Published: November 12, 2008 09:11 am            

Phelps to bring unique show, recording to Ashland

ASHLAMD — There was no slowing down this year for singer David Phelps, who started his 15-city Christmas tour Nov. 21 and will appear at the Paramount Arts Center in Ashland on Dec. 19. He has two releases available now: a Christmas CD titled “O Holy Night” and a collection titled “The Voice,” featuring his distinctive tenor. He recorded the Christmas CD in a barn he renovated just for that use.

Q: Your Christmas CD, “O Holy Night” is unusual in that you created a venue to perform and record it in. How did that idea come about?

A: I live on an old dairy farm in Tennessee and the barn is from the 1800s. My wife, Lori, suggested we renovate the old barn and we kind of took this old dairy barn and changed it into a rustic opera house. It’s a very neat setting. We whitewashed the inside and put in a big chandelier. We had an orchestra and a choir and our band, of course, in there and an audience of 400 to 500 people.

Q: Was this a one-of-a kind project or had you heard of someone else making a venue in which to make a recording?

A: I started doing some research and honestly didn’t find anything exactly like this. There have been barns converted for weddings and restaurants and different things but I haven’t seen anything like this. My manager just shook his head and said, “I can’t believe you’re getting into this.”

Q: Did you actually do the construction work on the barn yourself?

A: It’s my hobby. I like renovating. My wife knew that and she wanted the barn redone.

Q: How long did this project take?

A: From January to April of this year we worked on the barn. We just got into it and made it what it needed to be. ... We wanted to make this a very nice place but keep the character of the barn, so it was an unusual undertaking.

Q: Who was your audience?

A: We were ringing our hands a little bit about it, but we put an ad on our Web site and in 20 minutes it had sold out. People from all over the world flew in to be a part of the event. ...It was a very fun evening, a fun time for us.

Q: As a musician, what was the in-the-round experience like?

A: It was my desire for the in the round. I had lighting and production people who wanted an end stage, but I had seen the old Elvis comeback video back when he was still young and skinny — so it was probably in the 1960s — but it was in the round and before the lighting and theatrics we have now. You could see the audience in every shot. It was amazing and I wanted to have that feeling. I strategically placed band members all around the stage and past them, you can see the audience in every shot.

Q: Is the show you’re bringing to Ashland the same show you performed in the barn?

A: It’s similar, but with a few surprises thrown in. I have another album that I will tour in the spring and fall called “The Voice.”

Q: What is “The Voice” going to be like?

A: The goal was to try to find the best songs, whether they were written 200 years ago or yesterday. One of the first was written by a writer here in Nashville. He pitched us this song, “I just Call You Mine,” and I called right away and said, “I want that song.”

There’s also an aria from a Puccini opera, there’s “Unchained Melody,” there’s a song based on Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.” There’s some gospel but some things are not gospel. Our criteria on that was I would sit down and look at it and decide with my world view, “Is that something I can buy into?”

Yesterday I was talking to someone who mentioned a crossover. That was not our goal at all. I wanted to create a beautiful piece of art that, as a Christian, I can believe in.



David Phelps will perform at 7 p.m. Dec. 19 at the Paramount Arts Center. Tickets are $25, $20 and $10; tables are available fro $30. To purchase tickets or for more information, call the PAC box office at (606) 324-3175.

LEE WARD can be reached at lward@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2661.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.