He showed off his singing and guitar-playing chops on the show that aired on ABC and CMT from 2012 to 2018, playing the brooding and troubled but talented central character Deacon Claybourne.

And his X (formerly Twitter) followers probably thought it was about time. Esten started a project on the platform called “#EverySingleFriday” in July 2016 that ran for 54 weeks, where he released a song he wrote or co-wrote every week.

But his debut record, a collection of 14 original songs called “Love Ain’t Pretty,” was somewhat of a late arrival for a 58-year-old actor, who’s been on the road promoting “Pretty” since its release in January.

The singer-songwriter, accompanying himself on guitar and piano, makes a stop July 26, at the Pioneer Theater in downtown Manteo, North Carolina.

Fun fact: It’s Esten’s second performance on the Outer Banks. While attending William & Mary (graduating in 1987), he was the lead singer in a band called N’est Pas, who played in 1986 at the legendary Atlantis Beach Club in Nags Head.

Making a full-length album was Esten’s life-long ambition.

“Music has always been part of my life,” he said. “But my acting career took off.”

Call him the king of the understatement.

He hit the stage running in 1991 starring in the West End production of “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story” in London.

Since then the actor has appeared in dozens of TV shows, including “Married With Children,” “The New Adventures with Old Christine,” “ER” and, of course, “Nashville.”

He recently played the role of Ward Cameron on the Netflix series “Outer Banks.”

Esten also was a regular panelist (using his nickname “Chip”) in the 1990s on the improvisational comedy show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”

His resume includes three Kevin Costner movies.

But now, it’s full-speed ahead on music.

“A door just opened for me,” Esten said of recording the album at Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville. “I was ready for it.”

He had made a lot of friends in Music City where “Nashville” was filmed. Renowned producer-songwriter Marshall Altman was one of them.

“We had an immediate connection,” Esten said during a phone interview from his hometown of Pittsburgh, where he was playing Professor Harold Hill in a summer production of the classic play “The Music Man.”

Altman rounded up some of Nashville’s top musicians and songwriters to work on the debut album, which brings to mind the confessional singer-songwriter era in the 1970s (Jackson Browne, Neil Young, etc.) filtered through modern country.

Citing influences ranging from The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello, Esten touches the head and heart equally on “Pretty.”

While certainly the songs, which he wrote or co-wrote, have a slight twang, there are elements of rock and blues.

He describes them as “postcards from paradise.”

“I want people to feel something,” Esten explained. “But I also want them to celebrate, to dance.”

Esten possesses a warm, soulful voice that feels seasoned, delivering poetic nuggets that explore a wide range of subjects, including hope, love, death, loss, grace and redemption.

He’s in touch with his inner Springsteen.

“I try to write lyrics like people actually talk,” he said. “Conversations feel a little deeper.”

Take “Somewhere in the Sunshine,” a melodic, reflective song co-written by Jon Nite, which touches on grief: “And days when you miss me/and the lonely takes place/close your eyes/lift your head/feel the sun on your face.”

Other standout tracks include the bluesy rocker “I Ain’t,” the mid-tempo, meditative “One Good Move” and the yearning, 1980s-rock-style title song written with Jimmy Yeary and Marshall Altman, which would have melted his “Nashville” on-and-off squeeze and one true love Rayna James’ heart.

He sings: “Shows up when you don’t need it/and leaves you when you do/it’ll tear you to pieces/and make ‘em all come true.”

For his performance at the Pioneer, Esten will play tunes from the debut album as well as a few cover songs (he’s been known to merge Willie Nelson’s “Mama Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” with The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood”).

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “We (his wife and three children) love the Outer Banks.”

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If you go

When: Friday, July 26, at 7 p.m., with doors opening at 6:30 p.m.

Where: The Pioneer Theater, 109 Budleigh St., Manteo

Tickets: $40 to $50

Details: ThePioneerTheater.com

Singer-songwriter-keyboardist Harry Wayne Casey, who grew up nearby in Hialeah, Florida, absorbed it all.

That year, Casey put together a group of local musicians and called them the Sunshine Band, as a nod to Florida’s nickname, and adopted the moniker of “KC.”

The newly-formed 12-piece band, which included a four-man horn section, recorded several songs in 1974, written by Casey and his guitarist Richard Finch.

Two of the tunes, “Blow Your Whistle” and “Sound Your Funky Horn,” landed on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues chart.

They set the template for the KC and the Sunshine sound: unfussy arrangements, infectious melodies, singalong lyrics and a smorgasbord of rhythms.

“We just wanted to write and record uplifting dance tunes,” Casey said during a phone interview from his home in Miami. “And we wanted people to forget their troubles.”

On May 25, the band is bringing its unique sound to the Outer Banks with a performance at Roanoke Island Festival Park in Manteo, North Carolina.

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Sunshine and disco

Something else was happening in Miami in 1974; the city, along with Philadelphia and New York City, was becoming a hot spot for an emerging style of music in the U.S. called “disco” (a shortened version of the French word “discotheque,” which referred to dance venues).

Clubs started multiplying like mosquitoes, and the message to young people was you should be dancing.

To tweak a lyric from Barry Manilow’s campy hit “Copacabana,” music and passion were in fashion. And commercial radio stations embraced the trend, adding disco tunes to their playlists.

Artists like Paul McCartney, Diana Ross and especially The Bee Gees added some dance beats to their sound.

KC and the Sunshine Band’s popularity in clubs and on airwaves grew quickly, scoring their first No. 1 single (“Get Down Tonight”) on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1975.

“It had an infectious sound to it,” Casey said. “I knew it from the day I did the vocal.”

Over the next two years, the group ascended to rarefied air, hitting the top spot three more times with the nuggets “That’s the Way (I Like It),” “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty” and “I’m Your Boogie Man.”

They became the first band since The Beatles in the mid-1960s to accomplish that feat. Another single (“Keep It Comin’ Love”) in 1977 reached No. 2 on the chart.

And, oh, another KC original “Boogie Shoes” was on the soundtrack of a little 1977 movie called “Saturday Night Fever.”

“It was a pretty crazy time,” Casey remembers.

The band had another No. 1 single in 1979 with the ballad “Please Don’t Go”; the follow-up single “Yes, I’m Ready” hit No. 2.

After the group’s top 20 record “Give It Up” in 1984, KC did just that, retiring from touring and recording.

But the band’s music stayed alive, playing on oldies radio stations, popping up in TV shows and movies, pumping up crowds at sporting events and, of course, getting people to put their flat feet on the ground at parties and wedding receptions.

In 1991, with disco enjoying a revival, Casey put on his flowered shirt and bell-bottom pants and came out of retirement.

These days, he travels with a 15-piece band, which includes four horns and two singers — and plays off-the-record versions of his classic hits for fans new and old.

“We definitely have a wide demographic,” Casey said. “I think people are still trying to escape from the world for a while.”

The Charlotte-based soul-beach music band Chairmen of the Board (“Carolina Girls,” “Dangling on a String,” “Give Me Just a Little More Time”) will open the show.

___

If you go

When: 5 p.m. May 25; Chairmen of the Board play at 7 p.m.; KC and the Sunshine Band perform at 8:30 p.m.

Where: Roanoke Island Festival Park (lawn seating), 1 Festival Park, across from the Manteo waterfront

Tickets: $50

Details: VusicOBX.com

But it’s also filled with stories of bravery, resilience and hope.

Co-produced by the Town of Nags Head and the Outer Banks History Center and funded by a grant from the government channel CurrentTV, the 30-minute film focuses on the four-day – March 5-9 – nor’easter that blindsided weather forecasters and locals.

The original “perfect storm,” two cold fronts meeting a powerful upper-level low-pressure system with the moon in close proximity to the earth, destroyed or damaged dozens of buildings and homes on the barrier islands, including many in the newly (1961) incorporated Town of Nags Head, the most developed and populated area of the Outer Banks in 1962.

“We wanted to create a history lesson with a message,” says Roberta Thuman, the town’s public information officer and brainchild of the project. “That it could happen again.”

“I hope it’s an emergency wake-up call,” adds Tammy M. Woodward, director of the history center in Manteo.

As the documentary shows: the ocean breached the dunes, causing massive flooding from the Beach Road to the U.S. 158 Bypass (many people had to be rescued by emergency personnel and local residents on boats).

Grainy images capture six-foot sand-drifts on the beach road.

Witnesses in the film talk about septic tanks being compromised, causing shortages of fresh water, and several mention that it was “months” before things returned to “normal.”

The U.S. Weather Bureau called the system, which affected six states, the “Great Atlantic Coastal Storm” and it was as stubborn as a mule, raging through five high-tide cycles over four days.

But the late Aycock Brown, the legendary Outer Banks photographer and public relations man, noting that it reached its peak on March 7, christened the weather event the more poetic “Ash Wednesday Storm.”

And that’s how it’s known on the Outer Banks 61 years later.

The mini-documentary, directed and edited by Raymond Wallace of the Kill Devil Hills-based Rayolight Productions, had its premiere last month at Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head.

About 300 people, including several former and current town commissioners and mayors, as well as Dare County officials, attended the free showing.

The screening, hosted by current mayor Ben Cahoon, was followed by a panel discussion and question-and-answer session, which included town commissioner Renee Cahoon, National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist Erik Heden and local residents Buster Nunemaker and Juanita Wescott, who lived through the storm.

Several audience members also shared personal stories.

The film and panel discussion can be viewed for free on several websites.

In the documentary, Heden, who’s based in Newport, North Carolina, offers sobering information, stressing that even a storm that is 200 miles off the coast like the Ash Wednesday system can cause extensive damage and loss of life.

Nunemaker and Wescott, who both grew up in Nags Head, were middle-school students when the storm struck.

Their recollections figure prominently in the illuminating documentary that uses still photography, mostly by Aycock Brown, recently-discovered aerial video footage, archival interviews and narration by local actor Kelsey Thompson to tell the harrowing story.

The late Walter Gray, founder of Gray’s Department Store, and the late George Crocker, known for his businesses A Restaurant By George and the Galleon Esplanade, all in Nags Head, are among the well-known voices in the film.

In one telling passage, Wescott, whose family lost their house in the storm, speaking directly into the camera and visibly shaken, says “from six o’clock in the morning ’til three in the afternoon, with a lot of hours of praying that God will spare your very life.”

Nunemaker in the film recounts standing on the toilet to stay out of the two-feet deep water at his family’s home.

He and Wescott in a light-hearted moment recall the disappointment of not going to school, calling it the “social network” of the era.

In a later phone interview, Nunemaker says: “There was rain, sleet, snow, howling winds, lightning and thunder, it was scary for a 12-year-old boy.”

He echoes Thuman’s and Woodward’s thoughts about the documentary, saying “We need people to know the loss of property and life would be much greater now.”

Wayne Gray, another longtime Nags Head resident and former town commissioner, also contributes first-hand accounts of the storm’s effects.

Wallace, the filmmaker who moved from Lynchburg to the Outer Banks in 2015, spent about five months working on the documentary.

He says it was an eye-opening experience.

“It gave me a more basic perception of the town (Nags Head) and its future.”

“I hope it reminds people of the importance of storm preparation.”

“The Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962” documentary and panel discussion can be viewed on Current TV channel 191, as well as the websites YouTube.com/CurrentTVOBX and CurrentTV.org (Video on Demand section)

The documentary, without the panel discussion, is available at: nagsheadnc.gov and YouTube.com/Town of Nags Head

Duck Jazz Festival

The free, annual event takes place at Town Park in Duck.

As in past years, the festival will feature artists performing different styles of the great American art form.

The Richmond, Va.-based Michael Hawkins and the Brotherhood, who traffic in straight-ahead arrangements of standards and wide-open playing on originals, kicks off the weekend at 4 p.m. Saturday.

On Sunday, starting at 11 a.m., music will be coming from two stages: Town Green and the amphitheater.

And that’s when some rhythm-and-blues and rock jump in the jazz with a lineup that includes The Hot Licks with Bobby Jasinski; Greg Duncan Organ Quartet; the Funky Knuckles, John Brown and the Little Big Band; the First Flight High School Honors Jazz Band; and Jazz is Led, a group that re-imagines tunes by classic-rock titans Led Zeppelin.

When: 4 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. Sunday

Cost: Free

Where: Town Park, 1200 Duck Road, Duck

Info: townofduck.com

It’s lawn seating, so bring a chair or blanket

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Saturday, Oct. 14

Rockland Road

If you have a soft spot for family-harmony bands like The Beach Boys, The Bee Gees and the Everly Brothers, Rockland Road should be just the ticket.

The Nashville-based group – made up of husband-and-wife Paul and Jamie Martin and their two sons and two daughters – serves up six-part harmonies on originals and covers, touching on rock, pop, gospel, country, rhythm-and-blues and Americana.

And if that’s not enough, the six musicians play two-dozen instruments.

Road’s performance at First Flight High School in Kill Devil Hills is part of the Outer Banks Forum for the Lively Arts’ 40th season.

Standout originals include the uplifting country number “Mountains Up Ahead,” the poppy “Feels Like This” and the driving rock tune “L.O.A. (Love on Arrival).

Among the remakes on the family band’s playlist are “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “There She Goes,” “Somebody That I Used to Know” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.”

When: 7:30 p.m.

Cost: $50 for adults, $25 for students

Where: First Flight High School, 100 Veterans Drive, Kill Devil Hills

Info: outerbanksforum.org

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Oct. 19-21

Bluegrass Island Music Festival

The 11th edition of the stringy event takes place on the lawn at Roanoke Island Festival Park, across from the Manteo waterfront.

This year’s lineup is one of the strongest yet, with bluegrass royalty that includes Sam Bush, The SteelDrivers, Rhonda Vincent and the Rage and the Dan Tyminski Band, as well as the legendary jamband Leftover Salmon.

In all, 14 artists will perform over three days.

The Nashville-based Bush, a multi-instrumentalist known for his dynamic mandolin playing, is a two-time inductee of the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame and has traveled, performed and recorded with a who’s who of bluegrass and country artists, including Lyle Lovett and Emmylou Harris.

The SteelDrivers (Chris Stapleton was the band’s lead singer from 2008 to 2010), and Rhonda Vincent, known as the “Queen of Bluegrass,” are Grammy award winners.

Tyminski has an impressive resume: he plays mandolin, guitar and sings in Alison Krauss’ band Union Station; he provided the singing voice of George Clooney in the 2000 movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” and he sang lead on Avicii’s 2013 international hit “Hey Brother.”

Salmon started as a progressive bluegrass band three decades ago and has gained a following with their improvisational skills on music that incorporates different genres.

When: 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with gates opening at 11 a.m.

Cost: $75 per day, $225 for three-day pass

Where: Roanoke Island Festival Park, 1 Festival Park, Manteo

Info: bluegrassisland.com

It’s lawn seating, so bring a chair or blanket.

Beer and wine will be available and six food trucks will be on the lawn.

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Oct. 13-15, 19-22, 26-29 and Nov. 2-5

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Concert Movie

If you wanted to see the superstar singer-songwriter on her 2023 U.S. tour but couldn’t score or afford a ticket, you can catch Taylor at a reasonable price on the big screen starting Oct. 13, at theaters across the country.

Local “Swifties” will get their chance at Movies 10 in Kill Devil Hills.

Unofficial industry estimates have the film taking in $100 million opening weekend.

Directed by Sam Wrench and produced by Swift, the 44-song movie runs about three hours and includes material from the singer-songwriter’s 10 studio albums.

It was recorded at shows Aug. 3-5 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood (Los Angeles), California.

The Eras tour has smashed records, and Swift recently became the first female artist to hit 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

When: Various times

Cost: $19.89 for adults, $13.13 for children 11 and younger and seniors

Where: Movies 10, 1803 N. Croatan Highway, Kill Devil Hills

Info and tickets: rctheatres.com

The animals he photographed probably paid little attention to the quiet, unassuming guy with a camera around his neck.

Combining technical skills with an artist’s eye, he preserved for more than 50 years the natural beauty of the Outer Banks but could also make the ordinary look extraordinary (his photo of sea shells on a fence, for example, is remarkable).

They’re a celebration of our unique little corner of the world.

Using a Minolta camera in the early days shooting 35mm slides and a Canon in the digital age, Matthews, who died last year at 72, was known for his majestic images of the barrier islands.

His photographs adorn the walls of thousands of homes and offices on the Outer Banks and beyond, bringing viewers comfort, warmth and memories.

“They have a very physical presence,” says Didi Tupper, who with her husband, renowned painter Rick Tupper, owned and operated Greenleaf Gallery, which sold Matthews’ work, in Nags Head and Duck until 2015.

“You see his photos and you want to be there, go there.”

On Tuesday, Sept. 12, the “Ray Matthews Photography Retrospective – A Defining Artist of the Outer Banks” exhibition goes on view at Glenn Eure’s Ghost Fleet Gallery in Nags Head.

There will be an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m.

Sponsored by the Bryan Cultural Series, the show features 46 framed and 50 matted photos taken from 1972-2022 and all are for sale.

The organization in a press release praised the late photographer’s work, saying “it left an indelible mark on the community and continues to inspire.”

Tupper, along with Bryan board member Lynn Hutchins and Pam Matthews, the Nags Head-based photographer’s wife of 48 years, curated the exhibit which runs through Oct. 7.

Matthews grew up in Elizabeth City and after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972 moved to the Outer Banks and began his love affair with Mother Nature.

A reflective man and an environmentalist, the late photographer shut out the noise and focused his lens on whatever caught his eye, which included wild horses, sunsets on the sound, sunrises over the ocean, fishing piers, boats, birds, storms, lighthouses and bridges.

“He knew where to be when,” says longtime local photographer Eve Turek, who’s also well-known for natural landscapes. “He could read what was coming.”

A friend and colleague of Matthews for more than 40 years, Turek often went on shoots with him.

“He became over the time the brother I never had,” says Turek, who owns SeaDragon and Yellowhouse Gallery in Duck, which sells Mattthews’ work. “We took photos from different angles when we were together.”

Matthews was mostly self-taught and in the early days was, according to Turek, “quite comfortable in the dark room,” finding just the right textures to complement his instinctive composition.

In the early 2000s, he comfortably transitioned to digital photography, bringing his images to life on a computer in the upstairs home workspace that he built (Matthews also made furniture and played guitar).

In addition, he both matted his photos and built the frames.

Matthews also contributed photographs to newspapers and magazines, most prominently “Our State” and published two books (both, unfortunately, out of print) of his distinctive images.

The exhibit is a stunning collection, with images that include the Elizabeth II under sail; snow geese over ice; Roanoke Marshes Light with snow; waves colliding at Cape Hatteras and the Bodie Island Lighthouse under the Milky Way.

His dramatic aerial shot of Oregon Inlet, which captures both the turbulence of the ocean and sound at the Marc Basnight Bridge and the fragile, narrow strip of sand that runs south, is a standout.

Matthews was, according to his wife, with whom he raised three sons, always at the ready.

“He would get up in the morning and check out the sunrise, and then he might go to the beach or Nags Head Woods.”

“He loved nature.”

But it wasn’t always a walk on the mild side for the photographer who was forever on the lookout for the perfect shot.

“He loved to experience the ocean when it was stormy and wild.”

And the master photographer never left home without his camera.

On his Facebook page, he once wrote: I have a desire to make tangible images of the endless, fleeting possibilities and share them.”

The monthlong photo exhibit will do just that.

___

Want to go?

What: Ray Matthews Photography Retrospective

Cost: Free

When: Sept. 12 through Oct. 7, with an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m.; gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday

Where: Glenn Eure’s Ghost Fleet Gallery, 210 E. Driftwood St., Nags Head

Info: bryanculturalseries.org

The Charlotte, N.C.-based band, who draws their name from the nattily dressed “millionaire” on the campy ‘60s TV series “Gilligan’s Island,” specializes in off-the-record remakes of “yacht rock” songs. They perform at Outer Banks Brewing Station in Kill Devil Hills.

For the uninitiated, the genre focuses on soft-rock, pop, jazz and rhythm-and-blues jams from roughly 1972-1982, characterized by smooth grooves, close harmonies and complex instrumentation. Most are radio hits recorded by artists like Michael McDonald, Christopher Cross, Kenny Loggins, Pablo Cruise, Steely Dan and Hall and Oates.

In recent years, “yacht rock” has become a phenomenon, capturing the ears of both those who lived through the era and young folks looking for music that’s fun, comforting and familiar through movie and TV soundtracks. “It’s nostalgia,” says guitarist-singer Eric Lovell, the band’s spokesman. “They’re songs you didn’t realize you knew all the words to.”

Howell features three lead singers (two men and one woman), along with guitar, keyboards, drums, saxophone and bass.

The group has about 60 songs in their repertoire, including such gems as “Africa,” “Heart to Heart,” “Ride Like the Wind,” “I Keep Forgetting,” “Brandy,” “Still the One,” “Lido Shuffle,” “I Can’t Go for That,” “Moonlight Feels Right,” “Islands in the Stream” and “Peg.” Lovell says the most-requested tune is probably Rupert Holmes’ “Escape (The Pina Colada Song).”

“Everybody sings along,” he says, adding “There’s a real laid-back attitude at our shows, so it’s hard to start a fight.”

When: 10:30 p.m.
Cost: $20 in advance, $25 at the door
Where: Outer Banks Brewing Station, 600 S. Croatan Hwy., Kill Devil Hills
Info: obbrewing.com

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Wednesday, Aug. 16
Laughing Gull Comedy Night: Jimmie Walker, with Andy Forrester

Actor, talk show host, morning radio DJ: Jimmie Walker has been there, done that and more.

He’s best known for the 1970s sitcom “Good Times,” playing the artistic teenager JJ Evans, whose exclamation of “Dyn-O-Mite” became a cultural reference of the decade and made him a household name.

In an email interview, Walker, who lives in Los Angeles, says he’s “still recognized sometimes” from the TV role. In the last two decades the 76-year Walker, performing at the Pioneer Theater in downtown Manteo, has focused on standup comedy.

He was succinct in the interview about his material, stating that it’s “clean and funny” with subject matter that includes “today’s news and everything in between.”

The Raleigh, N.C.-based Forrester has an easy-going style, riffing on such things as personal-injury-lawyer commercials, daytime snoring and his love for Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The local musician known as Sam on Sax will perform in the Pioneer Garden, starting at 6 p.m.

When: 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 7 p.m.
Tickets: $47 to $75
Where: Pioneer Theater, 113 Budleigh St., downtown Manteo
Info: eventbrite.com

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Wednesday, Aug. 16
Mama’s Black Sheep

The Baltimore, Maryland-based duo — Ashland Miller on guitar and vocals and Laura Cerulli on drums and vocals — plays a free show at Dowdy Park in Nags Head.

It’s part of the town’s weekly Summer Concert Series.

Longtime favorites on the Outer Banks, Miller and Cerulli are both powerful singers and inventive instrumentalists. Sheep, who formed in 2008, averages 150 shows a year.

Their repertoire include originals (the folk-rock “Ocean” and Americana “Spoonin’” are standouts) and a wide range of customized remakes, including George Gershwin’s “Summertime,” Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic,” Blake Shelton’s “God Gave Me You,” Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking of You,” O.A.R.’s “Peace,” “Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” and Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock.”

When: 6:30 p.m.
Cost: Free
Where: Dowdy Park, 3005 S. Croatan Hwy., Nags Head
Info: nagsheadnc.gov
Parking is available at Nags Head Elementary School, next door to the park
It’s lawn seating, so bring a chair or blanket

Outer Banks Songwriter Showcase

The third edition of the event at Nouvines in downtown Manteo should be both entertaining and informative.

Singer-songwriters Percy Abell and Darrell Clanton will perform and offer tips on the art of crafting tunes.

“We’ll definitely go behind the music,” says Abell, the event’s organizer. “You’ll get to know the songs and us.”

Both men traffic in “Trop Rock,” a sub-genre of popular music that merges pop, rock and country, accented by calypso, Cajun and reggae beats, and have written hundreds of songs.

Melodies are breezy and bright and lyrics are simple and direct, conveying good times.

Jimmy Buffett is the patron saint of the style.

The Lynchburg, Va.-based Abell is a regular visitor on the Outer Banks, which provides inspiration for his songwriting.

Tunes like “Moon Over Manteo” and “Motion of the Ocean” are prime examples.

His latest release is titled “Sunrise, Sunset and You.”

The singer-songwriter-guitarist has had six #1 records on the Trop-40 chart.

Clanton, who lives in Tampa, Fla., has been in the genre since 2003 and has written and recorded 21 #1 Trop-Rock tunes, including “Nothing to Do and All Day to Do It,” “Get Your Trop Rock On” and “Living the Dream.”

He and Abell recently collaborated on a song called “How Come Everything is Fat-free But Me.”

“Our music is about escapism,” says Clanton. “The lyrics are usually tongue-in-cheek.”

Before jumping into Trop-Rock, he spent 25 years working in Nashville, the songwriting capital of the world.

Clanton wrote tunes recorded by, among others, Country Music Hall of Famers Jean Shepard, Charlie Louvin and B.J. Thomas.

As a singer, he scored three hits on the Billboard Country Chart in 1984, including the #27 single “Lonesome 7-7203,” written by Justin Tubb.

That same year Clanton performed three times at the Grand Ole Opry and was nominated for “New Male Vocalist” by the Country Music Association (CMA).

These days, he plays solo and band gigs in the Tampa Bay area and pumps out tunes.

And what’s his secret for writing hit songs?

“For me, it’s always the hook (the lyrics that repeat and tell the story), then the melody.”

Cost: $25

When: 6 p.m.

Where: Nouvines, 105 Budleigh St., Manteo

Tickets: eventbrite.com

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Sunday, Aug. 6

Island Glow Tour: The Dirty Heads, Bikini Trill and Lupe Fiasco

The Dirty Heads are coming.

That’s all most music fans need to know.

The Southern California-based band, playing for the third time at Roanoke Island Festival Park in Manteo, has been making music of their own curious invention since 2008.

It’s a mashup of reggae, ska, punk, alternative, hip-hop and rock that gets the party started.

Founders Jared Watson (vocals) and Dustin Bushnell (guitar, vocals) lead the current incarnation of the Heads, known for such jams as “Lay Me Down,” “Vacation,” “My Sweet Summer” and “Oxygen.”

The three-piece – vocals, guitar and bass – Bikini Trill is a Los Angeles-based surf-pop band, known for such ditties as “If It’s Cool,” “Steal My Sunshine” and “Bullet.”

Rap artist Fiasco burst on the scene in 2007 with the Grammy-nominated album “Lupe Fiasco Food and Liquor.”

He’s had two Billboard Top-40 hits, “Superstar” and “The Show Must Go On,” and his 2011 album “Lasers” debuted at #1.

Cost: $50 to $125

When: 6 p.m., with gates opening at 5 p.m.

Where: Roanoke Island Festival Park, 1 Festival Park, Manteo

Info: vusicobx.com

It’s lawn seating, so bring a chair or blanket

Bill Rea, a longtime figure on the Outer Banks music scene, is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.

He’s played solo and in duos, trios, quartets and quintets, including the Sandy Mountain Boys, The Crowd, Partly Crowdy and The Other Brothers, over the last 25 years.

On Wednesday for the no-cover-charge gig at Dare Arts’ courtyard in downtown Manteo, the musician will do the former, accompanying himself on guitar and harmonica for “The Courthouse Sessions: Live at Lunch.”

The Manteo-based Rea (pronounced Ray), who also is music teacher, will focus on his original songs, but may throw in a couple of remakes.

“What comes up comes out,” he says of solo performances.

His melodies are rooted in bluegrass, folk and country.

And his lyrics?

“I write what I live,” says Rea. “The biggest theme is family.”

With his versatile guitar and harmonica playing and Southern drawl-infused voice, his songs feel lived-in.

They include the uptempo love song “Stay With Me,” the bluegrassy history lesson “The Class of ‘64,” and the folksy poke at social media called “Battle on Facebook.”

One of Rea’s favorites is “Just You and I,” a gentle ode to married life.

Over a soft guitar bed, he sings: “My dreams are your dreams/Your dreams are mine/We’ll be together, baby, ‘til the end of time.”

On Thursday, Rea (guitar, harmonica and vocals) and Doug Dino (ukulele and vocals), known as The Other Brothers, play a no-cover show at Sugar Creek Seafood Restaurant in Nags Head.

Repertoire includes The Beatles’ “I Dig a Pony,” The Statler Brothers’ “Flowers on the Wall,” Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are” and Neil Young’s “Cinnamon Girl.”

Rea also says the duo re-invents songs.

Case in point: An acoustic version of Chicago’s horn-heavy pop-rock classic “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is.”

Cost: No cover

When and Where: 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at Dare Arts, 300 Queen Elizabeth Ave., Manteo and 6 p.m. Thursday at Sugar Creek Seafood Restaurant, 7340 S. Virginia Dare Trail (Nags Head-Manteo causeway), Nags Head

Info: darearts.org, Bill Rea on Facebook

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Thursday, Aug. 3

Manteo Murphy

If you have a soft spot for harmony-rich country-rock bands like The Eagles, Poco and Pure Prairie League, Manteo Murphy should be just the ticket.

They play Thursday at Town Park in Duck, and it’s free as part of the summer concert series.

The group’s name is a nod to what teachers in North Carolina use as a frame of reference for students: the length of the state is 560 miles from east (Manteo) to west (Murphy).

Manteo Murphy is anchored by longtime friends and musical collaborators Clarence Munden (bass, vocals), Tommy Hartley (guitar, keyboards, vocals) and Kent Luten (vocals).

The three men are scattered around the state.

For the Duck gig, local musicians Monte Hooker (guitar) and Ali Shield (percussion, vocals) of The Mo-Rons will sit in.

So, expect some four-part harmonies and skillful instrumentation on covers like “Seven Bridges Road,” “Ramblin’ Man,” “Ohio,” “Ticket to Ride,” “What the World Needs Now” and “Amie.”

Among the band’s standout Americana originals are “Letter to You,” “World Turning ‘Round,” and “Tuxedo.”

“We’re quite diversified,” says Munden, who lives in Elizabeth City.

Cost: Free

When: 6:30 p.m.

Where: Town Park, 1200 Duck Road, Duck

Info: townofduck.com

It’s lawn seating, so bring a chair or blanket

Bill and Friends

Bill Downing had one thing in mind when his band was recording their recently-released CD, “Back in My Life.”

“I wanted it to sound like you’re (the listener) sitting in the room with us,” says the Kill Devil Hills-based singer-songwriter and bassist.

To that end the album was recorded in four days in April of 2022 at In Your Ear Studios in Richmond, Va. with Downing and Friends playing and singing together in the studio.

Though that was a common practice for decades, it’s gone the way of tape machines.

These days, musicians often record their parts in different studios (including home spaces) at different times, losing the group dynamic.

The sessions were engineered and produced by Karl Eriksson and Carlos Chaffin, who found the sweet spot for Downing.

“We were ready to record,” says Downing, who’s been on the Outer Banks music scene since 1992, playing in such well-known local bands as BC Powder and Missionary Stew. “They did a great capture of the sound.”

The album is subtitled “As Live As It Gets in the Studio.”

Some minor vocal and saxophone overdubs were done at the Ranch Studios in Kill Devil Hills, with Scott Franson engineering.

The Friends include Chris Francis on guitar and vocals, Dan Martier on drums and vocals, Steve  Hutt on Hammond B3 organ, piano and keyboards, and Kip Germscheid on saxophones.

Eric Bylund sat in on slide guitar.

“Back in My Life” is sold at the group’s shows.

The band plays Friday at Art’s Place in Kitty Hawk and Saturday at Mimi’s Tiki Hut in Manteo.

“Who’s (sic) Cadillac is That?,” the album’s lead track, is available for download on iTunes and  other digital sites.

The bluesy rocker is getting radio airplay, including on WHRO in Norfolk, Va.(Paul Shugrue featured it on his excellent “Out of the Box” show).

It’s also listed on the 20-song Indie and Major Mix/Country Chart, which tracks airplay on FM, AM and internet radio stations.

Also on the July 10 chart were such heavy hitters as Chris Stapleton, Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen.

“Back in My Life” features 10 originals written by Downing, who cites influences that include Louis Jordan, Albert King and Jerry Garcia.

They’re housed in a Waring blender of musical styles, ranging from a Steely Dan-ish instrumental (“Stupid Grin”) to British Invasion rock (“Under the Bus”) to ‘60s-flavored rhythm-and-blues (“Cash Monies”) to old-school honkytonk (“Pretty Girl”) to swing-blues (“I’m Still Ready”).

The title track, which was inspired by Downing’s reconnection with his daughter Sarah, is a swirling mix of organ and saxophone fills, stinging guitar licks, rapid-fire drum beats and Downing’s fire-and-brimstone lead vocal.

He sings “you’re back in my life/now that you’re here/life is worth living/every day is like Thanksgiving.”

Sarah Downing also did the album’s cover art.

Downing says the band will play most of the songs on the album at upcoming gigs.

Bill and Friends also cover tunes by, among others, Grateful Dead, Bob Marley, the Doors, Santana and the Allman Brothers Band.

He added that he hopes to get the full album on digital sites in the coming weeks.

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If you go

Cost: No cover

When and Where: 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 21, at Art’s Place, 4624 N. Virginia Dare Trail (the beach road), Kitty Hawk and 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, July 22, at Mimi’s Tiki Hut, 2000 Sailfish Dr. (Pirate’s Cove Marina), Manteo

Smokin’ Grass festival

The first-ever festival features six top-notch bluegrass bands and five food trucks serving different blends of barbecue.

It runs 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, July 8, at the outdoor amphitheater at Roanoke Island Festival Park in Manteo.

The musical lineup includes The Kitchen Dwellers, Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, Songs From the Road Band, Breaking Grass, Into the Fog and Liam Purcell and Cane Mill Road.

While all the bands have one foot in the past with a traditional foundation built on guitar, mandolin, upright bass and banjo instrumentation and close harmonies, don’t think it’s your grandfather’s bluegrass.

There are also elements of Americana, country, rock, folk, Christian and, even, psychedelia in the mix.

Expect to hear originals and re-imagined covers (Songs from the Road Band does a killer, twangy remake of Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds”).

The Bozeman, Montana-based Kitchen Dwellers are probably the best-known group.

Known for their high-energy performances, the quartet plays July 15, at the legendary Red Rock Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado.

When: 12:30 p.m., with gates opening at 11 a.m.

Cost: $50 in advance, $60 at the door

Where: Roanoke Island Festival Park, 1 Festival Park, Manteo

Info and tickets: smokingrassfestival.com

It’s lawn seating, so bring a chair or blanket

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Tuesday, July 11

Fixity

The Hampton Roads-based duo – Sherri Linn (guitar, mandolin, percussion and vocals) and Bernie Lee (guitar and vocals) – plays at the outdoor Tap Shack in Duck.

On a recent night at the Shack, Lee and Linn, who bill themselves as “an Americana music machine,” put an innovative spin on tunes by, among others, Johnny Cash (“Big River”), Pure Prairie League (“Amie,” “Falling In and Out of Love”), Fleetwood Mac (“Monday Morning”), Mazzy Star (“Fade Into You”) and Melanie (“Brand New Key”).

The instrumentation was fluid and the harmonies were heavenly.

Other highlights included Linn getting in touch with her inner Dolly Parton on a sterling remake of “Jolene” and Lee conjuring up the spirit of George Harrison on a bright cover of The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun.”

They also knocked off terrific remakes of “Mr. Bojangles,” “New Speedway Boogie,” “Ripple” and “Come Together.”

The duo leans heavily on The Beatles and The Grateful Dead, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Other artists on Linn and Lee’s playlist are, among dozens of others, John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Patsy Cline, Bobbie Gentry (“Ode to Billy Joe”), Tom Petty and Kenny Rogers.

When: 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Cost: No cover

Where: Tap Shack (behind Coastal Cravings), 1209 Duck Road, Duck

Info: Tap Shack on Facebook