Rock N Recovery Concert event rocks downtown New Castle

Rock N Recovery Concert event rocks downtown New Castle

By: Kevin Vickery

On Saturday, September 30th music fans united at 1400 Plaza on Broad Street in downtown New Castle for the “Rock N Recovery” charity concert. As September is awareness month for those in recovery, the event was designed to “Bring light to the resources that Henry County has to help those dealing with addiction”, according to event host, Virgil Carey. He added that this was the first event he had hosted and was planning for it to continue in the future on an annual basis.

A primary resource for those suffering with addiction issues in Henry County is the Jail Community Addiction Program or JCAP. Carey added that, “Through JCAP he got a fresh start and wants to reach out to other addicts to bring hope.” 

Henry County Circuit Court Judge, Kit Crane added, “I think what they have done by sponsoring this event is having a positive impact on the community. They’ve taken what I’ve been preaching for years about giving back to the community and ran with it.”

I was able to speak with both Jamie Owens and Dick Rogers who run the women’s and men’s divisions of JCAP. Jamie says that there are currently nine women in the program and that their focus is to help them, “Deal with their issues of past trauma to eliminate self medication.” Her counterpart, Rogers, from the men’s program added that, “The program began one year ago on October first, 2022.” And that, “To date, nobody who has completed the program has been arrested or come back to jail.”

The sun was shining brightly on down town New Castle, making a great day for this outdoor concert featuring some great local talent. 

I spoke with headliner, “Downshift’s”, guitarist and vocalist, Jordan Payne who describes their mostly all-original material as a mix of hard and alternative rock. While this was only the band’s second show, he was excited to let listeners know that the band who’s members hail from New Castle and Richmond have a new album entitled, “One in the Chamber”, scheduled for release this November.

Another New Castle based performer, Jordan Grap said that, “It was beyond an honor to be part of this great cause featuring a lot of local talent.” His self described “Country-Pop” sound featured a set of mostly original material, including’ “Reflections on the Water”, a song he penned with friend and collaborator, C.More. Grap’s music is available on most modern platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music.

Local musician, Mike Lester who offered a solo acoustic performance stated that even though this was his first performance in eight years, “Music is my life, and since I have friends and family in recovery, I couldn’t think of a better reason than this cause to get out here and play.”

I enjoyed a good set from local band, Hazzard Bound also from New Castle.  Guitarist, Rodger Swift said they have band members in recovery and they are’ “All about the cause”.  Their band that also features Rusty Compton, Kevin Abercrombie, Kara Swift, and Benjamin Robert Miller is well versed in rock, blues, country and, just enough funk to keep it interesting. They can also be found on YouTube, Facebook and seen at their regular performances around New Castle at places like The Town Tavern, The Ice House, and Snedigar’s.

Overall it was a great day for a good old fashioned rock n roll show in New Castle that brought awareness to an important cause and featured a great deal of local talent.

Henry County resident and Ball State alum, Kevin Vickery, is bassist and lead vocalist for The Cousin Brothers. He spent several years working in Nashville for some of the biggest names in Country Music before taking over the reins at his family business. If you have a story idea or an event that you think Kevin should cover, contact him at kevin.makesomenoise@yahoo.com