Scenic City Showcase puts locals on display at Barking Legs

Magic Birds are Scott Bruce, left, and Ben Exell.

Nick Lutsko

The Goodbye Girls are Hayley Graham and Amber Fults.

Five acts featuring some of Chattanooga's better singers/songwriters will share the Barking Legs Theater stage tonight, June 23, for the second Scenic City Showcase.

Nick Lutsko, Ryan Oyer, TJ Greever, The Goodbye Girls featuring Amber Fults and Hayley Graham and Magic Birds featuring Scott Bruce and Ben Ezell will perform in the round, sharing not only their own songs but the stories behind them.

It was Bruce's idea to put the showcase together. It's not a new idea as several such showcases have taken place here before, but they've mostly featured out-of-town artists. Heartstrings for St. Jude, for example, takes place at the Tivoli and features Nashville-based singers/songwriters. Bruce wants to feature local artists.

"I did it before at The Camp House in August, and it went well," he says. "I'd like to do it once a quarter."

He says featuring the artists onstage at the same time should ensure that fans of each will be exposed to artists they are perhaps not familiar with.

"Local people don't support other local artists that well, but it's getting better," he says. "And musicians don't always get to watch each other. I've already got a ton of people wanting to be a part of the next one because they like the idea."

The musicians in the showcase represent a blend of styles. Oyer is known for his Brit-pop sounds. Lutsko performs rock/pop songs with a progressive bent. Greever is a veteran of the rock music scene, having performed with Up With the Jones and The Communicators. Fults and Graham both possess big voices that can carry almost any type of music. Oyer performs primarily acoustic independent rock, and Magic Birds are an Americana duo.

Oyer won the 2015 Road to Nightfall competition. Lutsko won it this year, performing to a large crowd, many of whom then paraded down Market Street to Revelry Room at the Chattanooga Choo Choo for an after-show performance.

Lutsko hosted a similar artist-in-the-round showcase briefly and actually got to perform in one at the famous Bluebird Cafe in Nashville while in college. He's most looking forward to both hearing other performers and playing some of his older songs that were originally written as acoustic pieces.

"I really like hearing other people and what they can do," he says. "And I'm looking forward to playing some of these songs at Barking Legs, which is a perfect venue for this kind of thing."

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.