To lighten winter’s sadness, local creator & music promotor, Mark Meyer is presenting an intimate five-concert series showcasing veteran singer songwriters from Nashville.
The series, called Songs in the City, launches Wednesday at Wunderkammer Company and runs through Friday, Feb. 27.
Citing his own love of “up close and personal” listening room experiences, Meyer has selected Peter Bradley Adams, Amy Speace, Robby Hecht, Meaghan Farrell and Tim Easton to collectively bring a little bit of Nashville sunshine our way.
Here WBOI’s Julia Meek and Meyer discuss his motivations for this bold musical adventure and what concert-goers can expect.
Event Information:
Songs in the City Concert Series at Wunderkammer Company
Wednesday, Jan.21 through Friday, Feb. 27
7:00 p.m.
Open to all ages
Find more on the individual artists and ticket information at the Songs in the City Facebook page.
Below is a transcript of our conversation:
Julia Meek: Mark Meyer, welcome.
Mark Meyer: Well, thank you, Julia, nice to be here.
Julia Meek: Now your special five-concert series is on our very near horizon. That's a red-hot Nashville connection. Briefly, why bring Nashville to the Fort Land this gloomy January?
Mark Meyer: Boy, you hit the nail on the head with gloomy January, gloomy February. I mean, these six weeks are some of the worst times of living in Fort Wayne. [both chuckle]
And it's nice to have a little diversion. And this isn't just a little diversion. This is a very high -owered, high-talented diversion.
Julia Meek: And that moniker, Songs in the City, just what does it mean to you?
Mark Meyer: Well, that's the whole concept of what it is that's going to bring people in are the songs. Because what I'm dealing with here is not just musicians, but these are singer songwriters.
Their talent is in singing and writing songs, and so, Songs in the City, you're going to get to listen to some of the best singer songwriters of our day.
Julia Meek: And you cite local musician Matt Kelly's own B-Side Gallery within his business, One Lucky Guitar as your muse. Now, his musical passion is palpable, as is your own, by the way. How has it shaped your own?
Mark Meyer: Well, it really opened my eyes to the talent that you can experience in a very intimate location. I mean, over the 10-12 years that Matt ran the B-Side, there were some incredible musicians that played to an audience of 50 to 60 people.
And when you're in that type of environment, you really, you really get to meet the musicians intimately. So not only hearing them as the time went on, what I was able to do, Matt even allowed me to bring some of my own choices into the B-Side.
And what an experience that was to be working with these professional musicians, spending the day with them, spending the evening with them. Really quite a personal experience. It's been wonderful.
Julia Meek: The personal side of things, we often think of the lights and the camera and the action and everything else going on, but the intimacy up close and personal. Can you describe that feeling?
Mark Meyer: And I would say that's it exactly about what we're looking at to try to replicate in the B-Side.
When you went to a concert at the B-Side, you not only got to hear the music, you got to meet the person, the dialog in between the songs, meeting the person before the show, talking to him at the merch table.
It's just a different experience than going to the Embassy with 2000 other people. I mean, it's, it's just far more personal, and for me, in promoting it, it's a real bonus to spend time with these folks.
Julia Meek: Okay, what exactly tipped that scale in you from music lover to music promoter?
Mark Meyer: It was a chance happening in Columbus, Ohio, as a matter of fact, I went over there to see an artist who canceled because he had a physical issue.
So, it was just a couple of weeks later that I sent him an email and asked him if he'd like to play in a venue in Fort Wayne.
And that kind of opened up the door to, I realized that there are people that I listen to, that whose music I enjoy, I can actually make it happen, so... [both chuckle].
Julia Meek: Okay, so after that Aha! moment, any surprises along the way, when you decided to step right into this?
Mark Meyer: In this one, I think the big surprise was, within just a few days of coming up with the idea to do this, four of the five talents were on board in a very, very short time.
And then I guess the big surprise was that, you know, I wanted to have a fifth artist, a woman in particular, I just sent a text, and within 30 minutes I had an Okay, and I just couldn't believe it could work this easily.
Julia Meek: Yes! All good surprises.
Mark Meyer: So, everything about this so far has just run incredibly smoothly.
Julia Meek: Good for you, good for you. And so with all of that, who is your exact five-star playbill?
Mark Meyer: We've got Peter Bradley Adams, Amy Speace, Robby Hecht, Meaghan Farrell and Tim Easton.
Julia Meek: The one thing all of these talents do share is their Nashville-ability?
Mark Meyer: That's correct, the one things they share right now, although none of them actually came from Nashville.
Julia Meek: Does anybody come from Nashville? [Both laugh]
Mark Meyer: You're right, not anymore, is it? Yeah, I think these are all East Nashville folks.
And if you know about that community down there, I mean, it's a community of musicians who share and so that's, you know that, that Nashville connection is very, very important, both for them, professionally, business wise, and everything about it.
I mean some of your best musicians right now, Austin, Texas, or Nashville, Tennessee.
Julia Meek: And collectively, maybe a little individually as well, what do they bring that we here in Fort Wayne need to be in on?
Mark Meyer: I think the musicianship and the the talent in the songwriting is really, really significant here. I mean, we've got people who have, in the case of four of the five, it's been 20 years of perfecting their craft.
We're going to hear wonderful music and incredible lyrics from a handful of people that have, like I said, been perfecting this for a couple of decades.
Julia Meek: Besides Americana and singer songwriter designation, what words, what feelings, what thoughts would you say they do all share or represent or exude.
Mark Meyer: Uh, I think there's a certain level of honesty in the music that you may not necessarily feel in the Top 40 or Top 40 rock, Top 40 country.
I mean, this is, it's very intimate, personal music that these folks write.
Julia Meek: And the story of their lives. We hear that phrase a lot, but it sounds like that's what we are in store for.
Mark Meyer
Very, very much so. These are folks that are working through their lives just like we are, but they've got the ability to put it on paper and into music.
Julia Meek: Out of their heart...
Mark Meyer: On to the record. That's it exactly.
Julia Meek: Lovely, and now Matt's B-Side Gallery fused the house concert format with upstairs tiny, tiny studio style. How does your series take it to the next level, which is Wunderkammer Company, a very cool art gallery space in the 07?
Mark Meyer: Well, that's it. I mean, this space is not a business space. This is a very creative space. And Dan Swartz, who opened and runs Wunderkammer, had a survey done recently about the top creative neighborhood, or top creative zip code in northeast Indiana.
And guess where it is, the 07. So, we have Wunderkammer right in the heart of the 07 and some of you know our city's, northeast Indiana's most creative people.
So this is going to be a great venue, much like the B-Side, because the vibe is very much the same. But I have to tell you that getting into it's going to be a lot easier. [both chuckle]
You're on one floor. You don't have to go up those tiny little stairs anymore.
Mark Meyer: On to the record. That's it exactly.
Julia Meek: It's a great space to have secured. And of course, Dan is the world's greatest creative on that. 07, a lot of people would say.
Mark Meyer: I would certainly agree with that.
Julia Meek: So, okay, in your mind, Mark, why is Wunderkammer the perfect venue for this project? Beyond the accessibility and the coolness we've been talking about?
Mark Meyer: The whole thing about Wunderkammer is community, and that's, uh, there's nothing in my mind that talks community more than music.
I mean, I certainly had leaned in music more than any other art form. But it's, it's something, it's an art form that's shared among many, unlike any of the other art form.
Julia Meek: A language, thought by many.
Mark Meyer: Yep, yeah. So, I think it's a perfect place, because you get to explore so many other types of art in that space. And now we're bringing a nice venue into that same place.
Julia Meek: In an otherwise gloomy January-February. [both chuckle]
Mark Meyer: Yeah, it's in an otherwise gloomy January.
Julia Meek: So, there's no denying this season's been a hard one, and Old Man Winter, a real monster to date. [chuckles] Okay, how are you handling the odds of January, February, unpredictable behavior.
Mark Meyer: All I'm doing Julia, is crossing my fingers. There's not a whole lot more I can do than that.
So, I'm just hoping that uh, you know, the weather is bad enough to make people want to get relief, but not so bad that they can't leave the house.
Julia Meek: Okay, we'll take that, and wish you well. Now as Fort Wayne races to its own designation as National Music City as Nashville has, we have some great Nashville connections already in place, most notably the Clyde Theatre and its Club Room's Nashville Thursdays. How will this enterprise sweeten the pot?
Mark Meyer: The big difference with this space is the size and the intimacy.
I mean, this is what they're calling in the business a listening room, which is quite different from the larger spaces, the larger crowds of 150 to 300 all the way up to the 2,500 or so in the Embassy. Here, you're talking about a small room of maybe 50 to 70 people at the most.
The furthest away you are from the talent is probably 25-30 feet. It's a far more intimate, far more personal space than the other music spaces currently available.
Julia Meek: Listening room is a good way to think of it, and listening rooms are just beginning to trend right now, so you're on the leading edge of that call, and just who do you expect, hope, want to see come out for this new Nashville experience?
Mark Meyer: Well, it's going to take creative people, creative people who are looking for something new and are willing to take a chance on something.
I don't know how you feel about music, but for me, discovery is a huge, huge part of music. It's finding something new, something I have not heard before, a different experience.
And for anyone who says, you know, I don't know that artist, I invite you to try something new.
Julia Meek
You are personally inviting folks to do this, and you mean it, and...
Mark Meyer: That's very much the case. Yeah, this is it. This is an opportunity for you to see some true artists in action that you may not otherwise have heard.
Julia Meek: Now, singer songwriters across the genres and the country are gaining momentum. No doubt about it. Covers versus originals, the race is now on. Dance-ability is there wherever you want to find it anyway. What does that tell us about us and about those musicians and us.
Mark Meyer: Mmmm, that's a tough one, Julia. The covers, to me, what's happening with covers? I think they're, they're a great opportunity for an artist to showcase their talent and then taking off on that talent, beginning their own singer songwriting career and writing their own product.
And I think it opens up doors. I mean, I would guess that virtually every one of these artists that are coming in probably started at the local beer hall, you know, playing covers that that we've heard.
But that's all a part of then perfecting that, that whole process of learning how to play, learning how to write. And now we've got these five people who have spent 20 some years perfecting this, so...
Julia Meek: And sharing albums.
Mark Meyer
And sharing, yes, very much so. As a matter of fact, along that line, real quick, I have to throw out that there was a wonderful song by Amy Speace called The Sea and the Shore that I absolutely love.
And I discovered through this process that Amy co-wrote that with Robby Hecht, who is going to be playing the week after Amy. So, when you talk about that relationship between singer songwriters, that's definitely the case here.
These people cross paths and share and, yeah, I'm sure there's some other relationships here that I'm going to discover.
Julia Meek: We hope so. [chuckles]
Mark Meyer: Yeah.
Julia Meek: And Mark, is this series a one-and-done project, or are you already planning a sequel?
Mark Meyer: Uhhh, I'd like to say it's one and done, but it's...
Julia Meek: No you wouldn't! [both laugh]
Mark Meyer: No, I'm thinking about the fall already, but fingers are crossed. You know, it has to be accepted by the community.
If, you know the people aren't there, if they're not there to hear this, if that's not something that they really want in our community. I find that hard to believe.
Then, then there won't be a future but, but I'd really like to see this succeed. I'd really like to see us have a new music experience in Fort Wayne,
Julia Meek: you're on the right track, it seems. And okay, it's unanimous. Music is the medicine with which to lighten winter's sadness and your Songs in the City RX promises to do just that, Mark.
So my last question, why should everyone consider stepping out of their couch potato state of mind and into your Nashville music sunshine?
Mark Meyer: It gets back to that whole thing about discovery. Discovery can take you to new places that you've never been.
And honestly, in the middle of January and February in Fort Wayne, it would be wonderful to be going somewhere else. [both laugh]
So, that discovery is there. I mean, that's what I'm really hoping for, that you're open to something new. And let's give it a try.
Julia Meek: Fort Wayne resident, Mark Meyer is creator/producer of Songs in the City concert series. Thank you for sharing your musical story with us, Mark and good luck on this adventure.
Mark Meyer: No, thank you, Julia, very, very much. It's been a
pleasure talking to you.
