Americana Tradition - Reviving Rock N Roll
2020 has been no easy year for live music. Instead, many musicians are doing their best writing and recording of new materials for when the world finally comes off of pause. The clock doesn’t stop for those who create, so what have the creatives been up to?
One group of local area musicians have invested in something new for the area. Hosting a two day rock festival titled “Rock N Roll Revival”, Americana Tradition has put together quite the event. Scheduled for late August (pending pandemic), the revival will host a collection of live musicians playing Rock, Blues, Modern Rock and more.
I wanted to know more about the event, but also more about Americana Tradition. I reached out to local creative Derek Huber about the news released on his website recently. Read below:
Who is Americana Tradition?
"Americana Tradition is a collaboration of local musicians. The branding is something I originally created simply because I liked the name, but I didn’t know if it would be an apparel brand, a boutique, or a band. Back in 2016 I was really learning a lot about e-commerce, marketing, and how to start a business. Americana Tradition just gave me a good vibe, and eveentually I knew that I wanted to run with it. I long for things that are real and authentic, and that is hopefully what our brand will embody."
"I was involved in a project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where we were working with some passionate individuals there who wanted to create opportunities for former child soldiers. Through a separate business venture, I was able to help fund a goat farm that provided micro businesses to the kids. This project was successful and upon my return to the U.S. I decided to launch a musical event to be able to inject a little more cashflow to the Congo."
"Americana Tradition Presents… A Night of Jackassery, was created. The event sold out both nights and 100% of the proceeds went to help spread our goat farm project. This meant we were able to create a lot more sustainable opportunities for former child soldiers who were looking to be rehabilitated back into society. This also let me test out the business model and flex some event coordination skills I had picked up earlier in my career working for Warrior Dash out of Chicago."
What will the Rock N Roll Revival be like?
"At some point in my life, I started to really remember old school Christian Revivals. My family was what they called full-gospel, sort of a more modern version of Pentecostal I suppose. Speaking in tongues, falling out in the spirit, baptism by fire …the whole nine yards. I went to a Baptist school for 5 years as a kid, so I've really been influenced by a lot of different communities and doctrines. Revivals were a big thing in the South, regardless what denomination. The idea of revival is that it would sweep through an area, and it was a chance for a given region or people to re-dedicate themselves to God. The old school Southern imagery of revival is just a cinematographer’s dream, in terms of the visual aspect. The warmth, the amber glow, the hot nights, and sweaty foreheads. Somewhere in the woods a tent was erected and people raised their hands to music that made many weep."
"I don’t want to go so far as to say that Rock N Roll is truly dead. You can still find some examples of what I would call genuine Rock N Roll music, but it’s mostly in the form of a mixture of genres. We’ve seen Folk, County, Rock, and Blues come together to be the last beacon of light in an otherwise heartless industry. As a camera operator I fell in love with the imagery of revival. As a marketer I fell in love with the call to action of a revival. As a musician and event coordinator I fell in love with the experience that I felt we could create. By getting 100 people together under a hot tent in August, we hope to re-acquaint them with authentic rock music from the 60’s ‘til now."
Will There be Overnight Camping?
"Yes! Gaston’s Resort has been an amazing corporate sponsor for us. They of course have been affected by the virus too, so there are a lot of pieces for all of us to pick up. The idea is to have a VIP package that would include lodging and maybe some preferential seating or something. There is still a lot of details to figure out, but I’ll worry about that once we can hold regular practices again. I tend to work on the logistics more later because without musicians you have nothing. We have to function as a group first, and then we can iron out all the fun details."
"This event (like previous event) will also include food, alcohol sales, merchandise, and gaming. We try to have some games or ancillary things going on to give the event size and compliment the branding. In our last event we had Chicken Shit Bingo and we gave a guitar to one lucky ticket buyer for each night of the show. The events sell out fast, so we do the event for two nights to keep the crowd manageable and give more people an opportunity to attend."
Are you worried about Covid-19 Shutting down the show?
"We just invested into a practice space and moved all the gear in there for rehearsals when the lockdown started. Due to Covid-19 I don’t know if the revival will have a chance of happening. One of the hardest parts is getting commitments from musicians to learn the songs and show up to practice ready to go. It’s an incredible amount of work to learn enough songs for a four hour set, and one reason I like to include 10+ musicians is to be able to spread around the work. You also have to align everyone around a common goal and vision, so I end up spending most of my time as a volunteer coordinator of sorts. I have to get them to buy into the end-vision of goals that I have. I really have to be on my game when it comes to the vision for the event. I have to hold them accountable to show up to practice ready to go. A professional shows up ready to play the song and an amateur shows up to learn the song."
"I take a real professional approach to this because I have to make sure everyone’s time is respected. Some of these guys travel 4+ hours to come rehearse so again …keeping everyone motivated is big task. The longer the lockdown continues the less time we have to learn and rehearse those songs, so logistically every day that passes under the lockdown makes things exponentially more difficult. Rock N Roll Revival may not happen. It may not happen on time, or it may come out different than the original vision, but I’m just pressing ahead every day and hoping for the best."
Besides raising money, what is your musical inspiration?
"I just want to hang onto genuine music. Real music …music with pain, love, suffering, and protest. Pop took a back seat in the early 90’s and the resurgence of Rock N Roll was something I really gravitated too. I had two older brothers so I really benefited from being exposed to a lot of the art that was meant for Generation X. My mother loved folk music, and Bob Dylan was a staple in my youth. Alternate Country and the grunge movement were both very similar to me in that the core spirit was real people, writing real heart felt lyrics."
"Today, most bands have a team of writers and producers behind them that churn out pop hits. Yeah I like a good pop song once in a while, but for the most part it feels soulless. Thankfully there has been a resurgence of authentic music, with guys like Jason Isbell, Tyler Childress, and Sturgill Simpson gaining some exposure. If there is a message we want to send out, it’s just to keep it real. Music is the one place we should be free to get a little emotional and vulnerable."
How Can People Get Involved?
"I’m always down to talk with musicians who want to be involved. Obviously something like this requires skilled musicians, so we are always on the hunt for proficient musicians regardless of the instruments played. Same thing with vocalist, we generally ask for them to send in one or two things for us to review and if it fits the vibe and the group you are in. It’s not really as selective as I’m making it sound, but I try to recruit people from local bands who I think would have chemistry and play well together. That also lets us combine gear resources as that is the biggest expense if it is not something you already have. This keeps me from being in constant fund raising mode."
"That being said, we are open to corporate sponsors because things like tents, seating, lights, and sound equipment can be way more expensive than we could do. Even renting gear for an event like this would be more expensive than what selling the show out two nights would ever dream to pay for. On top of that we have website expense, e-commerce expense, printing and marketing expense …there a lot of moving parts and they all take resources to turn. I have launched shirt sales online, so even someone just buying a t-shirt helps me fund the event and/or keep the video series alive."
What are the Acoustic Sessions?
"Acoustic Sessions is a video series we’ve launched to recapture for ourselves, the simplicity and warmth of music. We aren’t editing the music much at all really. We don’t correct for minor imperfections. Apart from a little reverb and compression to normalize the audio, we mix the music (to the best of our ability) exactly as it was in the room. There’s no mixing of different takes, no over dubs, no “editing” of any kind. I own a marketing company and our team at Huber Media Co handles everything in house. We shoot and edit the video, record the audio, and what little mixing we do takes place here all in the same spot. It’s our version of Tiny Desk Concerts or Audio Tree except we do it with no budget and no sound engineer. Honestly I just want to be involved with music and keep it close to the heart, in light of Covid-19 fucking up all my wild dreams that I have for creating local events …Acoustic Sessions is a way to keep Americana Tradition alive and shed some light on local musicians."
What is Your Long-Term Vision?
"I’m not sure …I think for me success would look like the event selling out again, and if we get the same reviews we did last time I’ll be over the top happy. Last time we just did a show for two nights, but this time I’d like to go deeper with that. I think the experience could be repeated in different areas. So maybe the Rock N Roll Revival starts here in Mountain Home, but could be repeated in places like Hot Springs, Northwest Arkansas, and the like. If we can get it right here, there is no reason we can’t take that same show to Jonesboro and sell it out there too. I just love events, but I also want to break even and not kill my budget while still being able to at least put something into the pockets of our musicians and volunteers who make the events happen. Beyond musicians we have people who work the lights, pyrotechnics, merch tent, and security. Most people don’t really understand or acknowledge what it takes to put an event on for 100 people a night. I have to justify a $30 ticket price, so it has to be good, the experience has to be right, it has to be on brand, and obviously it has to be sustainable."
"More than anything I want to provide something fun and different for my community here in North Central Arkansas. People think there is not enough of us here to justify these kinds of events and marketing, but we’ve proven that to be a false mindset. I take a lot of pride that everything is done in house. We even hand-made the tickets. There is not a single thing in this event outsourced. We shoot the video, we edit the photos, we play the music, we build the website, we set up the e-commerce …it is a 100% in house production and I take a lot of pride in that. Not to mention it has been a fantastic learning experience. I like the idea of having multiple events in the future if we get to that point. Americana Tradition presents …Rock N Roll Revival, or Night of Jackassery …I even wrote a play titled “The Story of Grunge”. Who knows man, one step at a time …the vision is always growing and changing."
Whether the event goes on or not, only time will tell. I want to Thank Derek for answering my questions, and Americana Tradition for providing live local music, keeping the Ozarks Rockin!
Follow up with Derek and Americana Tradition on their Facebook page here.
Join the email list at www.americanatradition.com