Beautiful Sounds in a Spectacular Venue: “Music in the Church” at Lexington’s First Baptist Church

Crowds were down and many vendors failed to appear. It may have been the quietest Fourth of July in Lexington’s recent memory.

But it was not silent inside the historic First Baptist Church.

Inside, a concert organized by the Lexington Area Music Alliance (LAMA) featured the sounds of the Patrick McNeese Band as well as those of Chris Weiss. Apparently, LAMA was using the event to test out the acoustics of the ca. 1913 sanctuary as part of a new series, “Music in the Church.”

LAMA is an origination committed to the support and economic vibrancy of local musicians. The artists performing were as spectacular as the venue.

The Patrick McNeese Band had a great sound. Easy listening with a jazzy edge and a bite of Bluegrass.  McNeese writes the band’s music while playing the guitar and providing vocal. Other band members include Maggie Lander (vocal/violin), Tom Martin (ivories), Scott Stoess (bass), and Tripp Bratton (percussion).

Cave Run Lake – Rowan Co., Ky.

Solo guitarist Chris Weiss’ music has many of those same coffee shop, easy listening sounds affected by the regional influences of Appalachia. Basically, my kind of music. One song in particular I really enjoyed. Chris said he wrote it while on a boat on Cave Run Lake. While he played, I pulled up this post on Cave Run Lake and imagined myself their again as I looked at the beautiful Rowan County scenery. It took me back.

The whole concert was awesome. In fact, I came to take advantage of the opportunity to visit First Baptist Church. Yet, I remained for the two hour concert.

Great music and I hope the ‘Music in the Church’ series is a big hit.

The venue for the concert, First Baptist Church in Lexington, is profiled here.