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Return of the series that made Thursdays famous

Sundown in the City is back where it belongs, on Market Square, and no one is prouder than the city of Knoxville, which restored its $100,000 in annual funding of the event series this year.

The Sundown concerts were moved to the Old City Courtyard while Market Square’s refurbishment was underway, and the new square should hold more people and give them at least as good a view as the old square would have of the stellar entertainers who have been scheduled to perform there every Thursday between tonight and June 24.

The promoters at AC Entertainment and the city agree that crowds of 7,000 or more can be accommodated and should be expected. Those numbers would exceed any of the estimates from Thursday nights in the past two years of the series, when the square or the courtyard sometimes seemed jammed full.

Memorable evenings in past seasons included appearances by the now-disbanded rock-cover-magic college band Gran Torino, new grassers Nickel Creek, those iconoclastic classics Southern Culture on the Skids, the celebrated ¡Cubanismo!, the joltin’, jukin’ Jump Little Children, the blues-belting phenom Susan Tedeschi, to name a few of the big draws who satisfied the demand with panache.

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, whose unique fusion of jazz, ‘grass, funk, and world music sells out shows all around the globe, kicks off this year’s marquee bands with tonight’s show, after the crowd is warmed by the upbeat, fun sounds of Spooky Daly Pride.

The April 15 headliner is the Tony Rice Unit, featuring one of the all-time great flatpickers, with Jeff Barbra and Sarah Pirkle in the opening spot.

The rest of this year’s bill includes:

• April 22 — The Wailers, crowned reggae royalty
• April 29 — Donna the Buffalo, upstate New Yorkers who mix Cajun with reggae
• May 6 — Steve Winwood, a 2004 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall with his former band, Traffic
• May 13 — The Flatlanders, including three Texas songwriting legends—Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock and Joe Ely
• May 20 — Galactic, funky New Orleans soul and R&Bers, with Mike Doughty
• May 27 — Gillian Welch and David Rawlings with Mindy Smith, Americana at its pinnacle
• June 10 — Yonder Mountain String Band, young jam-grassers from the slopes of Colorado

Sound good? Wait until you hear ’em. Festivities start at 6 p.m., music at 7, taps close at 9 and taps are played at 10. Both Union and Wall Avenues will be closed across the square’s north and south ends this season, allowing crowds to spill down into Krutch Park and up onto the TVA steps and plaza, if necessary (and if TVA doesn’t object).

The number of concerts is down to 12, from 15 last year and 25 in 2002, but the list of performers gets more impressive each season. One special feature this year will be the addition of the winning band in the Dogwood Arts Festival’s annual Bluegrass Musical Competition. The festival’s contest, also on Market Square, is to be held Sunday, April 18, starting at 1 p.m. Amateur musicians only are to enter the event, sponsored by WDVX Radio. There will be a professionally experienced panel of three judges, who will “pick” the best mandolin, banjo, dobro, guitar and fiddle player in individual contests, and the best band. The band will be given one of the three open dates left in the Sundown in the City series.

If you can’t wait until you see who wins the competition, just see what AC comes up with for those other two dates in June. His scheduling so far has produced a lineup that’s little short of spectacular. And, as we can say with conviction from our vantage point overlooking the square from its splendid southwest corner, it’s great to have Sundown in the City back here in our front yard. Just great.

April 8, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 15 © 2004 Metro Pulse