United We Style Fundraiser Brings Fusion of Music, Storytelling, Hairstyling to Main Street

United We Style Fundraiser Brings Fusion of Music, Storytelling, Hairstyling to Main Street

Jonny Gowow, Mark Lamb and Kara Kemp / photos by Angel Pardue

A unique fusion of music, storytelling, charity and hairstyling is once again coming to Murfreesboro on June 21. The United We Style fundraiser, which was first presented in 2013, started out as a charitable fashion show in which all of the proceeds benefited United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties. Since last year, however, the event has been transformed into a genre-bending and variety-filled night of performance that incorporates the talents of many Murfreesboro residents.

Back in 2013, Tangerine Salon and Spa General Manager and United We Style founder Kara Kemp said that the hairdressers at the salon wanted to take part in some sort of big philanthropic act.

“The salon itself has always done a lot of things,” Kemp said. “They go out and do haircuts with the homeless community. They go and volunteer with special-needs kids. But, they wanted to do something that was a little more showy.”

This is when Kemp decided to employ her theater background and salon expertise to give back to the community.

“If it’s a little bit weird, I’m probably going to get behind it,” Kemp laughed. “I have a theatre background, and I like working in productions and collaborations.”

Kemp’s team at Tangerine assisted her in putting on the fashion show in 2013 and the subsequent years, but, after a few iterations of the show, Kemp knew it was time for a change.

“After three years of doing it as a fashion show, I could tell my team was a little bit burnt out on it,” Kemp said. “They wanted to do something that was a hair show because that was their specialty, and I (at the time) had just finished collaborating with Mark Lamb and my musician friend Jonathan Gower on some original storytelling pieces where we interweaved music in the performance.”

Kemp said that out of a conversation between the three friends, the idea for the new format, encompassing a combination of their talents, was born.

“It sparked the idea that we could do something that’s a hair show and a bigger show that has those elements (of music and storytelling), and we thought it would work,” Kemp said. “And, it did work.”

The current format of the show allows Murfreesboro hair stylists to create hairstyles and makeup schemes on models in real time as storytellers perform and spin narratives. All of this is set to live music. This year’s performance, titled “Come Together Now,” will pay homage to the music of The Beatles and will feature community members telling stories centered around their involvement in United Way. Lamb, a Peabody-winning storyteller based in New York City, and Gower, a Murfreesboro-based musician and bandleader, will once again be performing at the event.

Lamb said that the experience of performing in last year’s United We Style was all new for him.

USW 2017 with Mark Lamb

“I personally got my hair cut while I was telling a story,” Lamb said. “I’m a choreographer, so I gesture while I’m telling a story. And, I had to sit really still with my arms under a cape. So, artistically that was a whole different thing for me, and it was just really exciting. When (Kemp) said, ‘Let’s do it again,’ I was really thrilled that we got to keep working in this direction with storytelling and hairdressing and music.”

Lamb said that the combined elements of hairstyling and storytelling go a long way in adding to the experience for the audience.

UWS 2018 performers, clockwise from top left:
Salas, Kathy Ferrell, Ynetia Avant and Kory Wells

“I was fascinated by the hair portion because all of (the models) had major transformations,” Lamb said. “As a storyteller and a person who likes to listen to stories, I think the part of the story that makes it really good is that there has been a transformation in the teller. So, it’s kind of worked seamlessly. . . . With the music going, the hairdressing became a dance in my mind. So the hair piece, no pun intended, was breathtaking.”

This year’s United We Style fundraiser will take place on June 21, 2018, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Main Street Music in downtown Murfreesboro (527 W. Main St.). A VIP party for the fundraiser will begin at 6 p.m., and the stage show will begin at 7 p.m. All proceeds will go to United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties, and tickets can be purchased online, at Tangerine Salon (845 N. Thompson Ln., Murfreesboro) or at the door. Visit facebook.com/unitedwestyle2018 for more information.