PORTLAND, Maine — Elvis died the night time earlier than he was imagined to carry out on the Cumberland County Civic Middle in August 1977. Roughly 37 years later, in 2014, nation music cowboy hat-hunk Tim McGraw launched a less-than-complimentary tune in regards to the metropolis with lyrics together with: “Portland, Maine, I don’t know the place that’s, and I don’t wish to know.”
The King’s well-known no-show and McGraw’s intentional geographic data deficiencies are each framing units employed by a brand new podcast exploring Portland’s vibrant however nationally obscure music scene.
The brand new sequence, known as “Sound of Our City,” is a joint manufacturing between nationwide radio behemoth iHeartMedia and Double Elvis, a manufacturing firm with a number of podcast hits.
The weekly, 10-part sequence drops its first episode on July 21, with a close-up look and pay attention on the bottom within the Forest Metropolis.
“As rock and roll royalty succumbed to an overtaxed coronary heart on the bathroom, one metropolis in America was enraptured, ready for tomorrow to come back,” mentioned host Will Dailey, about Elvis’ deliberate live performance, in a preview model of the brand new podcast offered to the Bangor Day by day Information. “No metropolis was ever left extra on the altar than Portland, Maine.”
Dailey is a Boston-based indie singer and songwriter finest recognized for having his music featured in tv exhibits like Ghost Whisperer, NCIS, 90210 and CSI.
“I couldn’t discover a whole lot of songs referencing Portland, Maine,” Dailey mentioned, about together with the Donavan Woods-penned, McGraw tune. “Hell, there aren’t a whole lot of songs that reference Maine.”
The podcast goes on to emphasise Portland’s comparatively remoted and out-of-the manner standing. Dailey additionally makes a lot hay with the town’s seaside food-and-drink popularity, mentioning that it has extra microbreweries per capita than another metropolis in America.
Alongside the best way, he namedrops a gaggle of Maine musical artists, few of which are literally from Portland, itself. The listing consists of Paranoid Social Membership, Rustic Overtones, Ray LaMontage, the Ghost of Paul Revere and the Mallett Brothers Band.
The podcast is extra of a journey information than a music sampler. It doesn’t play any of the aforementioned artists’ music however relatively delves into the town’s alcohol-fueled historical past, whereas mentioning some its better-known music venues. Amongst them, the listing curiously consists of the Cross Insurance coverage Enviornment, which hardly ever hosts music, and The Large Simple, which has been closed for years.
The episode largely emphasizes the homegrown nature of Portland’s music scene.
“Possibly when Elvis drops lifeless on you, you might be left with no plans. You notice no one is coming,” Dailey muses, “and when Tim McGraw can’t even discover it on a map, you notice, perhaps we’d higher plan our personal social gathering and provide our personal music.”
The Sound of Our City podcast is produced by Double Elvis, a media firm specializing in scripted exhibits about in style music artists. Double Elvis is finest recognized for its “Disgraceland” sequence, delving into rock and rolls’ sordid, true crime tales. Subjects lined embrace a potential homicide dedicated by Jerry Lee Lewis, Brittany Spears’ private life and plenty of cocaine-fuled rock star capers.
The podcast’s distributor, iHeartMedia owns greater than 800 American radio stations, although none in Maine. In keeping with podcast business ranker Podtrac, iHeartMedia at the moment has 685 podcasts in circulation, attracting round 30,332,000 listeners a month.
Portland’s Sound of Our City closeup is clearly aimed toward of us that don’t already reside right here. It’s in all probability redundant info for these already accustomed to the town’s music scene. However that doesn’t imply it’s not an entertaining pay attention and reminder of what outsiders suppose after they come right here.
“The meals, the beer, the crafts, the artwork, the music — Portland is its personal perpetual movement machine,” Dailey mentioned.
