.”
As for this year’s lineup, next up is Camel City Yacht Club, a local band performing smooth rock from the ’70s and ’80s, which is back again “by popular demand” on Saturday, June 8.
Howard is excited to add “Neon Queen” an ABBA Tribute Band from Atlanta, Ga., on July 13, and then The Wildflowers from Alabama, a Tom Petty & Heartbreakers Tribute Band, which will appear on the stage Sept. 28.
“I saw them a couple of years ago, and I was blown away,” she said.
Chicago Rewired, a Chicago Tribute Band, was rained out last year, but will be back on Aug. 3, and another band that Howard is glad to welcome for the first time is the Coconut Groove Band, a classic rock and pop group that will throw in a special tribute to Jimmy Buffet in its concert on Sept. 21.
The Kruger Brothers, a popular bluegrass and New American folk group that always is a headliner at Merlefest, will be making its Lewisville debut to close out the impressive 2024 lineup of free concerts at Shallowford Square that includes:
- June 8: Camel City Yacht Club (smooth rock of the ’70s and ’80s), 7-9 p.m.
- June 22: Band of Oz (street party & food truck festival), 6-9 p.m.
- June 29: Jim Quick & Coastline (special Independence Day tribute concert, including American Legion Post 522), 7-9 p.m.
- July 13: The Neon Queen (ABBA Tribute), 7:15-8:45 p.m.
- July 20: Gump Fiction (’90s), 7-9 p.m.
- Aug. 3: Chicago Rewired (Chicago Tribute), 7-9 p.m.
- Aug. 31: Bourbon Revival Band (bluegrass and newgrass), 7-9 p.m.
- Sept. 7: Andrew Thielen Big Band (jazz, swing, Motown and more), 7-9 p.m.
- Sept. 21: Coconut Groove Band (classic rock and pop), 7-9 p.m.
- Sept. 28: The Wildflowers (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers tribute), 7-9 p.m.
- Oct. 5: The Kruger Brothers (bluegrass and New American folk), 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Bermuda Run, which started out with a couple of concerts in the Town Square in 2015 before partnering with the Davie County Arts Council the next year to expand the offerings, has established a popular lineup each year since and opened with the TAMS performing last Saturday night.
“We have worked with Sidniee Suggs at the DCAC for years,” said Mayor Mike Brannon. “She does an outstanding job of working with the town to schedule the performers and helping coordinating the setup for each event. We typically hold four to five concerts each summer with several of the bands having performed here for years.”
Brannon said that there has been a desire by town leaders for many years to find ways to bring together and celebrate community and introduce visitors to the town and Davie County.
“While the Bermuda Run Country Club served for decades as that focal point for the town, town leaders wanted to find ways to leverage our Town Green as another gathering place,” he said. “The vision long ago was to begin building both a way to physically connect our communities with pedestrian pathways, but also to find ways to celebrate by bringing people together for town events.”
The Entertainers (R&B, beach, Top 40, rock, country) are the next group on stage on June 15, followed by Envision (R&B, beach, Motown, oldies, pop, dance, funk, jazz) on Aug. 31, Special Occasion Band (Top 40, beach, country, oldies) on Sept. 14 and North Tower Band (Top 40, beach, funk, oldies) on Sept. 24. All of the concerts are free and start at 7 p.m.
Clemmons, which continues to expand its menu of events, offers the next concert this year on Saturday, June 1, with Unknown Artist, a tribute band to classic and modern rock, performing during the second annual Summer Shindig, which goes from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Jerry Long Family YMCA.
Unknown Artist was named “Charlotte’s Favorite Local Band About to Hit it Big” by Elevate Lifestyle Magazine’s 2022 Best of Charlotte.
“So bring your chairs and blankets and settle in for a fantastic night of music, food and community spirit,” said Shannon Ford, marketing and communications director for the village.
Ford added that Clemmons “would love to add more live entertainment to our events calendar with the right venue. For this event, we have rented a professional stage. Hopefully in the future, we will have a more permanent type of structure to offer more of these types of events with live music. This is becoming more of a reality with the future land acquisition (adjacent to the Village Point Greenway).”
In addition to the three municipalities, Tanglewood Park continues to provide live music with its 9th Annual Parks Series that kicked off with Piedmont Wind Symphony and The Queen Bees on May 12.
Next on the schedule at Tanglewood is Sunday, June 16, at 2 p.m. featuring a live taping of The Martha Bassett Show, and a lineup of guest musicians including Sonny Miles (a multi-instrumentalist with gospel, funk and neo-soul influences), The Onyx Club Boys (a gypsy jazz group from Chapel Hill) and Dori Freeman (an Appalachian singer-songwriter).
Another concert is on the schedule for Sunday, Sept. 8, at 2 p.m. with the group to be announced. All Tanglewood concerts are free to the public.
