I try to keep a pretty good eye on the local music scene, and I’d like to think I’m fairly current, but I have to admit I was surprised when a local band called WTM Blues Band won the McKay’s Road to Nightfall Contest. Surprised because I’d never heard of them and because of the quality of the acts they beat out.
Turns out WTM is composed of some veteran players, and the band made its public debut at the contest. Digging a little deeper, the story gets even better. The band’s lead singer and guitar player, Thorpe McKenzie, was making his first public appearance playing music since his high school days, back in the ’60s.
“Yeah, I’m triple the average age of the guys in the contest,” he said earlier this week.
McKenzie said the band entered the contest to have some fun, “but after we won the first round, we got excited.”
McKenzie was born and raised in Chattanooga. During his high school days, he was in a folk/bluegrass band called The Innside 5, but when he went away to college, playing the guitar became simply a hobby.