Jan 03, 2025
Although Junior Richard, manager of The Cabin, has played music most of his life, his band Junior & Transportation has been kicking around since 2005.To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Richard and the band’s current lineup will perform Jan. 9 at Downstairs, 625 Main St.Doors open at 8:30 p.m. and the band — guitarist and lead singer Richard, guitarist Jeremy Whitesides, bassist David Mealey, keyboardist Adam Fifield and drummer Matt Wilson — will take the stage between 9:30 and 10 p.m., before the night closes out with DJ Bangarang.Admission is free, but the band will pass around a hat for donations, Richard said.“We’re going to do this the old-fashioned way, like we did 20 years ago,” he said. “It’s a free show, but you pay something at the door for the band if you like them.”One of the reasons Richard selected Downstairs as the venue is because co-owner Seth Hill agreed to the format.“I want to make it easy for everyone, and I want them to come and enjoy it,” Richard said. “It’s also crazy because when we were talking about doing this show, we realized I played my first show there in 2005.”Back then the venue was known as Mother Urban’s Ratskeller and was owned by Michael Kaplan.“I started the Open-Mic with Junior & Friends at Mother Urban’s, and we did that every Monday,” Richard said. “We also did some holiday parties.”During one of those parties, which happened to be a Halloween show, Richard had rechristened his group Junior & the All-Star Band.“That was something I did every once in a while, where we would have different people come and play with us,” he said. “At the start of that night, a musician friend of mine, Rick Gerber, got up and said, ‘Junior & the All-Star Transportation.’ So, from then on, we were called Junior & Transportation.”Richard has led the band through the past two decades.“We’ve had different members and lineups that led to this one, which has been playing together for the past five or six years,” he said.Junior & Transportation’s style stems from Richard’s love of jam bands.“My original music fits into that genre — Widespread Panic, Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers — great music like that,” he said. “But my biggest influences when I first started songwriting were Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, and because they were my dad’s music, they came to me naturally.”Richard, who dabbled in songwriting, began writing in earnest soon after that Halloween show in 2005.“The band continued to be an all-star thing, and it would invite mandolin players, violin players or extra guitar players,” he said. “But had to start writing songs because we couldn’t just do covers.”Richard’s life experiences inspired most of the songs.“The easiest thing to write about is love, but I try to write songs that are relatable to everyone, so they aren’t just about my own situation,” he said.Usually, Richard would come up with a musical riff and then try to fit in some lyrics.“I get things going, and then I’d go back to other notes and see what I had been writing about,” he said. “So l’d piece songs together, rather than sitting down with the intention of writing a song.”In order to ensure his songs were the best they could be, Richard would recruit a “little help from his friends.”“I play with people who are outstanding musicians who have more knowledge than me, and they will take the riffs and add things to it,” he said. “All the people that had been in the band since then have helped develop the songs.”The songs still continue to evolve, Richard said.“They’re improvisational, and the vibes differ because all the musicians who have played with us are different,” he said.When pulling a show together, like the 20th anniversary concert, Richard keeps the freshness alive by not overdoing rehearsals.“When talking about upcoming shows, we mostly talk about the songs and feel them out,” he said. “That makes them feel super fresh every time.”Over the past few years, Junior & Transportation has performed up and down Main Street and has opened for touring bands including The Cult and Big Head Todd & the Monsters.“There isn’t a venue on Main Street where my band and I haven’t played, and some of them aren’t there any more,” he said. “And we’ve had opportunities to play with musicians that are local influences. They are in bands like Badfeather, The Pour and Stonefed, and that connects us to the community here in Utah, which steps up our game.”One of the reasons why Richard wanted to perform a 20th anniversary show during the winter season is to bring back the local-band feel to Main Street.“If you look at the scene right now, there isn’t much of a local-band scene in Park City, so I feel we’re kind of bringing it back,” he said. “Junior & Friends returns to Mother Urban’s, and we’re going to Downstairs and pretend like it’s Mother Urban’s again. In fact, Michael Kaplan has loaned me the stage sign, so we’ll get that vibe back for one night only. “Junior & Transportation 20th Anniversary ShowWhen: 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 9 Where: Downstairs, 625 Main St. Web: downstairspc.com and facebook.com/juniorandtransportationThe post Junior & Transportation rolls out a 20th anniversary concert appeared first on Park Record.
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