Oak Ridge Today

Roane State Winter Concert is Saturday at O’Brien Theatre

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Roane State Winter Concert Dec 9 2017

It’s a longstanding tradition at Roane State and a great way to celebrate the holiday season.

The annual Winter Concert featuring all of the college’s music department ensembles will be held at 7 p.m. on Saturday, December 9, in the O’Brien Theatre on the Harriman campus, and everyone is invited, said a press release from Roane State Community College.

“All donations collected at the door will help support the Roane State music programs, including our 2018 summer choir tour to Italy,” music department professor Brenda Luggie said.

“This is one of our main on-campus concerts for the season,” she said.

Featured will be the Celebration Singers, Concert Choir, Jazz Band, Stage Band, and Bluegrass Band. [Read more…]

Roane State experience helped musician Devan Jones find his path

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Devan Jones (Submitted photo)

Devan Jones (Submitted photo)

 

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

Ask Roane State alumnus Devan Jones about working full-time in the music business, and he’ll pull no punches. “It’s a hustle and hard work 24/7,” he says. “It’s a tough business.”

“Sometimes it feels like it’s moving in slow motion, but things are getting better all the time,” says Jones, who credits educators in Roane State’s music department for helping inspire his career.

Jones grew up in Kingston, attended Roane State and the University of Tennessee, and performed at several Knoxville venues. He now lives in Austin, Texas, where he says there are “many different opportunities to play music that inspires me.”

While in Knoxville, he put together a band, “Devan Jones and the Uptown Stomp.” That moniker reflects his love of blues, as well as jazz and swing music of the 1940s and 50s. [Read more…]