Foreigner's Postponed, but music fun isn't drying up" : Sept. 2003"

By Kate Andrews - Daily Progress Staff Writer 9/19/03

Provided the Charlottesville is left standing after the national tour of Hurricane Isabel, there is some frolicsome music in store. Fridays After Five, which has been cursed with rainy weather this year, is postponing the Foreigner show---scheduled for this evening---until Sept. 28. We'll let you know if the locusts descend.

Monticello Road's indoor engagement on Sept. 26 may be a more reliable event to pencil in your calendar. The local group, which is working to shed it "Southern rock" label, will release its second album,” This Scripted Show." "There's this natural hint of country," said Jason Marshall, the band's bassist. "I think it's a Piedmont kind of sound."

Monticello Road also includes Kyle Rannigan (singer, guitarist), Josh Manzano (drummer), Adam Silvers (singer, keyboard player, and saxophonist) and Vaden Cox (singer, lead guitarist). Saxophone player and washboard musician Jake Covington and violinist Jason Scully are frequent guests.

The band is expanding its sound and has acquired a poppier edge. One track, "Lowdown," has gained airplay recently on WWW-FM, the local rock station. There's a touch of Train and John Mayer in the song--and not a taste of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Perhaps some of the group's new pop leanings can be attributed to producers Craig Honeycutt and Steve VanDam, former members of Everything. Producing the album took a month or two, Marshall said, including a couple of weeks of preproduction rehearsing, a weeklong recording session in Falls Church, fine tuning the album in Honeycutt's and Van Dam's Sperryville studio and , finally mixing the CD.

"We're starting to make a lot of connections," Marshall said. The group hopes to open for some big names in coming months and score gigs in larger venues, including in the Carolinas. Still, "we're just excited to play," Marshall noted. "I just think it's going to be a party.

Monticello Road, with opener Wrinkle Neck Mules, will perform at 10 p.m. Sept 26 at Starr Hill Music Hall,709 W. Main St. Tickets are $8. Call 434-977-0047

Author: DP Extra - Charlottesville, Va - The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, VA