The Alex Michael Band performs at Vol State’s annual Fall Festival

by Kailyn Fournier
Those who were at Fall Festival from 1 p.m. – 2 p.m., probably heard the music from the band playing in the Quad. That was the Alex Michael Band, a country music band from Nashville.
Volunteer State Community College got the band to perform at Fall Festival by attending the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities (APCA) Conference where the band was being bid on by a variety of schools.
The band includes the lead, Alex Michael, along with Thomas Hassell on drums, Jonathan Warren on fiddle, Dean Green on bass, and Sam Van Fossen on lead guitar. They have been a band since 2011 and, aside from Tennessee, have played in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Texas.
At Vol State they opened with a cover of Dierks Bentley’s song, 5-1-5- 0, and over the course of the hour played 15 other songs. They had some technical difficulties, causing their lead microphone to cut out during the end of one of their songs, but the band did not let that faze them and finished the song as if nothing had happened. Once they were finished, they were able to resolve the issue
After that, Michael asked if their audience was okay with them going ahead and playing what Michael called their, “Show offy song,” before playing the tune for “Devil Went Down To Georgia.” For those not familiar with the song, it is particularly notable for its fiddle solos, which likewise show-cased Warren’s ability the most, but had a part for each member to show off.
Those who like line dancing should have been at the concert because towards the end of the show the band asked if anyone knew how to line dance. As a result
of their traveling and playing up North, where it is not common for people to line dance, they took “Copperhead Red” out of their set list. A few people knew how to, so the band played the song, and the few audience members who knew how to line dance taught those who were interested. “It’s always fun when the crowd gets into it,” said Michael.
Also in their song selections were two of the band’s original songs, “That Woman” and “Carousel.” Both songs are new and have yet to be recorded. They also took requests, which were “Dixieland Delight” by Alabama and their closing song, “Chicken Fried” by the Zac Brown Band.
“I was really impressed by the lead singer,” said Natalie White, Vice President of the Student Government Association, after the performance was over.
Those interested in The Alex Michael Band should check out their Facebook and their twitter page at @AlexMichaelBand. “For those who are interested in our stuff can go to our Bandcamp page and enter the promo code: “volstate” for 10 percent off on our music and merchandise,” said Warren. They also have their album on their Facebook page under the tab “Buy our music here.”
The band wanted to thank Ben Graves and Tabitha Sherrell for making it possible for them to be here.