Being a consumer of pop culture can feel like an exhausting proposition. With the improvements to and decreased price of cameras and recording equipment, independent films and songs are being created at such a pace that there’s no chance, mathematically speaking, of experiencing everything that comes out.
Consequently, we tend to shy away from moving too far off the beaten track when it comes to our consumption of pop culture. Instead, we stick to what we know or are told we’ll like. We watch what Netflix suggests, buy tickets to the handful of films that make it to national theater chains, and we allow radio airplay or Spotify recommendations to guide our listening habits.
Casey PhillipsThat makes for a lot of undiscovered territory on the pop-culture map, and every once in a while, it’s nice to wander off – or be forced off – the trail to try something new and unexpected.
In that sense, events like Riverbend are fertile ground for musical discovery. However you feel about the festival, with 100 artists performing there, chances are you probably don’t know many of them. That leaves plenty of opportunity to find something new and unexpectedly amazing.
On June 15, for instance, a storm shut down music on every stage but the Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union Stage beneath the Walnut Street Bridge. That chance meteorological event introduced me to The Trongone Band, a Virginia-based Southern rock quartet who haven’t put out an album yet and, thus, passed totally under my radar.