Editor’s Note: The Dispatch is profiling each band slated to play for the Columbus Main Street-sponsored Sounds of Summer free concert series.
According to lead singer Dee McKay, Deacon Jones and the Late Night is a “funky” band that doesn’t take itself too seriously. But they do have a serious reason for playing.
The band formed in 2010 as a group of seven guys who “enjoyed jamming together,” McKay remembers. A few years ago the band’s original keyboardist, Billy Peel, passed away while battling cancer.
“It’s just 6 of us now, and we just play for Billy,” McKay said.
Deacon Jones and the Late Night frequents mostly outdoor events and festivals in the area and will be performing for the third time at Sounds of Summer Thursday from 7-9 p.m. at Columbus’ downtown Riverwalk.
McKay said the band plays rhythm and blues, covering artists from Otis Redding to Van Morrison or “pretty much anything from the 60s and 70s that has horns in it.”
Like McKay, who also plays guitar and harmonica, drummer Scott Carley of Columbus said the band’s horn ensemble makes it unique.
“It’s always nice to have a keyboard and to have a horn, but to have a horn section is a totally different feel,” Carley said.
Four additional members round out the band: Scott Allen on bass; Bobby Shannon as singer, keyboardist and saxophonist; Doug Thomas also on saxophone; and Roger Wallace playing trumpet. Band members’ ages range from their 30s to their 60s.
“The range of the age group plus the type of music we play works out really good,” Carley said.
The drummer owns Thai By Thai in downtown Columbus, one member works at the Columbus Air Force Base, another teaches for Starkville’s band program and a couple are retirees, but they all share a love of music.
“Every time you hear a song, you think about where you’re at,” Carley said. “If you’re having issues or problems in the world, you can revert back to the music and make your troubles go away.”
McKay said most members also play for other bands and Carley even toured with bands internationally for about five years before meeting his wife in Thailand.
“Everybody’s been playing forever,” McKay said. “I’m proud to say most of the guys are some of the best musicians in the area.”
Carley said he enjoys playing at Sounds of Summer because the venue is close to home and has a community feel.
“I’m happy to see Sounds of Summer doing what they’re doing,” he said. “When you have music going on on a weekend night, it’s not nearly as big as it is down there at the Riverwalk when it’s a family thing.”
Carley said band members get just as much entertainment from the crowd as it does from the them.
McKay even has some advice for concert goers.
“Beat the heat. Hope it doesn’t rain. Hydrate. And bring your own beer,” he said.
And they’re sure to be a good time, as the band name would suggest.
“My mother was a Jones,” McKay said. “So everybody in her family was either a preacher or a policeman. I just went off the ‘Deacon’ because they were a big church family. And when you go anywhere, people always ask ‘Where’s the late night?’ meaning where’s the party at. It makes a nice name.”
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