Clarksville, TN – 
On Friday, September 5th, the Jon Royce band will be headlining Clarksville’s Riverfest Festival this weekend on the Miller Lite Stage starting at 10:00pm. I was fortunate to get a moment to sit down with Jon Royce and Mark Alan from the band to talk about the band, and their up coming show.
With a clear crisp sound that blends a fusion of country, rock, and pop the band’s music has something for everyone. Strong vocals driven by a powerful beat with honest straightforward lyrics the Jon Royce Band can’t help but to stir the crowd in to a frenzy.
The Clarksville Tennessee based band features Jon Royce (vocals, guitar), Derek Weatherspoon (Lead guitar), Tommy Hall (Bass), Gene Powers (keyboards), and Mark Alan (drums).
The country music scene is not one of the easiest to break into for a new band just getting started, but the Jon Royce band has exceeded every expectation, even their own.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Os7UNbSTyc[/youtube]
“Mark Alan and Gene Powers are musicians that came from the classic rock era. They had just came out of having another band and were looking at doing something new,” said the band’s front man Jon Royce. “So Mark and Gene had a great idea for a new sound. They had put a set list together for doing this kind of country music and they were looking for a front man,” and Royce met their needs perfectly.
“Mark and I had met through a place and he had told me about their plans and said hey man want to come over and play some guitar, and we will see how it goes,” he explained. “I got over to Mark’s house and jammed a little guitar, and the rest is kind of history from there.”
“Putting together a new band is never easy,” said Alan, who has played with Mystery and Gypsy a Fleetwood Mac Tribute band. “We got a group of guys together and worked up a 30 song set list then got out to one of these little bars and jammed it out.”
“We started this band in February” said Alan. Royce added, “I think we booked four shows from our first gig, and it just took off from there.” Since then the band has endured a couple of band member changes, and they have worked hard to improve and expand their set lists. “We have added a lot more songs, and some original music to our repertoire,” said Royce.
“Jonathan had a bunch of original songs that he wrote but he never had anyone to work with him on it.” Alan said. “So now with the Riverfest show were going to be out there doing seven original songs that we worked up with him. So it’s a whole new experience. But they’ve all got that great country sound that’s going on nowadays.”
In Our Blood, is a song dedicated to the military and will premier at Riverfest.. “It’s a really powerful song about our troops, and what they do.” said Royce. “It’s about how dedicated they are to defending America. The song is for anybody who’s been involved with the military or that lifestyle.” Alan added, “It’s a phenomenal song.” At the Riverfest show the band will be joined by Aaron Blake one of their previous guitar players “He’s not really in the band, as he is currently serving in the U.S. Army.” said Royce. “He is a diehard band fan member. We keep him along. He is really a great guy and helps us out a lot.”
“We’re also in the process of trying to get our studio time in and get the originals professionally recorded and something released,” Alan stated.
Royce agreed, “That’s one of the biggest questions nowadays that we get somewhere out there playing. “We want some of the music,” the people who come out to see us then want to get a CD of our music.”
I asked them to describe the band’s music and Royce responded “We’ve got a country atmosphere. The hot thing in country music is this fusion of country, rock, and pop. It’s all over the radio, all over the Internet. It’s the number one downloaded, number one sold, listened to kind of music right now. That’s what we play.”
It also made good business sense for the band, “We try to run our band like a business, and from a business perspective especially here in Clarksville Tennessee being so close to Nashville there wasn’t any other bands doing this kind of music. Most of them are doing the classic rock thing.”
It’s paid off big for them. Alan said, “In the month of September we got Riverfest, a thing up at the Dogwood Lake Campground’s, we’ve got a performance for the 5th Special Forces Group on Fort Campbell, and Appleton Harley-Davidson’s fall open house. All that’s going on in September! So pretty big shows coming up” Royce added “That’s five huge shows”
“I knew that this music was going to take off. I just knew it,” said Alan. “But I didn’t realize it was going take off like it did. It’s really been phenomenal. Everywhere we go we pick up new shows, people are calling all the time. I just talked to the people from Picking on the Porch on Tuesday, they’re going to put us into the shows for next year!” he continued, “And they’ve never really hired any local bands, the guy told me, I don’t have any bands that come up here that play what y’all play.”
“Believe it or not, a lot of people think the country music is easy to play and it’s just a little bit of acoustic guitar, and a solid beat,” said Royce. “For me because doing my little acoustic stuff it was always fun, but it was never as powerful as what you get doing live music with a band. It’s a different experience and it’s been a great learning experience for me. We jam around playing some of this classic rock music off the cuff all the time, but I challenge anyone to get up there and try to nail one of these country songs! It is really hard to do right.”
Alan nodded as he agreed, “It’s hard, it’s some of the hardest music I’ve ever played in my life.”
I asked the band how it felt to be headlining Riverfest in their first year together and Royce responded, “Huge, huge, it’s Clarksville’s biggest event! For me to get with a group of guys work hard and to played two of Clarksville’s biggest shows in our first year together as a band is phenomenal. We got a chance to do the Courthouse Stage down at the Rivers and Spires Festival this year. We headlined it had a great time and it sounded good. So for us to also get a headline a spot for Riverfest this year is a real blessing.
Alan agreed, “It’s going to feel really great! We’re really excited about it! We have been working really hard to get to this point so I’m not totally surprised that we’re going to be up there performing for the people at Riverfest. I told Jon back when we got this thing rolling that by September we were gonna be on a big stage, and he didn’t believe me. Well here we are!”
Royce added, “It’s a little surreal man.”
The band wanted to recognize those who support them and make what they do possible. Royce said, “We are really grateful to all of our friends, families, and our fans for their unending support! To have them support us the way they do keeps us going forward.” Alan added, “They are phenomenal man, they follow us around everywhere. They are our biggest boosters We love seeing our fans at our concerts taking pictures and sharing them with their families and friends on facebook! They are even out there promoting our upcoming shows.”
It’s worked well for the band as they are ranked #1 in Clarksville, #43 Nationally for country music, and #1 for all musical genres in Clarksville on Reverb Nation. “That’s a really big thing for us,” said Alan. Royce agreed, “A lot of these bands that you see here in the top 30 to 40 they’ve already got there songs on iTunes for sale, selling the music off of Reverb Nation, they very got demo and albums put together and stuff. We’ve gotten to where we’ve gotten just off of our live performances.”
“We’re really excited to be a part of Clarksville’s live music venues. We’re really grateful for all of the places that have helped us get started. It’s also incredible that we are going to be a part of the Riverfest Festival this year.” said Alan
The Band can be found on the internet at their website JonRoyceBand.com, on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Reverb Nation. “If you want to check out some of our music before Riverfest, it’s as simple as googling the Jon Royce band,” concluded Royce.
You can see the Jon Royce Band perform live on the Miller Lite Stage at the City of Clarksville’s Riverfest Festival on Friday starting at 10:00pm.
