Looks can be deceiving. We've all heard this saying over and over, but the outcome is still shocking when you experience a situation in which you don't get what you expect. Hearing music from an artist for the first time can add to the deception, since your imagination subconsciously pictures the singer as you hear the vocals. A lot of times your imagination gets it pretty close, but then there are examples like Allen Stone that just blow your mind.
At first glance, this quirky looking guy with long, shaggy red hair and oversized 1970s style spectacles looks like he either works on computers, wastes hours playing video games in his mom's basement or quite possibly spends his evenings strumming his acoustic guitar in quiet coffee shops trying to relive the late beatnik-to-early hippie era. However, if you gather this from his looks, you would be dead wrong. Once the music begins and Stone opens his mouth, you hear nothing but smooth soul.
Stone began singing at an early age in his father's church in the small northeastern Washington town of Chewelah. However, it wasn't until he was introduced to soul music as a teenager that he found his musical calling. After self-releasing his first two albums, Stone starting garnering attention with his second album, recorded with a collection of talented, well known R&B/soul musicians. Early on, there was question to where Stone would fit into the music scene, but soon his deceiving look became part of his appeal. He continues to cross barriers in the music scene and attracts different types of fans in each city he visits on tour. From positive feedback from various media outlets to appearances as a musical guest on many of the popular late night TV shows, Stone has quickly become an emerging artist on the rise. Coming off of a recent performance at the 2013 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Chattanooga will get to witness this "hippie with soul" take the Nightfall stage on Friday, July 19.