Sycamore Flats, Continental Divide to perform this weekend

Two bands are gearing up for this week’s summer concert series, Friday Night Live and Saturday on Pines.

Sycamore Flats, an old-time country band based out of Brevard, will take the stage on Friday, May 27.

Ray Adams started Sycamore Flats 10 years ago, when friends of Adam’s started asking him to play at events around town in Brevard.

“The current members of the band got together, basically right before COVID,” Adams said. “The band is comprised of people that I have met during weekly jam sessions for old time music. They were the ones in the group that had the most experience playing and being out. Because we got started right around COVID, we didn’t really have a ton of gigs.”

Last year was the first year that the current band got some experience performing together on a stage. Before COVID, Sycamore Flats was a frequent guest at the Friday Night Live concerts.

“Our popularity is growing rapidly,” Adams said. “We do a lot of parties for people and business events. The concerts in Highlands are considered bigger events for us. For several years, we have been performing at Friday Night Live concerts, even back with the old members of the band. I would say we started playing Friday Night Live about 10 years ago.”

Adams himself got into music early, starting in the band in sixth grade. Starting as a punk-rock music listener, Adams said he eventually found old time music and has been playing that ever since.

“I played tuba for a few years in middle school,” Adams said. “Then I quit band to pursue things like skateboarding and bicycle racing. That got me listening to punk rock. The funny thing about that is me, our bass player Johnathan and Phil all have punk-rock music backgrounds, but now we play this old-time bluegrass music. I got into old time music when I moved to Brevard in 2005. I’m from Mississippi, and played some folk music, guitar stuff all throughout my 20s. Once I moved to Brevard, I found out about these old-time music circles and started joining those and learning how to play the fiddle and the mandolin.”

Adams said he has stuck with old time music, because he likes the rhythm and the tradition behind it.

“From the perspective of the tunes, I like the tradition of it,” Adams said. “It all started out as dance music. So, it’s really easy to get me into playing the music. It’s like you can feel the heartbeat and rhythm of the music. It feels like something you need to tap your feet to. Another thing is the community that comes with the music. Anywhere you go in the world, now, you can find a group of people playing old time music. It has expanded all around.”

When it comes to Friday Night Live performances, Adams said he comes back because he loves the feeling of the concerts.

“The people at the concerts are so welcoming, inviting and they cheer us on,” Adams said. “They love us being there. There is this warm, welcoming environment and I love the atmosphere of it. It is a really nice place to play music. There’s great audience engagement. The people there are actually listening to us. When we play at a lot of these parties and events, we don’t get a lot of crowd engagement. We are more like background music. At the Highlands’ concerts we usually ask the audience to participate with us and they do. It is really moving for us. A while back, at one of the concerts, there was a young artist in the crowd and she was actually sketching us while we were performing. At the end of the show, she brought us the piece. To have a young person in the audience do that for us, it’s huge.”

Live music in small communities, according to Adams, is vital.

“Live music is a part of art,” Adams said. “To me, you’re talking about a live, performing art.”

Sycamore Flats will take the stage, Friday night, at Town Square in Highlands at 6:30 p.m.

Continental Divide featuring Gene Pharr, a Charlotte based band, will be taking the stage at Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park on May 28, for the Saturdays on Pine Concert Series.

The band got its start about 50 years ago when former member Tom Pope, who passed away from cancer five years ago, brought the band back together after it had broken up. Lead singer Gene Pharr also joined the band at this time, upon which the band was established as Continental Divide featuring Gene Pharr, who will be celebrating his 50 years with the band.

“We’ve got a lot of long-timers, I’ve been with them 25 years,” Saxophone player Dennis Howren said. “The trumpet players, probably 35 years and the same with the keyboard player, and the bass player has been with them for about 30 years. So, we’ve got a lot of longevity in the band.”

Howren grew up surrounded by music which sparked his love for it at a young age.

“My dad ran Howren Music Company in Charlotte,” Howren said. “So, I grew up in the music store, and started in fifth grade playing sax and clarinet, progressed up through high school and college, and then came aboard with the music store. But I kept playing. I’ve been in different bands and settled with this great band. So that’s kind of my career, and music has always been there.”

The band has eight members in total including guitarist, a bassist, a keyboardist, three horns, a drummer, and a lead vocalist.

They boast a tight rhythm section and a flowing horn section that contributes to the band’s smooth and energized R&B sound. Howren says the audience should have their dancing shoes ready for the show.

“There’s a lot of high energy,” Howren said. “We’ve got three horns, so you’re going to hear a lot of old school, rhythm and blues, and some current stuff. “It’s funny because at some festivals we’ve played, we’re going up on stage and a lot of teenagers go ‘oh great, the old guys,’ but, as soon as we start playing, they’re up dancing and singing the songs because they grew up listening to this music from their parents. It’s kind of funny, they go from full smarties to really getting down.”

The band has performed at multiple wedding receptions in the highlands area and have headlined the Cashiers Fourth of July celebration for the last five years.

“Highlands is just a nice area and it’s fun to perform in,” Howren said. “It’s a long ride, but that’s what we do, so you know, we’ll drive two states over to play a gig. Playing music is just fun.”

Howren hopes that people enjoy themselves and the sense of community that music can bring.

“It brings everybody together, it forms a unity, a single mindset,” Howren said.  “[People] recognize the songs and they all get to sing. I mean, you look over to strangers singing a song that you’re singing and all of a sudden you put your arm around their shoulder and a bond is formed. Music touches the soul, touches the community, and just brings out the fun and life in people.”

Continental Divide featuring Gene Pharr will start their performance at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Founder’s Park.

- By Christopher Lugo and Kaylee Cook