Flynnville Train performs 10th annual Black Friday show at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Casino

Flynnville Train performs 10th annual Black Friday show at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Casino

By: Kevin Vickery

On November 24th Middletown’s own, Flynnville Train featuring Brent Flynn on guitar and his brother, Brian Flynn as lead vocalist delivered another stellar performance as they’ve been doing at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Casino for a decade.

The country-rock style band that also features Joseph Shreve on bass and drummer, Tommy Bales formed in 2001, and started gaining national acclaim when they were signed by country music star, Toby Keith’s label, Show Dog Nashville in 2006.

Keith has said of Flynnville Train, “They were more than I could have expected and I signed them on the spot. You will hear great things from this band.” The Flynville guys have not only done shows all over the country, but have even traveled globally to perform at major music festivals in France and throughout Europe. Their self-titled show debut album was released in the Fall of 2007 which produced two charting singles with “Last Good Time” and “Nowhere Than Somewhere”, that reached No. 47 and No. 50 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, respectively.

The crowd of around 900 fans attending their Black Friday show at The Terrace Showroom in Anderson’s Harrah’s Hoosier Park was excited to hear those tunes as well as their other popular original material like, “Preaching to the Choir, “Friend of Sinners, and “Home.”

Having known guitarist, Brent Flynn since our high school days at Shenandoah, I was able to hang around for their soundcheck that afternoon and chat with him for a bit.

On their annual gig in Anderson he said, “We, as a band, love playing the Black Friday show every year, and this one was our 10th. It’s great because friends and family will support us, and more times than not, we will have people come from several hours or several states away to come rock and roll with us.”

He continued, “We have connections to the room and got our first booking there in November 2013. It ended up being a massive success and they had us again the next Spring and the following November and it just kept going so good that they kept bringing us back, and we’re grateful. The best part about doing a Hometown gig like this is we get to see people we don’t normally get to see, and most of them are people we’ve known all of our lives. It’s like a big family reunion every year.”

I asked Brent about future projects for Flynville Train and he said, “We’re always talking about possibly doing something new in the studio. We will probably play a few dates next summer and definitely looking to do Black Friday once again in 2024.”

Personally, I couldn’t tell you how many different guitarists I’ve jammed with in my roughly 40 years of playing music but I can say this… not one of them has refined their guitar tone to the level that Brent Flynn has. His Fender Stratocaster and his Gibson Les Paul both sing with a rich, fat quality that resonates deep within the listener’s body, and reminds me of a cross between Stevie Ray Vaughn and The Allman Brothers.

Here’s a fun story about my first introduction to Brent’s musical abilities…When I was in High School, there was an annual talent show on the last day before Christmas break. My Freshman year, some friends and I put together a band to enter the contest and we delivered a cringeworthy performance of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” that was just as bad as the song is long. We were followed by Brent Flynn who with only his guitar and no backing band rocked an instrumental version of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s, “They Call Me the Breeze” that not only got a standing ovation but also won the contest. I should add that he also plays a right handed guitar but in the left handed position, meaning it’s upside down and backwards. Needless to say, we were humbled and I’ve respected and admired his abilities ever since.

Speaking of his upside down style, Brent has a couple interesting side projects including a blues band based out of Yorktown called “Upside Down” and he’s also been playing around Indiana with Muncie’s “Cook & Belle” for a few years now.

My band played a show with Cook & Belle a few months ago at The Middletown Fall Fun-Fest and we were lucky enough to have Brent join us on stage for Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” which was a real crowd pleaser and the highlight of our night.

If you are a fan of crunchy guitar tone and love live music make sure to check out Flynnville Train in 2024, or any of Brent Flynn’s other projects if you get the chance. I assure you, you won’t be disappointed.

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