By Arden Berry | Arts & Life Editor
From the familiar frequencies of Foster Pavilion to the bumping beats of the new Baylor Backyard Live series, the fall semester is packed with concerts.
With genres ranging from Old Dominion’s country to Mt. Joy’s indie rock, Jason Cook, vice president of marketing and communications, said this fall concert schedule has something for everyone.
“Music is so personal, so subjective that there may be an artist that’s not on your playlist regularly, but we still want to get artists in our facilities where you can have a great time and a great experience,” Cook said.
For students and their visiting family, Old Dominion will offer A-list country music this Family Weekend on Sept. 18 at Foster Pavilion. Rising country artist McCoy Moore will open the show.
Cook said Old Dominion is a “big coup” for Baylor and Waco overall.
“Old Dominion is a great example of Waco now being on the map for A-list country entertainers because Old Dominion had a streak,” Cook said. “They are big time in Nashville, they’re big time around the country.”
Carter Faith
Despite the cancellation of her last trip to Waco as opener for Post Malone and Jelly Roll, country artist Carter Faith is coming to Pi Beta Phi’s Howdy at the Hurd on Sept. 25.
Howdy starts at 7 p.m. The free concert will start at 8:30 p.m. at the stage on Dutton Avenue outside the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center.
Faith’s debut album, “Cherry Valley,” was a finalist for the Academy of Country Music Awards album of the year, an accomplishment Cook said is “practically unheard of.”
“I still don’t know how we got her for Howdy at the Hurd,” Cook said. “She’s an incredible writer, but an incredible musician as well.”
Amarillo senior Taylor Held, vice president of community relations for Pi Beta Phi, said Baylor is very hands-on when it comes to recruiting artists for Howdy. She said the artist announcement stirred a lot of excitement.
“It means that Howdy is pretty close to coming,” Held said. “And so we’ve gotten a lot of really positive feedback and a lot of people are really excited, which makes us even more excited.”
Baylor Backyard Live
Football and free live music will come together to bring a variety of beats across the six home games this season. Each artist will start about 1 hour and 45 minutes before kickoff outside McLane Stadium at Touchdown Alley.
Baylor Backyard Live is part of Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Doug McNamee’s Fan First Era.
“Our university marketing team has been working with the athletics marketing team hand-in-hand on this whole effort for this upcoming football season,” Cook said. “When we started looking at tailgating, what else could we bring to the tailgating environment to bring some excitement together?”
Baylor had already experimented with combining the concert and tailgate experience last September, when the Graham St. Clair Band, made up of Baylor alumni, played before the Big 12 Conference Fall Tour.
“It brought some energy to the tailgating environment,” Cook said. “What if we did a concert every game? And the conversation just kept growing.”
Cook said each week will bring a different flavor of artist, from Waco band Suede’s mix of R&B, funk, rock and jazz on Sept. 12, to Wynn Williams’ neotraditional country music on Oct. 17.
Each artist was strategically placed. For example, The Members Only Band will play Sept. 19 during Family Weekend.
“I’m really excited for one, Members Only Band, which is an 80s band,” Cook said. “Most of our parents of our current students grew up in the 80s.”
For Baylor’s first Big 12 game of the season on Sept. 26, Pat Green will take the stage.
“We wanted a signature artist, a name artist that people would be familiar with to kick off the Big 12 schedule with Colorado,” Cook said. “Being from Waco, he’s a name that everyone knows in the Texas country scene.”
In a homecoming of their own, Graham St. Clair Band will return to Touchdown Alley for the homecoming game on Nov. 7.
“We’re excited for Homecoming to be able to bring back Graham St. Clair Band,” Cook said. “I mean, it’s a great story. Here’s alums who are in the music business trying to make a run at it in country-folk-Americana music.”
Baylor Backyard Live will conclude its inaugural season with The Sloppy Joe Band’s classic rock ‘n’ roll on Nov. 21.
“Last game of the season is right before Thanksgiving, the Texas Tech game,” Cook said. “There’s going to be a lot of families in town. Sloppy Joe Band has been around for 30 years. So just strategy, trying to match the rhythm of the season.”
Overall, Cook said that working with Baylor Athletics to plan Baylor Backyard Live has been exciting.
“It’s just another great example of a partnership, and really how live music can bring fans together, but it also brings organizations to work together as well,” Cook said.
Rising country artist Braxton Keith is riding into Foster Pavilion on Oct. 2.
Following Hudson Westbrook’s concert in April, Steve Richo, a co-founder of Noise New Media, said Keith was an obvious choice.
“I think that that was just great timing to bring him in there to build upon the great young country music base we built with Hudson Westbrook.” Richo said.
Mt. Joy
Baylor and Magnolia will team up to host Mt. Joy and Ax and the Hatchetmen at the Silobration kickoff concert at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 22 at Foster Pavilion.
Cook said Mt. Joy’s indie rock music stands apart from Foster Pavilion’s previous artists.
“We’ve done a lot of work so far with our entertainment program through the three C’s, which is a Christian country and comedy,” Cook said. “So this whole indie, adult, alternative genre is different for us.”
Deer Park junior Jolie Bridy said she enjoys Mt. Joy’s indie genre.
“They have a very easy-to-listen-to, good vibes kind of music,” Bridy said. “I’m always hopping around different genres and stuff, but every time they do come on, I am very pleased with the songs.”
Silobration will continue with three concerts Oct. 23-25 at the Silos.
“This year’s concert lineup offers something for everyone, from the nostalgic sound of The Fray on Friday night at the Silos, to Texas-born Americana artist Dylan Gossett on Saturday night, to a singer-songwriter style Sunday morning concert experience with Cory Asbury,” Dawn Hall, director of brand experience at Magnolia, said in an email sent to The Lariat. “Mt. Joy brings a different energy to the lineup with their upbeat, crowd-connecting sound, making them the perfect way to launch the weekend and get the celebration started.”
Tickets are currently available at the Baylor ticket website for Old Dominion, Braxton Keith and Mt. Joy.
