Unplugged and in person
The Guitars Unplugged concert has become an annual music tradition at USU, giving many local artists a chance to perform their acoustic songs for a larger audience than they may typically see.
According to concert organizers, the popularity has grown as well. The event has become the major fundraiser of the year for the USU Mortar Board, an honors society and service organization for top senior scholars at USU.
They are planning on holding another Guitars Unplugged concert in the spring as well because of the popularity of the show.
The concert will feature 13 different performers playing one or two songs each. The 90-minute show is meant to move quickly with a lot of variety, with two stages so that one performer can set up while another is performing to reduce time in between performers.
Performers range from solo singer/songwriters to a band featuring two guitars and a piano and a string quartet.
The planners of the event from the USU Mortar Board hope to have found an eclectic selection of artists that will appeal to a wide audience. “No two artists are going to be similar,” said Liz Bringhurst, one of the organizers from the USU Mortar Board. She says that different styles will be spread throughout the show.
Organizers of the event, Bringhurst, Lauren Emery and Kelsey Burns, all seniors majoring in speech therapy, heard 32 performers tryout over a two-day span. The three judges said that there were many talented performers who did not make the cut. “We tried to take different sounds from a group of good [performers] to make a more different show,” said Emery. The process of finding the performers who would make the best mix of sounds for the concert was difficult.
The popularity of the event extends to many performers as well. Several performers in this year’s Guitars Unplugged also performed in last year’s event. Libbie Linton, a junior majoring in bioengineering, says that she enjoys performing at the show because of the opportunity it gives to listen to other local artists perform, some of which don’t regularly do shows. Linton added that it’s also fun to play in front of a large crowd.
Ryan Gregson, a junior graphic design major, also returns from last year’s event, although in a different role. This year he is performing as a solo artist rather than as part of a group. He says that he prepared for the tryout by picking songs that he knew well and was fairly comfortable with playing. However, he still acknowledged that the tryout was somewhat nerve-wracking, saying, “It’s easier to play for a large group of people than a small group.”
Freshman guitar performance major Julia Mecham agreed with Ryan about the difficulty of tryouts, however she also had the added difficulty of not having much time to prepare. She heard about tryouts the day before she auditioned for the show.
However, she picked three of her favorite songs that she has written and performed and auditioned with them. “If I cared about the songs, then maybe the judges would too,” Mecham said.
Between tryouts and the show, some performers try to perfect their songs and fine-tune their sound.
Gregson said that he would continue to work to learn his songs even better and possibly even recruit a percussionist to play along with him.
Linton says that playing only two songs creates a lot less pressure than a longer show, but that it also means that she has less of an opportunity to “prove [herself]” as a performer.
In addition to performing for the crowd, three judges will determine who the best performer is during the show and will award them with a prize at the end of the show.
Guitars Unplugged will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 9 in the TSC Ballroom. Admission is $4 for general admission and $3 for students, with a $1 discount for anyone who brings a can of food for the Utah Food Bank.
-tlilgegren@cc.usu.edu