Birmingham is home to several businesses that act as venues for local and visiting artists in the area. Many of these places work with Samford students, specifically those in the commercial music program, and many have had the opportunity to perform at these venues.
These venues, such as Woodlawn Theatre, Avondale Brewing Company (Avondale Upstairs) and Cahaba Brewing Co., were created with the intention of being a hub for entertainment within the community of Birmingham.
For many of these students, the opportunity to perform outside of their typical Samford-sponsored campus gigs is precious.
Kacie Bell, a senior commercial music major, is one of the many students who have had the chance to perform at these locations. Woodlawn Theatre hosted Bell on February 12 with opener Eli Huskey, a junior commercial music student.
Bell has not only performed as a solo musician but with one of Samford Commercial Music Program’s bands, Montague, since her sophomore year. She has also participated in a number of the songwriter showcase and Sam Jam events that take place in Harry’s Coffeehouse.
Her off-campus gigs include both Avondale Upstairs and Woodlawn Theatre where she has performed as a solo artist and as one of the main singers in Montague. Other venues include Sloss Furnaces, the Alabama Theatre and WORKPLAY.
Music became a huge part of Bell’s life when she was younger and sang in church with her grandmother. This love has grown significantly and led her to apply to Samford’s commercial music program.
Bell has found it simple to locate venues in Birmingham that will take students.
“It helps that that we have connections in our department of people who are currently working in Birmingham, with those venues,” said Bell. “So, I mean, literally for the show [her Woodlawn show on Feb. 12], it was a text to one of my friends who graduated a couple years back who does booking for them.”
She also advised to those searching for gigs to put themselves out there.
“Just being a good person, making friends, making relationships, helps tremendously, gets you, you know, a gig here and there,” said Bell. “Also just having the confidence to reach out and be like, ‘Hi, I’m so and so, I’d like to do this. Is that cool?’”
Having off-campus gigs has allowed her to perform outside of the Samford bubble, as well as give commercial music students with management concentrations a chance to collaborate with the musicians in their shared program.
Bella Allen, a senior, is one of those music management students.
Growing up in Nashville, she was always surrounded by music and became “fascinated” with discovering new artists and examining the way they marketed themselves.
She has run the social media for both Montague and Hwy 31, both Samford bands. Her goals working with Hwy 31 currently are to establish a brand for them and set them up for success, specifically in the realm of social media.
Allen also created the Sam Jam events that partner with Samford Activities.
She has worked with a number of students to help them get gigs, sometimes by simply sending out the first few emails and other times getting more involved with the behind-the-scenes such as creating graphics and completing other logistical tasks.
“I think my favorite part is that I get to know the artist better and kind of see what they want for their career, what they want for their brand and then I help get to bring their vision to life,” said Allen.
Not unlike Allen, these local businesses have shown their support of these students that are up and coming artists and create an atmosphere for these musicians to grow.
Arts & Life Editor
