Jiggy Ray’s, 610 E. Elk Ave., will host a number of upcoming live musical performances, including regional artists Hayden Garber Friday and Uncle Mick Kyte Saturday. Both shows will begin at 7 p.m.
Aside from being a student at Cherokee High School in Rogersville, Garber, 17, is a country-rock artist and songwriter. With his band, he performs a range of songs from the 1960s to the present, including such originals as “Plastic American Flag” and “Grandpa’s Pontiac.”
Garber plays guitar and sings lead vocals along with his father, lead guitarist and backup vocalist Danny Garber, bassist Cody Stapleton and percussionist Gary Garber, Hayden’s uncle.
Of his audience Friday, he said, “We are hoping that they can’t sit still, that they just have to pat their feet and clap their hands as if it’s an involuntary response. We also hope that everyone sees how important family is to us, as a big part of my family follows me from show to show, and are my biggest supporters.”
Garber ranked No. 1 on local ReverbNation charts and won Industry of Cool Weekly’s Song of the Day for “Grandpa’s Pontiac.”
He has been working on a new album scheduled to release in 2016 including the aforementioned singles, and until then he will play at a variety of venues across East Tennessee. This will be their first show in Elizabethton, he said, but hopefully not their last.
“We’re hoping this will open the door to be able to play in the area more,” Hayden said.
Kyte, of Blountville, is a self-proclaimed Americana, twangy, honky-tonk musician with Appalachian bluegrass flavoring.
He said in his online biography that he has been hanging around bars and concert halls since he was a kid watching his dad play everything from gospel to bluegrass and from country, cry-in-your-beer music to rollicking honky-tonk dance music. He followed in his dad’s toe-tapping footsteps. He has played all over Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia since the late 1980s with the exception of a 20-year break to start a family. He began singing and writing songs again three years ago, when he started the band Goat Whiskey with his best friend, Ken Thomas.
“Basically, Goat Whiskey music covers every aspect of the human experience, from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows,” he said in his bio. “It’s there to help you celebrate victory, mourn defeat, revel in the glory of new love or break under the weight of a heart that has been broken for the last time.”
He now plays solo as Uncle Mick and said Jiggy Ray’s is his favorite venue.
“It has become my home stage.”