This Saturday night, local Grateful Dead cover band Scarlet Begonias, with new lead singer Grady Nichols, will be joining Jupiter Coyote for a unique concert at the Country Club Dance Hall and Saloon.
Scarlet Begonias has made a name for themselves locally as a band made up of great musicians immersing themselves in the Dead. Founding member/drummer Brian Brittingham says he and the other band members are drawn to the Grateful Dead’s “timelessness and depth.”
The Scarlet Begonias have a catalog of about 60 or 70 Grateful Dead songs, and they also perform other songs that the legendary band covered at some point; though the Augusta band’s members have been in other bands with original music, that’s not the point of this one, which is to pay homage to the Grateful Dead.
The SB started almost ten years ago, with Brittingham and his brother, Michael Garrett, who plays keyboards. They are joined by new member Grady Nickel, as well as Jason Shepard on guitar and George Dale on bass.
The band has played a lot of shows around and they’re all different and unique. This Saturday night is no exception. According to Brittingham, both band’s equipment will be on stage when the night begins, and “We’re going to play a set, then Jupiter Coyote are going to play a set, and we’re going to rotate like that all night for four hours of straight music with no break in between.”
“At the end of the night, both bands are all going to play a set together, a sort of super jam kind of thing,” said Brittingham.
Joining SB Saturday night is Jupiter Coyote. “You remember Jupiter Coyote. Their main hit was a song called Crazy Women, which if you were a sorority girl in the SEC back then, you were singing this song for about five years,” Brittingham said.
The band is enjoying a resurgence in popularity that has them back on tour after a hiatus to raise families and such.
And, according to Brittingham, it’s the first time either band has played at the Country Club. “This will be our first time playing there. Jupiter Coyote played at Sky City not too long ago and we had 350 to 400 people there for them,” Brittingham said.
Brittingham and business partner George Claussen recently purchased the Country Club Dance Hall and Saloon, and the guys in both bands are looking forward to performing in the large room with great lighting and sound. The cost to get in Saturday?
“10 Friggin’ Measly Dollars for two Bad Ass Bands” according to Brittingham.
Scarlet Begonias with Jupiter Coyote
Saturday, December 21
Admission is $10
