Living Unleashed is back!

We're opening up with Brendan Gallagher, Co-owner of Black and Teal Concepts and creator of the Born and Bred concert series. Alex and Brendan have an in depth discussion on music and how it plays into our local communities, how we can foster the growth of local music culture, and how we as individuals can support our local artists and hopefully bring them success in their careers.

(Insights into the upcoming Born and Bred concert series on September 9th at the Robinson Grand are also included!)

Brendan's involvements:

Born and Bred Magazine

Black and Teal Concepts

Born and Bred Concert Series

Last Year's Model (Brendan's band)

Alex Reneman 0:00

Hello, this is Living Unleashed and I'm Alex Reneman. I'm here with Brendan Gallagher. Brendan, thanks for coming on the program.

Brendan Gallagher 0:07

Oh, thanks for having me.

Alex Reneman 0:08

Brendan, you've got a bio that I could spend most of the podcast kind of talking about all the things you're in and doing and a part of, you know, certainly black and teal concepts is a cool thing. Certainly Born and Bred. We're going to talk about you got your band Last Year's Model. Before we go, really, because today, we're really going to try to talk mostly about Born and Bred, but it'll go where it goes, and that's fine. But but give me a little bit of your journey. And how you got here. And I'd use the old Steve Martin joke from the jerk, but you can't use that anymore nowadays. So just start wherever you want to start and give me what you got.

Brendan Gallagher 0:39

Alex Reneman 1:48

That's true. Let's put get that on record. Just old, the old part, right? Yeah, yeah.

Brendan Gallagher 1:53

And then, you know, move back to West Virginia, started Last Year's Model, through Last Year's Model, got booked for a bunch of really cool gig, but then also started getting booked to run sound for events and promote the events. And it just kept snowballing from there. And then, yeah, launched black and teal concept as a marketing company, but it has now evolved into more of a music marketing company. So that's where I'm at right now.

Alex Reneman 2:23

Awesome. I mean, it's a true pivot, you know, as you go through their life, life's a journey. You know, when you're young, you think it's all going to be just a straight line and a path that is all clear. And the weaving of that life path is always fun. Yeah. So so let's talk about so blocking to concept. So you're there and you know that this has now morphed into music promotion. And but you've got a ton of stuff going on locally to there and Shinston I mean, oh my gosh, I mean, it's it's really impressive what you guys have pulled off down there, or over there, per se, depending on where you are. Help me me guide how that how that then turns the corner into Born and Bred and and how all this kind of fits together today.

Brendan Gallagher 3:03

Alex Reneman 5:48

Yeah, fascinating story. You know, it's, it's, I think, folks who aren't, who aren't around here, don't recognize or maybe even give the credit to the rich music history that's here. And that the artistry is just, it's fascinating, really. And so I think what you're doing is really great, because you probably have a ton of rich content you're able to pull in and use, and the showcase of born and bred is a fantastic concept. It's great. We've, we've turned a lot of great artists that have gone elsewhere, but also are still here and doing their thing. And so it's great to kind of meld it all that together and tell them that story. It's awesome. So knowing you're a musician you're involved in, in helping folks produce their music. Also, with the Born born and Bred concert series, as well as the magazine, you have a pretty unique perspective of the challenges that a West Virginia musician takes on and and really, I'm gonna extend that out a little bit. I mean, it's West Virginia, but it's also a small town, it's also Appalachia, it's kind of all these things, kind of walk through some of us that haven't had that experience, what are some of those unique challenges that somebody is facing trying to be a musician in this area?

Brendan Gallagher 6:52

That makes sense. So on the flip side, though, so obviously there are challenges and you know, being here, but there's, there's got to be some advantages, right? Growing up in an area, small town in West Virginia, whatever it may be Appalachia, what were some advantages being a musician in that case.

there's one thing we all grew up with, if you grew up in this area, and that is storytelling, and, you know, you get together with anybody, you know, you get, you get 10 People from your class together, and how many stories and everybody has the ability to tell stories that happened 40 years ago, we have a rich tradition of storytelling. And I think that translates to a ton of the artists here. I think there's a lot of really good writing ability in this state, a lot of the artists that I work with and talk with, they know how to craft the story. And I think it has a very strong benefit, you know, we all grew up on actually talked about this in one of our articles with (ineligble), you know, one of the things that influenced her writing, is the Telltale Lilac Bush, a book we all grew up on, you know, again, you don't make it past seventh grade without reading that book, here in West Virginia. And, you know, we have that tradition of oral history of that of urban legends, myths, things like that, that cause us to just dream and have that storytelling capability.

Yeah, you know, is perfect segue connecting to that as community, you know, so. So, you know, these these small towns are well known for if somebody needs something, communities, they're ready to back it up, how and what you're doing with with Born and Bred, how is that fostering community and taking advantage of how music is interwoven so closely with community?

Right. So I will tell you, there's been this weird thing in the state that I really didn't grasp until I started the magazine, which, you know, we just started the magazine in May, and since, here we are in August. So in that short period of time, one of the things I've discovered is that there is a very vibrant, Southern West Virginia music scene that people up here have no clue about. And then there's the northern West Virginia music scene. They're very different with the music that people up here making compared to the music that they're down, they're making two totally different styles. It's like, I mean, it's crazy to me how verse, diverse, the sounds, are that are coming out of the bands here. And so one of the things we're doing is getting a lot of those bands to meet each other and know each other and find out about each other. The magazine has been a great catalyst to put bands together that weren't aware of each other. But now they're finding out about one another and booking shows. And, you know, covering a band out of Davis, West Virginia, that you think Davis, Elkins, that area, and oh they're probably going to be country, no, this is one of the best alternative rock groups I've heard in forever. They're called The Moon My Twin. And people don't know about them. And they're incredible. And they would go they have a lead singer, that reminds me very much of Annie Lennox. And it's, it's just one of those bands that I never would have found out about how to not really focus on this magazine the way we are, and, you know, and we'll be playing shows with them now. And so through that there was some networking that happens. That the magazine is able to facilitate, we're actually creating a on the website for the magazine, a directory of every band in the state of West Virginia, and breaking them out by category genre, so on and so on, so that people know what's available to them. That's a task

That's a task I'm sure. Right there.

Yeah, well, the only way it's going to work. And I'll tell you, we're not going out with finding them all. We have created a form where they have to submit there is no way I'm going to find them all so they want to be on it. That's how they gotta get on it.

Yeah, that makes sense. On the flip side of that from from a spectator audience or community member, you know, no matter how involved you are in music, I think most of us can see the importance of having a vibrant music scene in your community. What can we do? What can what can the, the music goers do as opposed to the music creators?

Yeah, so that's where the honestly, that's one of the biggest things, you need to be following all of their social media. The way bands get in front of people. You don't book a show anymore without them saying hey, can you send us your links to your Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, so on and so on? Because they want to see your followers because they want to know if I'm booking this person, do they have a drawing? Do they have a following? And so that's two things. A - band's got to be better about promoting themselves on those social media channels. B - the people have to be better about following and interacting with those channels as well. So that's step number one, buying merch, buy a t shirt, that T shirt will help that day and get to that next town. You know, that's it. That's a tank of gas, or Well, a half a tank of guess depending. I guess I just went back to 2000. That's a whole tank of gas. But yeah, you know, supporting them through things like that, sharing their music, when you see it in your feed, share that song. Let people know there's some amazing music that has happened in the last year and two years in this state that my goodness that people were aware of. I mean, I don't know if people realize, but one of the biggest names in country music right now is from Morgantown. And he's blown up Charles Wesley Godwin. And I was playing shows with Charles when he was in another band called Union Town Treaty. And that was just seven years ago. And now this guy is one of the biggest names in country music. And, you know, if that happened, because people share this stuff, they were paying attention to social media. But he did a great job promoting it as well. But yeah, he also the biggest thing, and I would say this to artists, I think has had him apart was the quality of his product. Musicians can't complain about people not following them that they're putting out a crap product. And so you got to put out a good product, if you expect people to pay attention to what you're doing. There's a, there's a branding aspect to music that a lot of musicians don't understand and don't spend any energy on. And it's a major fault, because you have to think about your band as a business and as a product, and how you're merchandising, essentially, and Charles did a fantastic job at that. But here's this guy from West Virginia, and that's blown up and he writes amazing music about West Virginia.

I was just gonna go there, you look at Charles, Brad Paisley, others, they they've they've really embraced they entangle their music, oftentimes with West Virginia, oftentimes, celebrating was great here. And sometimes, you know, pointing out what we're struggling with, whether it's the opioid epidemic or anything else, you know, obviously, you know, when you're playing locally that that may or may not play well. But what thoughts do you have around really embracing your roots when you're when you're out there creating music,

Only embrace your roots if you are going to be authentic about it. The I would discourage I think there is a almost almost an abuse of the word Appalachia lately. It's like every business that pops up now is Appalachia, so so so. You know, everybody's using that word. It's like a buzzword. And you can thank Tyler Childers for that. But he was he was able to take that Appalachia message. And people have just been using it in everything now, which is fine. But people will see through the bull crap, if it's not legit. I'm gonna tell you right now, Last Year's Model will never write a song that has anything to do with Appalachia or the word Appalachia, it would not fit. It would not fit our whole approach to things. That doesn't mean I can't write songs about the West Virginia experience. But I just wouldn't use those words. So yeah, just make sure you're genuine in it. And I think it's a great thing. I think it's great that people are highlighting the beauty of our state. Oh, I'm forgetting his name, Philip Bowen. He was just on America's Got Talent. He just released an amazing song a couple of weeks ago. Well, actually, two songs in the last few months, we will first song is a song about the Kanawha River. It's called the Old Kanawha and it's literally just describing the Kanawha river. And it is beautiful. And for any but it's also very limiting in its reach, I think because you have to have some familiarity with it, I think a little bit but not necessarily because then you think about the song The Chattahoochee never went there, but I listened to it growing up, but but then he followed that song with a song called There's a Vampire in Appalachia. This is one time where somebody using the word Appalachia works 100% Because he's talking about the struggles of the Appalachian coal miners and how they were basically the life was sucked out of them can make other people rich. And the in line of it is "there's a vampire in Appalachia and we're running out of blood". And oh my goodness, the song you listened to it as a West Virginia as anybody who grew up in the Appalachian Mountains, it's just like, Man, that's a powerful so it's an authentic use of our story of our background, and it works so well.

Yeah, you know, that's a that's a great example to the power of music and how it impacts lives. You know, obviously the life of the creator, the life of those enjoying it. I'd love to speak a little more about with with Born and Bred. I mean, you're interviewing some folks, you've got some great articles out there where folks can kind of tell their story. And it's just it's really powerful and I I'd love for you just expand a little bit on what you how you're connecting the power of music. And whether it's the gritty cultural life that we have growing up in West Virginia or elsewhere, just expand a little bit on what, what Born and Bred is doing to really kind of exemplify that.

Yeah, so I try to find an angle. When I write these stories of how I can make this, how I can make people realize that this music has impact beyond your local region. So two quick stories that I've done. One was on an artist named Corey Hager out of the southern part of the state, Corey has a song called Honky Tonk Addiction. Now when you listen to a song on a surface, it's a it's a trashy country song in an in a good way. Like, it's like that. You're gonna hear this at your bar, okay? But he says, I got a honky tonk addiction. And he says it was passed on to me by my granddad. That's the That's the theme of the song. So certainly, that's a very interesting line. And why is it so important that he said that, then you find out that the movie, Harlan County 1976, which is based on the coal strikes in 1976, that revolutionized the coal industry beyond the Cold War. So this was like, you know, the Cold War really started this the Bled and but then Harlan County really pushed it forward. There's a scene in that movie, where a gentleman is sitting on a porch playing music in front of a huge crowd that gathered around and he's sitting there and he's singing a song about himself. Turns out that gentleman is Corey Hager's grandfather. So when he says that, that Honky Tonk addiction was passed on to him, and that's, you know, that's just what like that movie was very impactful. And it had this huge ripple across the country when it came out. And so here's this kid who's now in West Virginia, growing up here, playing music. And that's his. That's his lineage. That's huge. And then, another was one that I did you know, Born and Bred, we don't cover just musicians, we cover music adjacent things. So we did a story on the record store in Reedsville, West Virginia called Assumption Records, and beautiful store awesome, great people there. They don't rip, people don't realize they sell a cleaning product, which just may not seem like a big deal. But they sell a record cleaning product. And it's carried by record stores in France. Okay, so here's, here's a little record store in West Virginia, that's having an impact in France. And so that's how I told that story was from the perspective of somebody going into this marketplace where I know exactly I went and Google or the store and everything, I know exactly where it was, I was able to describe the street in the store. And then you're in the store and you find this product and flip it over and raise all West. Virginia's on the back of this cleaning product. And that's me is how born and bred gets to tell these stories is showing the impact that these artists are having across the globe. I mean, we talked about Chris Weaver. Gosh, Chris Weaver has a huge following in Brazil. And people don't realize, like that this guy goes down there. And crowds are coming out of the woodworks to see him. And he had a song that went huge in Brazil. Same for the Davidson brothers. You know, they're huge in Australia. How does that happen? Yeah, they have a huge following Australia. And so I think it's awesome for us to get an opportunity to highlight the successes that people are having. That's I think that's one of the ways Born and Bred gets to do that.

So it's it's fascinating. It really is. And so when you're looking at obviously there's there's a lot of artists, there's a lot of music adjacent things happening in the area, or where they've come from this area that are happening elsewhere. How do you what what's what's the kind of the process you go through to select whether it's an act to to be in the concert series, or it's a it's a it's a highlight the magazine?

The concert series work with a team that we because, you know, the Robinson Grand has a vested interest in that. So I don't just make blanket decisions across the board. And you know, or start unilateral decisions across the board. I work with a team to make sure that it benefits everybody involved.

And what a great venue too. I mean, what a great venue to have here. It's fantastic.

We got to play the first one and I first of all their crew there. Everybody there is top notch. It is the sound quality as a band, I guess that's one of my favorite things, is giving bands that don't wouldn't ever get a chance to play there the opportunity to have this so they can see what's possible. Because sometimes you don't know what you should go after until you've been given a chance to see it and do it. And that maybe you should expect more and demand more. And so that's been fun for me to give those artists that opportunity. But yeah, so that's you know, we were looking for shows that fit shows that makes sense shows that we're going to draw them for the magazine, kind of a similar approach. But, you know, well, the Born and Bred philosophy, going back to that very first concert series, you know, you had Chris Weaver, you had Stephanie Alington, and you had Taylor Made, George Shingleton. But then I put artists in between all of them that people may not have been familiar with in the area, to give them a chance to be seen to be heard, that's the same, that's the same thing we do with every concert series, and with the magazine, we're going to, for the concert series, you're gonna come see a band that's doing really well, or that's making it or has made it, you're gonna see a band that's getting there, and then you're gonna see another band that you may not be aware of. And the goal is to get that band that you're not aware of up there with that band that you are aware of, to give them the opportunity to be seen. That's actually disappeared a lot from the local music scene is that a lot, it used to be back in the day, oh, you're bringing in. I don't know, Motley Crue. And you're gonna put a local mental act on that show to give them that exposure that's gone, then use don't do that anymore. They booked these big acts, they do not support local, and I'm just saying that straight up, they don't. And that's so that's kind of that model we're bringing back is we want to support for local artists. So that's how the magazine works to. I'm gonna write a story about Brad Paisley. But I'm also gonna write a story about that guy who's busting out in the street? Because I want him to be seen alongside the Brad Paisley, because he deserves as much respect for being an artist for crafting what he does, as Brad Paisley does, just because Brad Paisley plays to 60,000 people, and he plays to six doesn't mean that they don't deserve to be heard.

Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, you mentioned earlier we talked about about putting an event together and you look at the traveling state. And I love the idea of bringing those bands together by the way of different genres and different geographics. I think that only good things can come out of that. But how do you how do you make sure when you're looking at an event, or even really, I'm kind of living in both worlds. But putting the magazine together, making sure it appeals to a broader demographic is contrary to popular belief. If you look at demographics, West Virginia, we all don't have the same interests. It is a it's a really diverse state, especially when you look at geographic you start cutting it up, how do you how do you what goes through your mind and kind of setting that up? This event will be good this was I can represent a larger demographic or, or a certain demographic, how does that work?

You have to really, that depends on a couple of things A - what's the intent of your show. So I've got to show that I'm working on right now that is actually on August 11 to 12 in Shinston and called Shendi. 22 bands over two days, the artists range from punk to folk to country to alt-rock and, but they all feel fit together. If that makes sense. There's a I'm not going to throw a death metal group on this show. That doesn't mean I want to book them for another show. But they're just not going to make sense on this show. That there's still a thread of continuity between all these bands, even though they're different genres. There is a likeability to each of them that would ... the listener who's going to come see the parachute brigade this weekend, or that weekend, would also be interested in seeing a band called The Bedheads. They're very different bands, but they still fit together. So that's kind of one of the things but then also, you know, if I'm booking something for a very specific festival, that has a theme that I really have to stick within a specific niche for that. I don't like doing that. I hate doing that. Because I think you limit your crowd, you limit your draw by doing that. Somebody may want to come see a country book group, but you might have people that won't come to you that rock group, I say put them together and get both crowds at once. So that ... my approach is really targeting everybody at once with music because I think music most people, you know, they don't have a CD folder of just country music. They don't have a CD, or CD folder. Whatever. Itunes collection. I'm, just diggin myself.

Gas prices and CDs, man, you're rolling around. You're doing a great dollar a gallon and stocked full of CDs.

I got I got this is how we do it. Right next to Atlantis Morissette. Yeah. But yeah,

I think you're right look, I mean, you know, there are certain people that have their favorites, but I for one love to have some variety. I like to I like to be stretched a little bit sometimes.

I can't listen to the same genre, I cannot listen to the same genre of music all over and over and over again. And I don't think most people do that. So I think you make sense to have a festival that also has that same approach.

So this is this is fascinating to me. I mean what you're doing is fantastic. Again, right their in Shinston and the things you're doing there are really cool. What you're doing with the Born and bred concert series is awesome. The magazines cool. What's what's next I'm You know, what's what's the future hold for born and bred at this point?

Does there need to be more?

I know there is there doesn't need to be, but I know you well enough to know, you know, what can we expect?

Oh, I really can't say.

Fair, fair enough.

I, I will tell you there is more coming. See, I told you, but I'm not at liberty to say it yet. We will stay tuned. But there, there will be some big things happening for us. I will say I can say it this way. We are going to be doing a lot of booking for events that are not ours. And so that's kind of a new thing for us. But other people have seen what we're doing and seeing the success we're having, and have approached us about running already established festivals and things like that.

Awesome. Well, we'll stay tuned for that. It'd be good to have you back on talk about some of that. Brendon. I know we've got the next Born and Bred concert series coming up on the ninth right? September 9. Yeah. Okay. So and that's at the Robinson Grand how do people engage that how do they get tickets? What's What's the

Yeah, so just go to the Robinson grand Robinsongrand.com Real easy. And look for the event. Amazing lineup for that one, good friend of mine, Corduroy Brown is playing that and oh my gosh, this guy if you've not seen him, you're gonna love him. John Ingram is playing and his band's incredible. And then Lords of Luster. This is a gentleman who is known in the area for his art, he actually just did a mural in Morgantown, that beautiful on the side of Andrew white guitar building. But he has a band called Lords of Luster. That is really, really talented group of guys. And then we also have artists playing in the lobby, up in the VIP room. And actually, as people come into the crowd, so there will actually be six artists playing during that evening. And then the we have another one coming up in November, which I am at liberty to go ahead and say that two of the artists from that will be Grafton natives, we will have Stephanie Adlington with (ineligble) playing and we will have Taylor Made actually playing. And Taylor Made is kind of just gearing up again after having been dormant for a while. And it's good to see them back out and playing. So and then there'll be a couple of couple of artists on that one as well. So excited for both of those shows.

Great. That's awesome. Brendan, I'm glad you came on the program today. I'm loving what you're doing. It's fantastic. It's great. I think it's great for the area. It's great for the music scene. It's great for those individuals that are trying to make their way through the music scene. And it's good for this us as the spectators of people. So I'll give you the last word. What is it you'd like to say to folks as we're closing this down? Yeah.

Basically, you know, support these artists support local, support these bands, go to their shows, share their stuff, follow them. Tell people about them, you want. You want your local artists to become the next big thing. And the only way they're going to do that is through your help and your support. So go to the show, buy the shirt and give them give them personal money in the tip jar. And, you know, yeah, that'd be it.

Awesome. All right, Brendan Gallagher with Black and Teal Concepts, Born and Bred concert series, Born and Bred magazine, and more. Thank you. Thank you for coming on. Thank you for all you're doing and we'll definitely have you back on. We'll get an update here soon.

All right. I appreciate ya. Thank you. All right, thanks.