MUSIC MADNESS: Live music is now livestreaming

Musicians use technology to continue performing

Arkansas' resident country music star, Justin Moore, headlines a livestreaming concert at 7 p.m. Saturday on YouTube.

(Democrat-Gazette file photo)
Arkansas' resident country music star, Justin Moore, headlines a livestreaming concert at 7 p.m. Saturday on YouTube. (Democrat-Gazette file photo)

Matt Stell, the tall (6-foot, 7-inches) college basketball player, now a rising country singer who was born in Clinton and raised in Center Ridge, hosts a weekly (8 p.m. Wednesdays) livestream video series — Penned Up — on Instagram, @MattStellMusic. Stell's press materials note that his album, Prayed for You, not only was certified platinum for sales of more than a million units, but it was the only No.1 album by a debut artist in 2019.

• "And the Beat Goes on Arkansas — A Live Streaming Event," presented by Simmons Bank, will feature Justin Moore, who will perform live from Simmons Bank Arena. He will be joined by four Arkansas artists who will be streaming from remote locations: Tracy Lawrence, Joe Nichols, Adam Hambrick and Heath Sanders on YouTube at 7 p.m. Saturday in a benefit for The Feeding America Food Banks in Arkansas and Hunger Relief Alliance.

Viewers will have the option of donating through a link, shortened here for our readers — arkansasonline.com/49donate/ — or by texting FEED to 501501 for a $10 donation.

To watch the YouTube live, see youtu.be/XsWboLACTd8.

• Searcy native Beth Ditto, formerly of the band Gossip, suggests that her fans can sign up for a 30-day free trial at Showtime.com to watch Ditto in the film On Becoming a God in Central Florida, a Showtime series starring Kirsten Dunst.

• Monsterboy is continuing to do nightly Living Room Concerts at 7 :30 p.m. Tips will be accepted at PayPal.Me/monsterboylives, at Venmo: @Chris-Long-162 or in a cash app: $VeronicaWirges.

• Arkansas native and media darling Bobby Bones is hosting the livestream of The Grand Ole Opry show, which began livestreaming Feb. 26 on Circle TV (circleplus.com). The legendary country music show thus continues its streak of live shows, despite not having an audience. Since its inception on radio, the show has regularly broadcast on Saturday nights, missing only one night — following the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King in 1968.

• Trout Fishing in America, the Northwest Arkansas duo, has a pertinent message on their site, troutmusic.com, dated March 18, where they note that "in 40 years, the only job we ever canceled was to allow Ezra to be at the hospital for the birth of his daughter, Dana Louise."

Dana Louise, grown up and a performer herself these days, is featured in the recent Bentonville Home Sweet From Home Festival, held Friday and Saturday, with 22 hometown artists and 10 regional or national artists performing. The festival, originally intended to be the second annual live event, was switched to a streaming format. Louise was performing with Noah Richmond as Meadow Makers.

On citysessions.org, the Bentonville festival folks indicate they are not quite ready to release details of another festival in October. The online festival was carried on Facebook, YouTube and Twitch.

The Arkansas Highlands Folk Project, based in Hot Springs, has postponed its third live concert, instead creating a virtual version of the show, according to the Hot Springs newspaper, The Sentinel-Record. Organizer Charlie Moore says those who are interested in getting on the project's email list and receiving a list of YouTube links to "The First Ever Coronavirus Stay-At-Home Virtual Old Time Concert," can send an email to [email protected].

• Sad Daddy fans, who had been promised an online Undercroft concert Friday night, will have to wait. Bassist Melissa Carper reports that Sad Daddy would have to reschedule as she was in Tennessee, abiding by a stay-at-home order.

Carper adds, however, that her other group, Buffalo Gals Band, is doing online Facebook streaming shows at 6 p.m. Wednesdays. Watch it at facebook.com/BuffaloGalsBand/.

• Meanwhile, Bluesboy Jag, the sardonic cigar box guitar maker, player, teacher and Apple computer fix-it guy in North Little Rock, reports "I may not have to cancel any of my gigs, they said no more than 10 could gather."

Weekend on 04/09/2020

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