MANSFIELD — The next installment of our Newsroom After Hours concert series is going to be lyrically lush, with singer/songwriter night this Friday.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 20 at Idea Works, located at 40 W. 4th Street in Mansfield. Click here to RSVP via Facebook.
Admission to the show is free and includes complimentary beer and food. Sponsors include Mechanics Bank, Phoenix Brewing Company, Doc’s Deli and WRDL in Ashland.
Kicking off Friday night’s show at 7 p.m. is Clint Knight, known any other day of the week as the director of workforce development with the Richland Area Chamber. Knight’s music career began early on, first influenced by trumpet playing in middle school band, and then later during the guitar/drum-playing grunge era of late 80s/early 90s.
“In high school I started to write songs, and one of my best friends at the time handed me James Taylor’s greatest hits album,” Knight said. “He told me if I wanted to write, I needed to know this music. I fell in love with that.”
Knight’s opening song “If Only” has been in his repertoire since 1998. Written his freshman year of college, he describes it as a “typical pop, teenage love song.”
“It’s stayed with. me because it’s kind of a basic tune,” Knight said. “I had the chance to put it on an album in 2010; when I actually went in the studio to record it, after playing it for nearly 15 years it took on a whole new life. The song became something it had never been before.”
If Only (3 mins)
Rest Easy (3min)
For Shawn (3 min)
Bottle Song (3 min)
Monster (3 Min)
I Like Your T Shirt (3 min)
Following Knight’s performance at 7:45 p.m. is Luke Miller, who performs under his stage name of “Mr Matthew.” Miller is relatively new to the Richland County music scene, first performing at the opening of Lexington’s Nickel & Bean coffee shop in 2017.
Music has always been a love of Miller’s, starting with plunking around on the piano at the age of five. He said his musical style is heavily influenced by Gregory Alan Isakov, old-school Bob Dylan, and early Mumford & Sons.
“I am definitely a folk musician at heart,” Miller said. “Lyrically, I like to write songs with a little depth, but still reflecting on everyday things.”
Miller will start his set on Friday with the song “Enter (in the Rear of Building).” While the song title was inspired by something mundane (literally just a sign he saw at work) the lyrics tell the story of someone looking back who has done some things they regret, and lost their sense of humanity.
“I don’t do a lot of upbeat music, and this is my most upbeat song,” he said. “Songwriting is just a part of my life; I’m not trying to ‘make it’ as a musician, for me it’s just a part of who I am and how I process things.”
Enter (in the Rear of Building) – 3:30
Winter (Spring) – 4:00
I Once Was (in Eden) – 3:30
Over (and Over) – 4:00
Slow (Is the Maker of Time) – 4:00
Closing out Friday night’s show is a Newsroom After Hours veteran, Ricky Mitchell, who first performed in our newsroom with the Yak Pack in 2018.
Mitchell got started in music “by accident,” when a performer at a Knoxville, TN venue paid him $20 to finish a set after one too many jaeger shots. That was more than a decade ago; he’s been playing in the Richland County area since 2015, pairing with artists such as Kid Kulture, S’yVelt, and even Knight.
“There’s a very big collaborative spirit around here,” Mitchell said. “I’ve been able to go out and meet a bunch of people, and suddenly I’m being asked to play for many different things. There’s an openness to play for other people and make music for the sake of making music.”
Mitchell said he was “finally” bringing new songs to play on Friday, after playing cover songs in bars for years and taking a two-year pause since his last album drop. The song he’ll be opening with on Friday is called “To Be.”
“Being as vague as possible, it’s about empathy,” Mitchell said. He noted it may or may not be inspired by the events of the past year.
To Be (4:45)
The Dark (3:45)
Shut Up and Sing (3:50)
Behind (4:50)
Held Down by Rubber Bands (4:30)
