Brady Rhodes subbed in as singer Saturday night at City Hall's Klipsch Auditorium as South Down Main backed him up during a set full of country and blues rock.
The surprise guest for the performance that closed out the Paul W. Klipsch Birthday Bash Saturday night in City Hall’s Klipsch Auditorium was local singer Brady Rhodes. As South Down Main’s lead singer Jeff Smith explained, Rhodes had to be brought in after Smith talked with his doctor Saturday morning.
“I asked the doctor if he had a magic pill” to remedy his voice “not working,” Smith said after Rhodes had sung about eight songs with four members from South Down Main. “He said you better find somebody.”
That, they did. Rhodes said he and the band went through a few hours of rehearsal Saturday afternoon. The result was a set of a little over an hour with songs like “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Tennessee Whisky,” “Two Dozen Roses,”“Mama Tried,” and “Wonderful Tonight” all mainstays of country and blues rock. The strength and fluency of Rhodes’ tenor shone through every performance, despite a few minor mistakes that only increased the audience’s affection for the players and singer for putting the must in the show going on.
The standout performances were Rhodes’ rendition of “Rose-colored Glasses,” a 1978 top five hit popularized by the man Rhodes said beforehand was his favorite singer, John Conlee, and also Travis Tritt’s “Anymore,” which Rhodes sang alongside Smith’s amplified acoustic guitar whose every note hung green stars in the nighttime of the song’s desperate lyrics.
The opening act was Jennifer Taylor, whose high folk renditions of gospel and country set the standard high for the main act.
Before the performers took to the stage, a barbecue sandwich dinner was served to ticket buyers with coleslaw, baked beans and a cookies and cream parfait. It was catered by Matt's Legendary Barbecue, LLC.
After the musical performances, Klipsch Heritage Museum Association Executive Director Beckie Moore announced the winning bid for the 1985 Klipsch speakers silent auction was Jim Hunter, the Klipsch Museum of Audio History’s Curator.
