The Henry County Series kicks off with The Dane Clark Band we
By: Kevin Vickery
On Friday, June 20th, the official first day of Summer The Arts Park Pavilion in downtown New Castle was primed and ready for the first of the four concerts held there as The Henry County Concert Series. The Dane Clark Band headlined the show along with opening act, John Thompson who graced the crowd with an acoustic cover set that went over well and featured songs by The Beatles and Tom Petty.
Admittedly, there was a certain sadness in the air due to the recent and unexpected passing of long time board member show and contributor, Monte Jackson. His absence at the event was felt by all who have been involved with The Henry County Concert Series in the past but so was his presence in spirit and so the show went on without a hitch just as he would have wanted.
Dane Clark is most commonly known as the drummer for Indiana’s own John Mellencamp, a gig that Dane has held for the last 29 years. He’s one of the most solid drummers around and has done session work and live shows with many well-known artists like John Fogerty, Joan Jett, John Prine, Steve Earle, The Bob & Tom Band, Jim Irsay and many others.
With all that said, Dane is not the drummer for The Dane Clark Band. In this setting he’s the front man carrying the lead vocal and rhythm guitar responsibilities. He does a great job with this task and his set includes songs from his nine studio albums as well as some great classic rock covers from bands like The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Buffalo Springfield.
He treated the crowd to his original material like, “Blues Train” and “Abigail Rose” a song penned about his daughter as well as crowd favorites like, Dylan’s, “Tangled Up in Blue” and The Stones classic, “Paint it Black”.
I was able to speak with Dane and get his thought on returning to The Arts Park Pavilion for his fourth time performing for The Henry County Concert Series. He said, “The venue is really cool! The first time it took me forever to find it but once I finally did and drove in, I thought Wow, what a trip!”
On his 23 years leading The Dane Clark Band he said, “I’ve been writing songs since I was a kid and I needed an outlet when Mellencamp wasn’t busy. I didn’t want to be in a cover band so I just said – Hey, I’m going to do my own music – and I don’t want to haul drums around.” He continued, “It’s just so much easier to have a guitar and an amp and boom, I’m set up – Here we go boys!”
I asked him about the highlights of his decades long musical career and he said, “I’ve played with Dizzy Gillespie and with Pete Townsend and those are some of the greatest moments I’ve experienced.” On his 29 years drumming for John Mellencamp he added, “Just being in that band and playing all over the world, I’ve been proud and it’s been a wonderful ride.”
The band line-up includes Erik Scull on lead guitar, bassist, Jack Taylor, Jon Porter on drums and to my surprise LJ Mechem on keyboards. I was excited to see LJ play because not only is he top notch on the keys but he was once my boss back in college when I worked for Music Today a music store in downtown Anderson owned by his family.
I was able to catch up with LJ a bit and get his thoughts on playing with Dane. He said, “Its a blast! Dane and I first started playing together back in 1978 – but then he got famous and started playing with this guy named Mellencamp and he thought that was a better gig than LJ & The Allstars”. He added, “Dane called me six months ago and it’s been great.”
I would agree that they did sound great and the crowd thoroughly enjoyed their two hour set. Dane also told me, “When this band goes out, everybody knows they’re expected to give everything they’ve got. We might make mistakes but there’s no laziness on stage. I’m doing the very best I can at all times when I’m working”.
I’d say that work ethic comes through in his music and the caliber of show The Dane Clark Band provides.
The Henry County Concert Series continues with Jennie DeVoe with Marty Weaver & Trish Crowe on July 18th, Tad Robinson with Miles Mann on August 15th, and Mike Milligan & Steam Shovel with Dave Ellison on September 19th. All shows are at the Arts Park Pavilion with a 6:30 PM show time.
It takes a great deal of work and planning to bring a series of events like this to fruition and part of what makes that possible are the corporate sponsors. The Henry County Concert Series thanks Modern Fold, Henry County Community Foundation, Edward Jones, New Castle – Henry County Chamber of Commerce, and Art Association of Henry County for their support.
For more information about The Dane Clark Band find them on social media or his official website at daneclark.com
To find out about events at The Henry County Arts Park Pavilion visit the Art Association of Henry County’s website at henrycountyarts.org
Make Some Noise 