On Wednesday night Music Farm Columbia will host local South Carolina musician Tyler Boone as the opener for The Revivalists. The singer-songwriter hails from Charleston, which fits his sound as the coast makes a perfect home for his mix of waterfront, acoustic ballads and jammy soft rock.
Boone attended USC for a year in 2009 studying jazz guitar. But since leaving USC in 2010 he and his band have developed plenty of Columbia experience.
“We played New Brookland Tavern all the time, The White Mule, Five Points Pub — we’ll play the Saint Patrick's festival every year,” Boone said. “We have a big stronghold up there but we only come up every now and then. It’ll be a cool thing. It’s like a homecoming — we’ll see some old friends and other bands.”
Although he’s studied jazz in a formal university program, Boone’s inspirations continue to be the bluesy guitar gods.
“My influences are guys from the Crossroads festival,” Boone said. “Doyle Graham Hall II, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and John Mayer. Gary Clark Jr. for sure.”
The songs of his heroes have a distinctively more plugged-in sound than some of the tracks off his 2014 record “Familiar Faces.” But Boone insists that his album doesn’t exactly reflect his uncompromising live sound.
“My recorded and produced stuff is really poppy but really that’s for us to get on the radio,” Boone said. “Wednesday night we’re going to be doing a lot of songs but there will come a part in the set when it’s full-blown jam time.”
When do these jams occur? It’s not an exact science, according to Boone. Ostensibly they could break out at any moment.
“You just gotta know when to play the song and when to have a good time, depending on the venue and the crowd and what show you’re playing,” Boone said. “We’re gonna play some songs and we’re gonna jam out when everyone feels it. We go back and forth and it feels really good that way.”
Boone sees similarities between his own style and that of the New Orleans-based headliner. The Revivalists, who claim to have an “ever-evolving live performance,” also separate their recorded tracks from their live-style approach according to Boone.
“They’re basically the same thing. You listen to their record, they definitely have jam tendencies and all that. They have songs, they’re on the radio,” Boone said. “But they pull it out and they jam with you. I would say our records are definitely more poppy than theirs but they’re on the radio too.”
Boone is coming off a summer tour in which he traveled with big name folk acts who ruled the Jam Rock of the '90s. Boone played with Blues Traveler and the Spin Doctors up and down the east coast this summer before flying out West.
“In L.A. I got to play with Norah Jones’s guitar player and hang out with Jimmy Kimmel backstage. That was pretty fun.”
While on that journey throughout the U.S., Boone dealt with quite the touring scare. After a full day of riding from Greenville, South Carolina up to Philadelphia, they had a near-death experience on the highway.
“We were so tired that we weren’t really paying attention. We see the skyline of Philly and we’re all excited. We’re not paying attention and we drive into the construction lane and an 18-wheeler came in and knocked us,” Boone said. “All the construction cones are flying out because we’re running over them. We thought we were gonna hit the median, that the whole tour was done and that we were gonna be done too but we get out and there’s one scratch on the car.”
Fortunately for Boone and his fans they finished the national tour and made it home safe. Being paired with The Revivalists for Wednesday night might have afforded Boone with some divine intervention. Either way, Boone certainly seems excited to be alive and playing music again back in the Palmetto State.
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