Rockfeedback does the Birthday JD Set - The Winner’s Story
By: Various Scribes
Back in October on an early Friday morning, when the colours of autumn were still in bloom, my friend and I left London. Little did we know what a brilliant weekend was in store. We were on our way, courtesy of Rockfeedback, to an exclusive gig in Lynchburg, Tennessee for the annual Jack Daniel's Birthday bash called the Birthday JD Set.
[THE HOUSE OF LORDS]
We woke bright and early on the Saturday morning and got into our coach to the distillery in Lynchburg. Once inside the visitors centre we watched a short film that set us up with some background information before we set off on our tour with the formidable and excellent Ron. Our first stop on the distillery tour was the ricks yard and then onto the cold water spring, vital to the entire process apparently.
[ROISIN MURPHY]
We then visited what was Jack Daniel's office, before going on to the distilling and fermenting rooms. You can actually buy a whole barrel, and they will send you its entire contents - that's 240 bottles! Once we finished the tour we got to shop around Lynchburg town square (the town's population is only 361), and the JD store, where we picked up some BBQ sauce and a Jack Daniel's shirt. After our tour and shopping we were then taken to BBQ Hill for the brilliant live show and the authentic southern BBQ.
[HUGH CORNWELL]
First on stage was The House of Lords (or 'Tom', for today) from Young Knives. As you may know, Tom is the bass player and performing as front man, as he put it, "made him nervous". Any worries he may have had were clearly not manifest, as he started off the evening with a stomping version of 'Turn Tail' from Superabundace. Seeing him as the front man was a real treat and he well and truly earned his stars that night with a confident and proud performance. The legend that is Hugh Cornwell (of The Stranglers) even joined Tom on stage for a version of 'X'.
[TIM WHEELER]
Next up was Roisin Murphy who played six songs including a great cover of 'Womack & Womack' with a back up vocalist who looked scarily like Charlie Sheen. Hugh then came back on stage and they performed The Stranglers' 'Peaches' together. If anyone had any doubts this would work, they were instantly banished as the cool Irish lass performed with this punk legend with such ease.
[THE NEW SILVER CORNET BAND]
Tim Wheeler from Ash was up next, and he charmed all in attendance by opening with his band's breakthrough hit 'Goldfinger'. Hugh also found time to join Tim for another version of The Stranglers 'X', before the night ended by all artists joining together for an invigorating version of 'Gloria' by Van Morrison.
The weekend went so quickly, but it will be something that stays with me; from the Tennessee countryside to the sunset-lit BBQ hill. I have to thank all at Jack Daniel's for their great hospitality and the amazing people of Lynchburg.