The four-day Creative American Music Festival will be showcasing various contemporary bands from the Frost School of Music throughout this week. Professor and musician Tim Smith opened the festival with the Country Ensemble on Sunday, Nov. 3, at the Clarke Recital Hall.
The concert included performances by “Cafe Con Leche,” which is the Latin Songwriters Ensemble that is directed by professor Rey Sanchez. The second group was the Country Ensemble called “Sunshine State,” which performed 12 original country songs.
“It started out to be a student group that played country music and now all the songs are original,” Smith said.
Smith, who took over the “Sunshine State” over two years ago, said that country music has gained tremendous popularity among students.
“We have about eight of our contemporary students that graduate last year making country music in Nashville,” Smith said. “Instead of moving to Los Angeles or New York City after graduation, now we got a network of about 20 recent graduates living in Nashville.”
This will be the tenth year of the four-day CAM Festival that will go until Wednesday and end with the American Music Ensemble.
“All of the groups are unbelievable and the whole week is a showcase of different groups from freshman to seniors,” Smith said. “There’s some spectacular talent there.”