On September 22, Downtown Smithville will be heralding the arrival of fall with the thundering sounds of the first ever Live Drum Circle led by two local, world-renowned percussionists, John Whitehead and Terry Coyle.
John Whitehead was born in Houston, Texas and grew up in Timpson, Texas. He began playing drums in fifth-grade and continued his love of drumming all through school. He met and started playing with D. Vincent Williams in Nacogdoches, Texas in the late 80’s. John and D. Vincent moved to Nashville together in 1995. John played with various artists before landing the drum spot with Danni Leigh, traveling the world with her band. Meeting Derek St. Holmes in 2010, John began playing consistently with Derek. John currently plays drums with D and the Sing Along Band, Derek St. Holmes, Andy Ross and a local blues band named A Few Miles On. John has had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Charlie Daniels, Dwight Yokum, Ted Nugent, Jamey Johnson and too many others to mention and has had the privilege to play drums all over the world.
Terry was born and raised in Searcy, Ark. He started playing piano at eight and started drumming at the age of ten in the school band program, throughout high school. He won the Arkansas state first chair snare drummer in high school. At 21 Terry moved to Nashville, in 1974, to join a band of fellow Searcy musicians in the prog-rock band Wakefield. He also worked with other gigging bands as well as studio recording work in many Nashville studios such as Columbia, RCA, American Studio, as well as Hilltop, Laurel Tree, House of Cash, Polyfox, Fireside, Bellmont and others. He has worked with some stars including Jim Ed Brown (in Ark), and Nashville artists Patty Loveless, Lacy J Dalton, Narvel Felts, Moe West (son of Dotty West). The band that he was with in 1986 worked two months with Patty Loveless and four nights in various studios to secure her record deal with MCA, Presently, Terry works with local artists Seth Willoughby, Sadie Faith, Trey Binkley, Lucas McCoy, Lori Judd, the Stone Groove band and Dramatic Endings, as well as others. Terry also enjoys playing guitar, bass and piano, but drumming is his main thing.
After recently vacationing in Asheville, North Carolina, Tony and Sommer Luna witnessed a weekly drum circle they have and fell in love with the idea of having something similar in downtown Smithville. They wanted to find a unique way to celebrate the changing of the seasons and thought that the Fall Solstice would be the perfect time for this entertaining event.
"I wanted to have a free community event that inspired that fun atmosphere we experienced on vacation and I want to encourage everyone to participate by bringing your own percussion instruments," says Luna.
The street will be closing at 4:30, so bring the whole family and your lawn chairs to witness this unique local event. If you want to participate or have any questions, feel free to call Tony Luna at 615-210-9522.
