Jeffrey Gaines with Alice Wallace share their passion for music on the Open Chord stage Friday night
Everyone has a dream. A passion. A story. The road to pursuing a dream is not always easy; but, once you make it, it can make for a great story - or songs in this case.
Singer-songwriter and guitarist Jeffrey Gaines graced the Open Chord stage Friday, January 17. With only his guitar and soulful lyrics, Gaines gave an impactful show to Knoxville.
Opening for Gaines was Alice Wallace. Wallace, originally from California, is a country music artist who recently moved to Nashville last month. She was accompanied by violinist and longtime friend Xander Hitzig.
“People are so nice here,” Wallace said. She hopes to be back in Knoxville again soon.
Wallace’s set consisted mostly of songs from her newest album: Into The Blue. Each song was performed with true passion and straight from the heart. Her opening song, Santa Ana Winds, was written when the massive fires tore through California a few years ago. She also played the title song “The Blue.”
Before beginning each song, Wallace would explain why she wrote it or why she chose to perform it. While still in California, Wallace performed at the legendary Palomino Club. The only stipulation, to perform a song by someone who once sang on that stage. Wallace chose “Long, Long Time” by Linda Ronstadt. She sang her cover of it during her set for Knoxville.
Wallace and Hitzag performed four more songs and ended with another cover song. Her last two songs included yodeling. She joked about how sometimes people are not too excited when she mentions she will be yodeling. However, the crowd was excited and cheered for her yodels. Her original song, “Echo Canyon” can be heard on her new album.
Following a very short intermission, Gaines took the stage with just an acoustic guitar. He kicked off his set by mentioning how cool it was that there was a music shop (Open Chord Music Shop) in the back and a stage upfront. Gaines said he bought a few new things and was using them during his performance.
Gaines is from Harrisburg, Philadelphia, where he said everyone wanted to play football growing up so he wanted to be different and do music. Gaines said when he was younger that his mother would drop him off at the local skating rink on Friday nights and he would wait for her to drive off before walking over to Little Joes Bar. He would then just sit outside and listen to the live bands performing in the bar. One day, after many weeks of sitting outside, the bouncer let Gaines inside because it was cold out. Gaines took the opportunity and stood inside and enjoyed the show. Eventually, he worked his way into playing music on stage here. He said he started playing music sometime in ‘83 or ‘84. He would play covers of songs until he began writing his own music in ‘89.
Just one year after he started writing his songs, Gaines was signed to Chrysalis Records where he released his self-titled debut album in 1992. After that, the rest is history. Gaines has been all around the world performing his music.
The beginning of his 17 song set included songs like “Falling Apart” and “I Know A Man.” According to his website, Gaines said he only ever knows the first song he’ll play at one of his shows. “... but from there the energy and the vibe tell me what the next song is going to be. Someone may yell a song, and I’m like ‘Exactly! Good call.’ That’s so fun to me, keeping it exciting and spontaneous.” He asked for fan requests towards the latter half of his set.
Between each song, Gaines would have some dialogue leading into it. Sometimes it was a joke or a story or why he wrote that song. He always kept the crowd entertained - much of the dialogue was meant to elicit laughs from the crowd.
Gaines shared that he used to work with his father, laying carpet. He said he did that during the week and played music on the weekends. Once his father passed, he realized he wanted to do music full time and so that’s what he started to do.
After his self titled album, Gaines released Somewhat Slightly Dazed, Galore, Always Be, and Toward The Sun. His most recent album from 2018, Alright, followed a couple live albums that he released.
Gaines toured with Stevie Nicks as her opener during one of her previous tours. He said every time she was about to go on stage, she would ask for him. She would be so ecstatic right before taking the stage and she would hug Gaines and beat on his back in excitement. He has also toured with Tracy Chapman, Sting, Joe Jackson, and more.
Gaines performed some of his hit songs from each album. They included “Sorry The Very Next Day,” “Headmasters Of Mine,” “Loves Her Inside,” “In Your Eyes,” and more. He only performed two cover songs and those were towards the end. He ended with a cover song because he said none of his are climatic enough to end on.
“In Your Eyes” was originally a Peter Gabriel song from ‘86 that Gaines redid and recorded for his Galore album.
“Bless your hearts Knoxville,” Gaines said during his performance. He truly meant as he serenaded his fans with his music. After his last song, Gaines stepped off stage and walked out into the crowd shaking hands and thanked people for coming.
Gaines’ next show is January 21 in Mobile, Alabama. After that, he’ll continue touring around the United States until June. All of his music can be found online either on his website or a music streaming platform.