Mystery Trip brings the music of the Beatles back to the Arts Center of Cannon County for a Thursday, Oct. 14, performance.
All over the world, the music of the Beatles has touched and influenced millions, if not billions, over the past five decades. Youngsters whose grandparents watched the Fab Four invade the U.S. are now playing The Beatles: Rock Band video game and discovering the band’s music. Musicians and songwriters of many genres and persuasions draw from the art of John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Evidently, folks in Woodbury want to hear the music of the Beatles live. The last show by Mystery Trip at the Arts Center packed the house, and they’re hoping for another sold-out performance.
“Two hundred fifty people came out,” said Mystery Trip member John Salaway of the show back in January. “I thought we’d do well, but had no idea it would go over that well. It was a nice surprise.”
Salaway, who now lives in Cannon County himself, says the tribute band knows about 70 of the Beatles’ songs currently, and diving into the details and learning and performing “song number 65 is just as exciting as the first song we learned” and the band intends to keep learning more and more.
“It’s an incredible catalogue, very inspiring to play,” he says of the Beatles’ work.
The Beatles was an actively touring band in the U.S. for only six years, but during that amount of time, they rocked the world of popular music and released records that many in the music industry consider masterpieces, including Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The White Album, Abbey Road and Let it Be.
The band’s earlier songs, even though they were simpler and more poppy, were “still ahead of everything else at the time,” says Salaway.
Mystery Trip, comprised of Salaway, Gordon Kennedy, Rob Arthur, Saul Zonana and Steve Allen, will sometimes perform an entire album in its entirety or arrange a tour of the Beatles’ work in chronological order. Legendary guitarist Peter Frampton has even appeared with the band at the recent Nashville Amp Expo—check out YouTube for a video of Frampton performing “While my Guitar Gently Weeps” with the guys.
“What we’re working on now is an acoustic tribute to the songwriting of the Beatles,” Salaway says. Mystery Trip wants to remind Music City that the Beatles were “the best songwriters in the world.”
Fans can expect the full electric sound and a variety of early, middle and late material at the Oct. 14 show.
Though Salaway primarily plays drums in Mystery Trip, he does get some turns at the front of the stage leading some tunes on vocals and guitar.
“Everyone in the band is a professional multi-instrumentalist, so we switch up a little,” he says. “The Beatles taught me how to sing and play guitar.”
He says as a drummer, he may be a little more John Bonham (of Led Zeppelin) than Ringo Starr, but really respects Starr’s drumming and says he is an underrated drummer who always did exactly what was perfect for the song. Salaway says his folks were Beatles fans, and his first memory of the group that so greatly influenced music, art, fashion, culture and spirituality came when he was just 3 or 4 years old.
“I remember being very little and my dad strumming ‘Rocky Raccoon’ on the guitar,” he says.
However, Salaway didn’t jump headfirst into the band’s material and truly appreciate it until his teen years when he began learning music.
“There’s something magical about it,” he says.
For tickets to the show, call (615) 563-ARTS, or for more information on the band, find Mystery Trip Band on Facebook.
