Received this today, if anyone has any input, feel free to contact Jack!
~JE

I need your help chronicling live music in the UT area and downtown Knoxville from the late '60s to the present. I'm seeking the input for this project, working title: "Cumberland Revisited". First I need information for text to accompany a CD to be produced in association with a proposed reunion of the Lonesome Coyotes early this summer. The Coyote history is a modular section-a chapter-of the larger, comprehensive history of the Cumberland Avenue/Ft Sanders/Market Square/Old City live music scenes.

The most honest way I can describe the likelihood of material gains from this project is about what one might expect from a labor of love. If you choose to help, all I can offer, in addition to a handshake and a big smile whenever we meet-is a byline, attribution as a participant or witness or a credit in the acknowledgments for input. How you are credited in "Cumberland Avenue" will vary depending on the nature of your contribution.

So tell me about a worthy band, singer-songwriter or instrumentalist from Knoxville. Or give me some sweet and pithy, cogent and concise quotes summarizing a sound or scene that came from our homegrown music community. Just let it rip, Knoxologically speaking, with regard to the times and the scene. Get as micro- or macro-historical as you want.

Later on, I will also be grateful for help assembling a sheer listing of all the clubs that presented live music over the last 30 years as well as every band we can think of that took the stage and played at least at the "passing the hat" level. So many bars and bands have come and gone over the years that it's going to take a couple dozen of us to get anything close to an all-inclusive compilation in these categories.

All these things being done, I'll try to weave the articles and data you contribute into a single narrative with sidebars for individualized articles.

To summarize: I need quotable material in one or more of the following categories-

· any memories of the Lonesome Coyotes and/or Maggie Longmire for publication in CD liner notes (NEED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to meet Coyote recording production schedule)

· a short history of your band(s) and/or solo career as a live stage performer in the Cumberland/downtown/UT area

· general commentary on the homegrown live music scene from any time period or venue, the good, the bad and the ugly (so long as it's not libelous)

The latter two categories are for the at-large history of the Strip and associated areas music scene. These categories are especially applicable if you weren't in a band or never heard the Coyotes. For example, an anecdote describing 'a night at the Longbranch listening to (your favorite band here)… '

If anything about this isn't clear or you have other questions, email me. If you're sending 'on the record' information or comments, please use email or fax so I can quote you verbatim. All information for "Cumberland Revisited" must be sent to me by the end of May. The sooner the better. An outline or early draft of what you plan to submit would be very helpful as soon as possible to help me plan a format for "Cumberland Revisited." Write in any style you wish-whatever comes naturally to you. But remember: this is going into the public record. So be accurate, fair, and pin down dates and locations as precisely as possible.

If you want to participate, let me know as soon as you get this notice. Then I'll get in touch to discuss a range of possible topics for you to write about. A near-range goal of "Cumberland Revisited" is, possibly, a serialized series of articles in a regional periodical. But the ultimate object of all this work is a book I hope to begin shopping around to regional publishers this summer.

Thanks,
Jack

Jack Rentfro
raincrow@esper.com; voice: 865.922.1296; fax: 865.922.4854