The Knoxville Museum of Art's Alive After Five (AA5) series of live music performances will celebrate its 15th anniversary on Friday, September 19, from 5:30-9:30 pm with performances by Sharon Mosby & the Wendel Werner Quartet with special guests John Myers and his band.
Launched in October 1993, AA5 has become a unique fixture in the Knoxville entertainment scene. Presented on 35 early Friday evenings per year, in four seasonal series, AA5 features live music by local, regional, national and even international artists in the casually elegant atmosphere of the art museum. The event provides table seating with food available from different restaurants and caterers each week. Additionally, AA5 offers two cash bars, free freshly popped popcorn, and a licensed therapeutic masseuse/masseur on site. This family friendly event (age 17 and under are admitted free) is also a popular romantic rendezvous, and it attracts one of the most diverse audience in Knoxville. Sharon Mosby & the Wendel Werner Quartet have been performing together for 10 years, including many times at Alive After Five. Mosby's silky and soulful voice and Werner's piano virtuosity, along with their witty and engaging onstage banter, have made them one of the all-time favorite groups to perform there. This will be the Alive After Five debut for John Myers, who will open the show.
Better known as "Mo" to many of her fans, Mosby is a native Knoxvillian who graduated from Austin High School. She accepted a scholarship to study music at Hampton Institute in Virginia and toured with the concert choir across the U. S. and abroad before switching majors and completing her degree in accounting. She married, moved to California, started a family, and worked as an accountant, but still maintained her singing career. She performed regularly at Disneyland and area nightclubs, opening for acts like The 5th Dimension, Al Green, Jimmy Smith and others. Returning to Knoxville, she continued her careers in business and music, performing with many notable local musicians such as Donald Brown, Samarai Celestial, Rocky Wynder, and Harold Hardy at the 1982 World's Fair, various venues in Old City, and the Dulin Art Series, which was the precursor of Alive After Five. As lead female vocalist with the R&B band Soul Sanction, she opened for B. B. King, Ray Charles, Al Green and James Brown.
John Myers is an extraordinary entertainer whose early career included stints with R&B groups The Five Pennies, The Four Pennies, and then The Hearts of Stone on the Motown label in the early 1970s. Now living in Knoxville and performing with some of its top Americana musicians, his career has taken a whole new turn. His repertoire still contains some soul songs from his Motown days, but he can just as easily pull out a song by Hank Williams, croon a number by Louie Armstrong or belt out an old-time banjo tune. Myers currently collaborates with his wife Pamela who is a prolific songwriter. He recently released a live album from the WDVX Blue Plate Special radio show which includes two of their original songs. He is currently working on a studio album as well.
Admission to this special Alive After Five is free for museum members, $9 for non-members, and $5 students with ID. After 8 pm, admission is reduced to $5 and $3. Children ages 17 and under are admitted free. Alive After Five is sponsored by Amica Insurance, Knoxville News Sentinel, Cherokee Distributing Company, East Tennessee Public Television, and WDVX 89.9FM. For more information about the Alive After Five series, please contact Michael Gill at (865) 934-2039.