John Henry, lead vocalist and guitarist, sings late Friday night at Beer:30, 4th and Merchant streets. The band is planning a tour of Europe in 2010. Jennifer Baldwin/The Bulletin.

On Friday, John Henry and the Engine performed onstage at Beer:30. The St. Louis/ Columbia, Mo based band is touring about 100-110 dates a year and has had shows in Emporia for the past few years.

“We’ve been playing in Emporia for about two years off and on,” guitarist and vocalist John Henry said, “more on lately. We were introduced to the scene by Ha Ha Tonka. They just showed us this market here in Kansas and it was pretty close to home and the people cared about live music, so that’s why we’re here.”

The band classifies itself as “Americana” music and keyboardist and vocalist Wes Wingate said their influence is American music of all kinds, including country, soul, gospel and rock and roll. At the show, they played covers of Credence Clearwater Revival.

“You know, the stuff they’re doing is pretty late 60s-esque stuff,” said John Shell, music major. “I mean, it is what it is and they play it very well. When you do covers, you want to hear somebody that can nail it.”

Henry and Wingate said they like playing in Emporia because there’s always a crowd of people that care about the music.
“The best thing about Emporia is probably the fact that there ain’t much to do in Emporia,” Wingate said. “So we are gathered here and everybody who is going to be out tonight is going to be here, really and that centralizes it which is harder.

“The bigger the city, the more it’s like a hotdog down a hallway, but here we can just really get a lot of people at once. And you know that they’re going to care about what you’re doing most of the time, so that’s a really good quality of this town.”

Eric Nelson, a member of The Whiskey Trio, which opened for John Henry, said he was honored to open for a band that the crowd really enjoyed.

“I thought it was great,” Nelson said. “It’s nice that there’s touring musicians coming to Emporia that care enough to stop here. It’s just good that we have musicians from other parts of the country coming through here.”

John Henry and the Engine plan on touring Europe in 2010. They are also coming out with a new EP on vinyl in October and will be back in Emporia towards the end of that month.

“The goals that we have are to constantly write better songs and to expand the radius that we tour in and to build up so that everyone can hear us,” Henry said. “We want people to hear the music that we do because we feel like what we’re doing is honest American music and we’re not trying to bullshit anybody.”

Lauren Walbridge/The Bulletin

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PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN HENRY AND THE ENGINE

Last Saturday, “John Henry and The Engine,” a rock and roll band out of St. Louis, gave a live performance before a full crowd at local bar Beer:30.
“It was a really good crowd and a lot of fun,” said AJ Gennaro, the band’s drummer. “I think people were really starting to get more into us and we’re starting to have more a following now.”
John Henry, who serves as the lead singer and also plays guitar, said the band has been playing together since 2005.
“It’s a good market for us,” Henry said, describing their musical influences to include country and rhythm and blues. “So we really try to come back to Emporia every three to four months.”
The band, which also includes members Austin Fitzgerald, Nick Heim and Wes Wingate, has a long history with Emporia. Henry traces it back to their early days of playing with metropolitan band the Amsterdams, who first claimed Emporia as their musical stomping ground.
“They told us every time they came to Emporia, people treated them really well,” Henry said. “So we started playing here, and found out for ourselves that they do. We really like coming back here and seeing it for ourselves.”
Gennaro said that the band looks forward to their return trips to the area, most notably for their connection with the fans.
“Usually, it takes a few years to really build a following, but we’ve done it,” Gennaro said. “I think people are starting to get into us, and that makes it even better. We really love playing here because we always have fun.”
During the band’s gig at Beer:30, they played several songs that could potentially end up on their next album.

“The big ones were ‘I Don’t Want to Know’ and ‘Running Away,’” Henry said.
However, the band also brought out several classic tracks, including “Cut Your Anchor Free,” “Leave the Light On” and “Under the Yellow Moon,” from their album of the same name.
“In total, we probably played about 14 songs,” Henry said. “Stuff that our fans are familiar with, mostly, like ‘Under the Yellow Moon’ and ‘Leave the Light On.’ It helps us build that following and keep it going.”
According to Henry, “Cut Your Anchor Free” is also the subject of the music video the band is set to release Feb. 27.
“It was shot by a company in St. Louis,” Henry said. “They filmed a live show and then filmed a day with me and then put both parts together.”
The video’s drop is the band’s biggest achievement since the release of their album “Under the Yellow Moon” last spring. The band plans to celebrate with a launch party of the “Cut Your Anchor Free” video in their hometown of St. Louis.
“We’re actually having a release party at Off Broadway in St. Louis that same day,” Henry said. “We’ll be playing with a few bands we know, including our friends ‘One Lone Car.’”
The video for “Cut Your Anchor Free” was conceived on the hopes of raising The Engine’s exposure level to create a stronger network, including gigs, venues and other bands that might not otherwise be familiar with their work.

“The idea behind it is to get some publicity behind it for a visual aspect of the band for people to see,” Henry said. “We really push for the side of the band where alternative people see us.”
John Henry and The Engine will return to Emporia in late March or early April, but the exact date is unknown.
“We really try to come back as often as we can,” Gennaro said. “We loving hanging out here. This is a cool town.”

The Bulletin

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