PERFORMANCE TIME: 10 a.m. Saturday, April 26
One of Plant City’s most popular local acts will return to the Tampa Bay Blueberry Festival this year — with a new face.
In May 2013, Faces South brought in frontwoman Geri Blount to complete the lineup. Blount, a Plant City native, was recommended by drummer Andy Fritsch, a former bandmate.
“He wasn’t sure how the other guys would accept a female front person, (because) they had always had a male lead singer, but he assured them I was not a ‘diva’ and thought they should at least have me audition,” Blount says. “After our first show together, they asked me to join them permanently, and the rest is history.”
The addition actually killed two birds with one stone: Faces South got a new sound guy out of it, too.
“They actually got a ‘two-fer’ when they hired me,” Blount says. “My husband, Alan, is our sound technician.”
Since Blount joined the band, Faces South has been busier than ever. The band went into Rising Sun Studios, in Tampa, near the end of 2013 to record a seven-song demo, which it plans to add to in May or June. The band’s first single, “Walk Softly on this Heart of Mine,” has gotten over 17,000 YouTube hits and is now available on iTunes.
“It’s been an exciting past year, and we’re expecting this year to carry on just like it,” fellow band member Ken Speer says. “There’s always something new coming up.”
Playing the festival isn’t exactly new to the band, and Speer says last year’s festival performance was a great success. He, along with the rest of the band, is expecting a similarly great experience in 2014.
“At a lot of shows, there’s not a lot of people,” Speer says. “They’re not dancing. It gets boring. But, Keel and Curley is always a great show. We expect it to be bigger this year. Every year, it grows.”
Most importantly, the band is still having fun. The band prides itself on being a “dance band” — if the crowd can’t dance to a song, Faces South won’t bother to learn it. The band hopes to bring that energy to the crowd at the festival.
“We want the crowd to have as much fun as we do,” Speer says. “If they’re having fun, we’re having fun. It’s amazing how it really takes both factors to make (a show) the best that it can be.”