Murphy – With clear blue skies and a gentle spring breeze, Saturday’s second annual Murphy Music & Brews festival drew well over 1,000 people to a closed-off Tennessee Street downtown.
Kevin Lowery of Nashville, Tenn., started off the all-day concert before Chuck Mead of early alternative-country BR-549 fame took the stage for a blistering set of country, boogie and smooth rockers to a packed dance area. Accompanied by Mark Andrew Miller on bass, his collaborator of more than 20 years, and Marty Lynds on drums, the trio’s set included new and classic material.
Kevn Kinney – backed with half of the Drivin N Cryin lineup, including Laur Joemets and Dave V. Johnson, and joined by Bryan Howard of Cracker on bass – then played solo songs as well as plenty of the Georgia darling band’s staples, such as “Fly Me Courageous,” during the coda. That’s when the band flew into the iconic chords from Deep Purple’s ode to the infamous Montreux, Switzerland, casino hotel fire, “Smoke on the Water.”
Cracker took the penultimate spot, cranking out crowd favorites among their best-known and beloved hits. That included “Euro Trash Girl,” “Teen Angst” and “Low,” to which the crowd crooned along.
Headliners War Hippies rallied the civilians and praised the throng for helping to stand in the gap for veterans’ care, rousing the crowd to cheers after their version of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” with Donny Reis shredding a violin.
With their anthemic tunes – including “Make It Out Alive” which brought tears to many an eye – they also performed an astounding version of Marc Cohn’s classic “Walking in Memphis.”
For the finale, each performer came onstage for an all-star sing-along of Drivin N Cryin’s well-told tale of going “Straight to Hell,” to which the crowd also joined in “just like mama said.”
Although final tallies of the fundraiser will take time to calculate, donations, sales from merchandise and vendor contributions for this year’s event is expected to surpass last year’s total amount of about $147,000. Excitement is already building for plans for next year’s event.
Details: Visit murphymusicandbrews.com and shepherdsmen.com.