Tim Preston
The Independent
Prestonsburg —
After decades on the road making fans happy with a style of music unlike any other, Goose Creek Symphony founder Charlie Gearhart says he takes each proposed tour one season at a time.
“I never know until the spring,” Gearhart said this week, reflecting on the number of times he has been asked if the next tour will be the band’s last.
Celebrating his 71st birthday in mid-August, Gearhart maintains it isn’t the music but the “music business” that makes him feel his age.
“My body will be 71, in my mind I’m only 21,” he said, laughing.
Gearhart said he and the rest of the band named for a rural road in Floyd County have been having a blast on their 2010 tour, although they have cut back on the number of club appearances they typically book during a summer tour.
“The shows have been great. We’ve been doing mostly outdoor festival-type stuff and it has been awesome,” Gearhart said, noting the recent annual Goose on the Lake festival in Allegre was an outstanding weekend for the musicians and fans alike.
“We’ve had big crowds. Goose on the Lake was really good this year,” he said, adding the band was recently recorded for the PBS show “Jammin at Hippie Jack’s,” although the program isn’t expected to be shown for several months because the editing process is not completed.
Goose Creek enthusiasts, a multigenerational fan base often known as Goose Heads, will have two chances to see the band perform this weekend — Friday evening at Cosmic Charlie’s in Lexington and Saturday evening at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg. Both shows will feature an opening act by the Deadstring Brothers, whose latest release “Sao Paulo” has been receiving critical acclaim and praise from fans.
Gearhart said fans should be familiar with everyone on the GCS stage.
“John Perry will not be with us. We will have Kevin Arrowsmith on fiddle. Otherwise, it is the same guys,” Gearhart said, noting many of the band’s members have been making music together since the group’s first days together.
The singer/songwriter and symphony founder, who had voiced his concern about a lack of new songs from his imagination a few years ago, said he is pleased to say he seems to have several new tunes in the works.
“I have about four new tunes, but I haven’t been able to finish them,” he said, adding there’s an “off the record” rendition of an audience-participation verse he hopes to include in one of the new melodies.
Performing in his home territory, Gearhart said he always feels a personal pressure to provide the best show possible.
“I wish it was as easy as sitting on the front porch,” he said. “Up there ... I just really want to sound good for the folks back home. I just love coming back home to play.”
Tickets for the show at the MAC are $19. A spokesman for the entertainment facility advised fans to visit macarts.com for their choice of seats, and added tickets will also be available at the box office. Saturday’s show starts at 8 p.m.
TIM PRESTON can be reached at tpreston@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2651.
