On March 12, 2020, The Charleston Music Hall came to a complete stop due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of shows were canceled, and we entered days, weeks and then months of uncertainty about when we could re-open our doors. Everything we had worked so hard to build was standing in the balance. When could we gather 1,000 people inside our venue again?
Looking into the void we asked ourselves what could we do? We decided to do what we do best: help create music. After all, we were not the only ones in dire straits. How could we utilize our concert hall to support Charleston’s local musicians who had not performed live in months? We decided to make a record! We gathered 10 of our favorite local artists on September 9, 2020 (socially distanced and safely), and we recorded The Charleston Music Hall Stage Sessions Volume 1.
We believe the Charleston music scene is made up of a unique and beautiful group of humans. Our music scene is highly collaborative, and we believe its strength lies in the artist’s collaborative and communal spirit. The hardest part of putting the record together was only choosing 10 bands! There are so many bands and artists we love in this city. It is impossible to encapsulate Charleston’s entire music scene in just 10 songs with just 10 bands, but we hope this is the beginning of a fun collaboration and introduces you to some of the amazing music being made in our city. This album purposefully combines a variety of genres: Hip Hop, Indie Rock,Country, Folk, Americana, Jazz, and Spoken Word. We hope you find as much joy in each of these songs as we do. All proceeds from the album sales will go back directly to the artists. Special thanks to Mike Rogers who recorded the live audio, Wolfgang Zimmerman who mixed and mastered the album, Record Stop who pressed the vinyl, and FPC, Live for making this album possible.
Thank you for supporting your local artists.
Track Listing:
Side A
1. Native Son - Black Owned
2. Grace Joyner - Fake Girlfriend
3. Mel Washington - Credit Down
4. Keon Masters - Yesterday Was Going Great
5. Charlton Singleton Quartet - Eudoranova
Side B
6. Invisible Low End Power - Powerlines 777
7. She Returns From War - Charleston Arsonist
8. Little Stranger - Bag Full of Money
9. Babe Club - Together
10. tape loop - 20 ’til Infinity