by Chuck Dauphin
Mike Aiken has been fortunate to enjoy some success in the music business. The popular entertainer has found a way to give back a little with his 6th Annual Smithfield Music’s Aiken & Friends Fest, which takes place in Smithfield, VA September 30 – October 1. It’s an event that is near and dear to the singer’s heart. He shared with MNN about the beginnings of the event.
“My idea to start this festival happened when I was sailing from the Bahamas to the Chesapeake Bay,” he recalls. “You know, a sailboat moves slow – at about six miles an hour, and I was just looking up the east coast of the country, and thinking about all the diversity in music that you find there. Then, I started thinking of doing an Americana / Country Roots festival, and looked for a spot where you could drive to it, but also bring a boat to it. That just developed into me starting this festival. There were some spots in Maine, and in Chesapeake, and it ended up out of Smithville. Really, what happened was I had outrun a hurricane in that town and had never been there. It’s a very small rural town on the Pagan River. I found that they had a real good music program there. There was a couple who did a non-profit thing where they brought in music, and all the profits went into providing music education for kids. So, over a couple of years, we had meetings about it, and we teamed up with them. It’s been six years – and it’s growing and doing well – and all the proceeds we hand out for band instruments, scholars, or tutors. We’re just trying to keep the music going for kids, and give them something else to look at besides the streets. I know for me, having an instrument to play kept me out of the ditch, and gave me focus as a kid!”
Aiken confessed that event has blossomed into an event that it’s given him a problem that many would like to have – He finds himself saying no more often than he would like.
“We actually had to turn down about 90 acts this year that submitted, but we tried to get good folks,” he said, and the schedule reflects that he did just that. “I tried to bring in people that I had worked with over the years, and one of my favorites is Ray Wylie Hubbard out of Texas. I had done some writers’ shows with him, and this year we brought in his whole band. I’m really excited about that. Another one that is going to be there in the writers’ round is Sherrie Austin, and also Steve Williams – I co-write with Steve a bit, so that will be a good one. The Patty Reece Band – she’s sort of a Blues-Roots rocker out of D.C – she’s got about ten CD’s out, and has all won all kinds of Blues awards. One of the things about this festival is that everything is original. Unless you are licensed to do a cover tune, we don’t have anyone do cover tunes. We’re really promoting songwriters. That’s the big promotion of it. It is such a hard outlet for people in the industry – especially beginners to have an outlet where people will want to hear their original songs. We wanted to do the festival as a slow build -which means, we weren’t looking for tons of people in the beginning. We wanted to get a buzz going on from the artists that this was a great place to come and play. If we got the artist level to a certain point, we knew people would come out, and that’s just what has happened.”
The event also serves as learning experience for many, thanks to some of the music educational workshops there. “I do writers’ workshops all over the place, but I really started that at the festival. We do a writer’s workshop, and we cover anything from experts to beginners. The other one we do is one with an endorsee of the festival. One of mine is Ovation Guitars – I play their mandolins. For the past two years, they have been a sponsor, and they’re bringing in one of their guns – Matt Smith, who is out of Texas. He’s a monster player, and does a great workshop.”
This year, another new wrinkle has been added into the mix, Aiken says. “As the indie movement has really taken off, it’s kind of the way to go – unless you’re a huge, huge label. So, about ten years ago, we started a label of which my wife Amy is the President of. She records all sorts of other people – we started it for me, but there’s a lot of others besides me. She does a workshop that is sort of an Indie Workshop 101. You get all levels – a wanna be musician who really doesn’t know what to do, who will ask ‘I recorded this CD, now what do I do.’ When, he should have asked that question way before he recorded the CD.’ It will cover finding a publicist, how you do record promotion.”
He says that interest has been great this year from many different regions of the United States. “We’re getting bookings for the workshop from all over, Maine to California,” he says.
Mike also reflects that he takes a great deal of pride in seeing talent develop over the years. “It’s real enjoyable to see that. What we do on the regional side is hold a series of open mic events in the Tidewater region. We’ve seen them where they are really nervous to compete, and their songs are ok. They come to the workshops, take it to heart, maybe they call you once or twice during the year, and a year later, the songs are much better. Their approach is better. Maybe, they are learning how to co-write. Part of our sponsorship on the writing side of this is with NSAI. They come in and help us with some of our chapters as far as getting the word out with their mentoring system a lot.”
Something else the singer is looking forward to this fall is the release of his very first Christmas EP. “I just got it sent back to me from the manufacturer. For about three years, I’ve had fans and radio asking me for Christmas songs, and I hadn’t done that. So, this year, just to see how it would work, I did a “Six-Pack,” a mixture of three standards and three originals. I’m real excited about it. I went into Buzz Cason’s studio in Nashville – Creative Workshop. It’s been there a long time, and a lot of great people have come through it. I love the feel of it. It’s not a glass and chrome type studio. The board is still a 1974 board, and those mic pre-amps and it’s just a great place. I went in to do a very organic, warm sounding Christmas album. I’m real pleased with how it came out. The engineer was great. I’m real pleased.”
Of course, releasing a Christmas album means that you are recording it in the heat of summer. How does one get in the spirit? “The first day we went into track, there was a heat index of 114,” Mike says with a laugh. “So, it takes a little bit of time to get your mindset into that. But, it was funny. We brought in a bunch of Christmas decorations and stuff. We walked into the studio for a 10am session, and he had Christmas lights strung all over, the AC cranked up high, but it was a ball. It took a little bit, but after we started going, it was good.”
One more good thing that has happened to Aiken in 2011 is finding out that he had a song listed in Sports Illustrated’s list of Top-40 sports songs. “It was a song called “Chesapeake” in their top 40. I had no idea that poll was going on. I started to get a lot of Facebook comments saying ‘Congratulations.’ Sometimes, you can take it seriously, sometimes you can’t. So, I went back to a few folks, and asked them what they were talking about. They sent me the link, and I was real happy. That song went up against Christopher Cross and Buffett’s tune. That was great.”
Great things happen to great people, and Mike Aiken is definitely one of those! For more information about Mike or the festival, check out www.MikeAikenMusic.com!
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