Thursday, November 17, 2011
Boardman’s Sarah Turner will sing on the biggest stage of her career — so far — this Friday when she opens Trace Adkins’ concert at Covelli Centre.
The aspiring country singer, who is best known locally for her song “Youngstown,” will do a 30-minute set with her backing band of Nashville players. Brett Elderedge also is on the bill.
It easily will be the biggest show of her career, and Turner has picked out a handful of her original songs, plus one cover, to sing.
Eric Ryan, director of the arena, played a key role in getting Turner on the bill for Friday’s concert. He had long been interested in booking Turner, and when the Adkins show was cemented, he sent a music package to the country superstar’s handlers. They liked it and approved her as an opening act.
Turner has played for big crowds before. She has sung The National Anthem at professional sports games where fans numbered in the tens of thousands — but of course, they were there for the game.
This past summer, she drew about a thousand folks to a free show at Morley Pavilion in Mill Creek Park.
Turner recently returned from Nashville, where she did a showcase event for record-label reps. She got a lot of positive feedback and is now playing the waiting game, hoping for a contract offer.
Asleep to headline Thanksgiving-eve show
Asleep always has been massively talented. But the Youngstown rock band finally should find the traction it deserves with its upcoming release.
“Unpleasant Companion” was recorded earlier this year in Chicago with legendary engineer Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies, Page and Plant, Iggy Pop and the Stooges). It hasn’t been released on CD yet (vinyl will be available next week), but I got an advance listen.
Asleep clearly found the right man for the job. “Unpleasant Companion” (OK, who thought of that title?) captures the sound and fury of Asleep’s live performance. It also fully realizes the punchy progressive rock that Asleep has been building toward for years.
The band will unveil the new stuff Wednesday at The Lemon Grove in downtown Youngstown in what should be a great show. Also on the bill are Cleveland’s HotChaCha, The Modulated Tones and Class A Bandits.
Because Wednesday is Thanksgiving eve, which is a huge party night, Punchy the robot — Asleep’s mechanical mascot, bodyguard, head cheerleader and drinking buddy — is thinking of showing up.