Interview: Luke Thomas on NASHVILLE, LIVE!

BWW:UK caught up with Luke Thomas, musical director of new theatre show Nashville Live to chat about the upcoming tour.

What can you tell us about the Nashville Live tour?

Well, have you ever been to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville?

I have!

We're not doing exactly that but its a similar sort of concept where we're making the audience feel as though they're at a live radio performance.

The Opry is live on air so we're going to have an announcer, a light box that says "live" on it and the effects of a radio tuning in. We're not doing perfect tributes to everyone because I think a lot of people do that. We're dressing our front singers just as generic country cool and they're going to sing like the artists but not physically change into each artist.

The announcer is going to introduce everyone and do a couple of songs himself. We're doing a couple of jingles like radio adverts to make it feel as though you're live on the radio.

What range of music will be covered?

We're going to go from early bluegrass stuff to the likes of Willie Nelson, Tammy Wynette and Patsy Cline. A bit further forward to Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers.

We're not going to get much more modern than the likes of Shania Twain, Dixie Chicks and Garth Brooks. We want to mix it up but we want it to feel like the Grand Ole Opry used to be. It feels more authentic to try and keep it a bit older. Also if you start bringing in really modern country music, it is so different to the really old stuff and becomes too much of a mix for a show like this.

Who will be performing?

I can't believe we even put this cast together! We've got some really good people in the show from West End sort of country shows. We have Robbie Durham who played Johnny Cash in Million Dollar Quartet and when he sent us the showreel I was like "..is that not just Johnny Cash?!".

Lisa Wright was in Sunny Afternoon but she's also a country artist in her own right and she's really good- she's got that sort of really old sweet tone to her voice. Our announcer Chris Grahamson is a voiceover artist so he's just perfect for the role because he's got that really deep sort of radio voice.

Helena Gullen was originally brought in as a fiddle player because she's really fantastic on the fiddle but she's also a West End actress as well. It worked out really well because she will be singing on few songs but also playing in the band for others.

We've got the right people in the right places so now its just a case of getting out there and playing!

The tour opens in Glasgow- have you been to Glasgow's Grand Ole Opry before..?

I have actually! I've played there with Raintown. Normally when I'm in Glasgow I'm playing places like King Tuts, Stereo or the ABC.

I don't know how they get away with calling it the Grand Ole Opry!

Do you think there's been an increase in demand for country tours in the UK in recent years?

Yeah- not just in theatre. My parents had a show called Country Legends which toured the UK for about fifteen years which was basically just a country tribute variety show but it was the only one doing it for a long time. I think now there's about five or six touring country shows in theatres.

I've only been in theatre for a couple of years, my background is more playing original music in country bands and that side of it has grown a million percent since I've been doing it. I've been playing country music professionally for about fifteen years and back then it was impossible, you had to play covers. Over the last five or six years it has just grown so much.

Do you think the rise is linked to Country to Country?

I'm putting it down to Country to Country and the Nashville tv show. Those two together have brought a new, younger audience and its helped everyone because there's now this fanbase. I'm a country promoter as well and play in four or five different touring artist bands and we've noticed the potential to sell tickets has just increased loads.

The one negative I've noticed to all these American acts coming over is that they're coming here and touring all through March and then again from September to December. We've got the likes of Lee Ann Womack, Darius Rucker, Kacey Musgraves and Brothers Osborne coming over and it means the UK bands suffer because people only have a certain amount to spend and they're going to go to those shows. The market is a really tough one these days because its really saturated.

Overall, it is a good thing but some of the smaller artists struggle because they can't get people to go to their shows.

Do they tend to always bring their own support with them or is there any room for UK bands to support at these gigs?

These artists tend to come over to play C2C, get great exposure and then get booked for a UK tour. A lot of the time the artists are coming over and they've got a label mate who they want to promote on their shows and it also matters how many tickets they've sold. If its sold really well and they haven't booked a support then they're not too bothered who opens and a UK act can get on.

I went to see Cam down in London last week and Lisa Wright who is in our show was opening for her. You don't often get UK artists opening at these gigs so that was really cool. Also, Ward Thomas supported Miranda Lambert. They are signed though- it is rare to see an unsigned UK artist getting booked on an American artists tour but hopefully, we'll see a change there.

Do you have any special memories of going to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville yourself?

Both times that I've been was during the winter so it was in the Ryman. There's not as many big artists on in the winter because not many are on the road around then. One of the shows I saw though, she wasn't billed to perform but Loretta Lynn came out and did a set. These days its pretty unlikely to see Loretta Lynn perform so that's probably the highlight of my Opry experience!

Who would you recommend comes to see Nashville Live?

In my theatre experience, it tends to be an older audience but I'd like to see maybe people in their 20's and 30's who are into the sort of cooler younger country. Everybody in the show is young too so it would be nice to see some familiar faces from the other gigs that I do. The tour is in concert halls rather than theatres so hopefully, that will attract a different audience. Maybe something similar to the Nashville tv cast tour audience!

Tour dates and ticket information for Nashville Live are available on the Maple Tree Entertainment website.

Photo credit: Scott Rylander