Saturday, Aug. 5
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
