Renegade Rebellion Country Music Festival premiered at the West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Wells on Saturday, July 9th. The festival was originally scheduled for last September but was postponed due to the pandemic. The festival provided a full day jam-packed with stellar artists.

The West Virginia Motor Speedway is located at 2 Matheny Dr in Mineral Wells, WV, and was recently reopened after closing in 2013. New manager and promoter, Cody Watson, along with support from speedway owners, PM Company in Vienna, have breathed new life into the track after a several hundred thousand dollar renovation. WVMS is a ⅝ mile dirt racing facility located along the Ohio River and Interstate 77 in Mineral Wells, WV, and is known as “The World’s Fastest Dirt Track.” The track first opened in 1985 and the first race was held in May of that year. Since then the track has operated off and on. WVMS is currently sponsored by many local companies and organizations and offers additional sponsorship opportunities.

Local solo artist Jake Binegar kicked the festival off with a mixture of originals and covers. Binegar has been playing music locally for about 10 years now and has been featured on a number of fairs’ and festivals’ lineups.

Arlo McKinley from Cincinnati was up next, playing his emotional and earnest blend of music featuring some of his older hits like “Bag of Pills” and some soon-to-be hits like “Stealing The Dark from The Night Sky” from his newly released album “This Mess We’re In”.

Following Arlo were The Davisson Brothers, a frequently touring fixture in the local WV country scene who brought their A-game to keep the day rolling.

Next Seaforth, from Australia, lit up the crowd with their dancey, upbeat jams, including their single “Good Beer” and recently released song “Queen of Daytona Beach”.

Then Trey Lewis, hailing from Birmingham, Alabama, and fresh off a tour with Kid Rock, took the stage and brought the party. He played some of his hits and his new song “My Ex Came Over” which will be released on July 22nd. In between getting the crowd dancing, he took time to recount his personal struggles with sobriety with his heartfelt song written for his mother “Whatever She Sees in Me.”

Afterward, Lainey Wilson, ACM Awards New Female Artist and Song of the Year winner in 2022, took the stage. Wilson’s set was full of infectious energy, fun, and big-belting vocals. She played her hit “Things a Man Oughta Know” as the crowd joined in to sing and dance along with her. Aside from her music career, Wilson will be joining the cast of Paramount’s show “Yellowstone” in the upcoming season.

Closing out the night was country music legend Tracey Lawrence. Lawrence has been active in the country music scene for over three decades and has charted more than forty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including eight songs that reached the number one position: “Sticks and Stones,” “Alibis,” “Can’t Break It to My Heart,” “My Second Home,” “If the Good Die Young,” “Texas Tornado,” “Time Marches On,” and “Find Out Who Your Friends Are.”

Music from all the artists can be found on the festival’s Spotify playlist.

Several artists and event organizers wandered through the crowd greeting fans and guests when they weren’t busy on stage or on duty. Watson was seen upgrading a few lucky guests’ tickets to VIP or providing meet and greet opportunities between the performers and guests. The overall atmosphere of the festival was upbeat and joyful. Everyone in attendance just seemed genuinely happy to be there, from the entertainers to the guests to the staff themselves.

Guests could choose between General Admission for $85 or VIP for $199. They could also choose to camp for the night or the full weekend on the WVMS grounds.

The festival featured several food vendors and merchandise booths. Freshly cooked meals including fried chicken, ham, pulled pork, and a deliciously sweet peanut butter sheet cake were prepared by volunteers and available to VIP guests.

Watson is hoping to garner some more support from the Parkersburg/Mid Ohio Valley Community for future events at the speedway. The WVMS offers racing events about once a month. They offer concessions and provide a family-friendly and exciting environment with kids 10 and under receiving free admission to the race events. The WVMS is a cash-only facility. Next on their schedule is the Mark Balzano Memorial on August 6th which features hotrods, street stocks, sport mods, and $10k late models. General Admission tickets are $25 and pit tickets are $35. They are also offering on-site camping for this event for $20 per night. Their full schedule of upcoming events can be found on their website.

All photography by Michelle Waters Photo

The post Renegade Rebellion Country Music Festival appeared first on Clutch MOV.

Jimmy Carrano, the owner of Jimmy Avocado’s, has been cooking for pretty much his entire life. When he was growing up, his father ran restaurants and he would go in and do prep work with him for extra money. He began regularly working in restaurants as a teenager and completed culinary school in his twenties. He’s worked as both a private chef and a corporate chef but says running his own restaurant is more about passion. “I enjoy what I do. To quote the movie Chef: There are people who cook food they believe in,” he said. He has a lot of Hispanic influence in what he cooks because of the nature of kitchens and the people that are typically employed in them with whom he’s interacted.

Carrano started the food truck in the early part of 2021 and added the Marietta location in March of this year, at 212 Third Street. The Marietta restaurant has been a popular choice among the local community with them having been nominated for the Marietta Times Readers Choice Awards after being open for less than a year. The eatery is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and Tuesdays from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm. They’re adding a second location inside the food court at the Grand Central Mall that will hopefully be open in June. Starting soon, the food truck will be at Point Park every Wednesday evening during the free yoga at the point classes.

Jimmy Avocado’s offers a wide variety of flavorful menu options, including vegetarian and a true vegan menu with soy-based chorizo, tofu tacos, and plant-based cheese. All of their food is made from scratch with the exception of the tortillas and chips because they sell too many of them to have the time to make them themselves. They get some of their ingredients from local produce shops and a couple of the local meat markets. Carrano said his personal favorite dish they serve is the pork carnitas tacos, a soft corn shell filled with slow-roasted carnitas marinated in orange citrus zest, chipotle sauce, pickled red onions, and pineapple. “That citrus meeting with that caramelization pork gets when it’s slow-roasted in the oven is just awesome. I feel like you get a lot of the flavors you’d get from pork belly without that crispness of pork belly,” he described.

I just wanted to be able to give people good food and create an atmosphere that people wanted to work at and not feel like they were trapped into working there.

They currently have 12 employees, excluding Carrano himself. He does his best to treat his employees right by providing pay over minimum wage, offering full-time schedules to those that want them, and eventually, he wants to transition all of his employees to a four-day workweek to give them more time to live their lives. Their life outside of work is equally important to him. Some of the people working for him have been friends of his for years. “I just wanted to be able to give people good food and create an atmosphere that people wanted to work at and not feel like they were trapped into working there. There’s that whole cliche of we’re a family, not a team, but I really feel like we’re a family. I want to make a million dollars, but if that takes me a few extra years and I take care of my people, that’s how I want it to be,” he stated.

When you walk into the Marietta location you’re greeted with Mexican music and an inviting atmosphere. The restaurant theme is modeled after restaurants he visited in Mexico that are made to be almost like walking into someone’s home. The art on the walls is a combination of gifts from Carrano’s children and friends and local artists. The art done by local artists is for sale and the artists receive all the profit from the sales. Avocado plushies made by the Wood County Society and the Artbeat Studio are also available for purchase and the profits all go back to those organizations. They also sell cookies from Big Tom’s Cookies and fresh-made marshmallows from Tezze Delicacies and Treats. The Grand Central Mall location will feature an exclusive Chipotle chocolate chip cookie from Big Tom’s Cookies.

Carrano believes community is an important part of running a local business. He encourages people to hang flyers for local events. Eventually, he wants to put a board up in the restaurant to advertise other local small restaurants. “There are so many different types of businesses that help market each other and restaurants don’t do it because I feel like they always feel like it’s a competition. But at the end of the day, if somebody comes in here, they’re coming in for tacos. They’re not coming in here for pizza. They’re not coming in here for a burger. They’re not coming in here for anything like that, you know?”

Carrano said there are so many different varieties of food around town. “Tel Aviv that has the Greek style food and Lebanese style cuisine, you’ve got Star of India that has Indian style food, and there are several bars around here that while they might have some things that clash, they offer a really good gastropub menu,” he said. “The Busy Bee offers pretty much brunch all the time. You’ve got your higher-end places, the Levee House Bistro, Benny & Babe at the Buckley, all those places. I feel like they would respect me saying, ‘Hey, if you don’t like tacos, why don’t you check out all these other great local restaurants as opposed to going to Applebee’s or somewhere like that?’ It’s the character and it just helps to build the local community,” he explained.

Carrano really wants to help spark the movement of making the area better and helping to be part of the solution. He wanted to create something bigger than himself with this business. “The best part of this has been the sense of accomplishment. I’m a dreamer to a tee and I have a new one every 47 minutes, so on a personal level, it’s finally following through with something,” he said. “On a bigger level, it’s realizing it’s not just a taco truck now, it’s a feasible future business that can change all the things I want to change. I’m never going to be Elon Musk level able to change things, but I could be Parkersburg, Marietta, Mid-Ohio Valley level and that’s kind of what I’m shooting for. Every day I feel like I’m a little bit closer.”

The post Jimmy Avocado’s appeared first on Clutch MOV.

Clutch MOV recently spoke with local band Cutler Station over Mexican food and margaritas to discuss influences, origins, and what music means to them and to snag some details on their highly anticipated upcoming album.

Cutler Station is best described as dynamic, fun, and absolutely chock full of talent! The band consists of brothers John and Kirby Evans, Steve Lipscomb, Jason Swiger, John Borchard, and Jake Dunn. All the members are local; with Lipscomb, and the Evans brothers living in Vincent, Swiger in Cutler, Borchard in Athens, and Dunn in Belpre.

The guys in Cutler Station have all been playing music for most of their lives, with Lipscomb, Swiger, and the Evans brothers beginning to play together as teenagers. Cutler Station as we know it today really began to take form about 10 or 11 years ago when Lipscomb, Kirby and John Evans were all living in Columbus and decided to form a band where they could do whatever they wanted and have it be more democratic than bands they’d been in previously. Swiger joined in on drums shortly afterward.

They approached Borchard to play on their previous album Meat, No Sides and he’s been with them ever since. He began playing music in 1969/1970 and has the skill to show for it. “The places it (live music) has taken me are mind-boggling,” said Borchard. “I’ve played Presidential Inaugurations and I’ve played honkytonks with people who were shot to death and everything in between.”

The most recent addition is Jake Dunn, formerly of Jake Dunn and The Blackbirds, Elephant Head, and Sadsquatch. When asked what it was like joining the already well-established band, Dunn said “They are all so enthusiastic about what it is. On a scale of just daily enthusiasm, they’re just always ready to go. They’re always excited about what’s coming. They were all so welcoming, I feel like I’ve been in this band for a long time.”

It’s kind of a call back to our hometown. It’s nostalgia. Everybody has their little convenience store in their little town.

The name Cutler Station came from the local general store in Cutler where a few of the members grew up. The store itself has been around since the 60s but was previously a gas station in the 50s. In the 1800s there was a railroad that ran through Cutler (which possibly inspired the store name) and that’s when Cutler became a town. It was also a stop along the Underground Railroad. “It’s kind of a call back to our hometown,” said Lipscomb. “It’s nostalgia. Everybody has their little convenience store in their little town.”

Trying to pin down a genre for Cutler Station seems like almost an impossible task. They don’t seem to fit in any particular box. When asked what genre they consider themselves, the bandmates responded with a variety ranging from Appalachian power pop to dad rock to “just keep an open mind.” They described their influences as anyone from 90’s country, Tyler Childers, Ben Folds Five, and early Weezer to Jewel, Monsters of Folk, My Morning Jacket, and the Beatles.

It’s a really different thing and to me, that’s what music is. They’re not afraid to walk right to the edge and then jump off!

“These guys absorb a lot of influences other than what would be indigenous to this part of the country,” said Borchard, summing it up. “They’ve absorbed all these other influences, as have half a million other people, but they’ve put it together in a way that’s cohesive. It’s a really different thing and to me, that’s what music is. They’re not afraid to walk right to the edge and then jump off!”

“What’s really interesting to me is I don’t know anyone else that is really chronicling Appalachian life,” continued Borchard. “There’s plenty of bluegrass guys around, but that’s great grandpa’s music at this point in time. I mean, from a lyrical standpoint, nothing else really sounds like Cutler Station.”

Another important quality of the band is that its members are encouraged to have the freedom to experiment with different instruments and styles until they find where they each fit best as a band. They noted that a lot of that freedom in their songwriting process comes from how open they are with each other as a band. They take their music and commitment really seriously without taking themselves too seriously. They stated the energy everybody in the band has is “I’ll do whatever, completely opposite of what I’d normally do, just because it’s what’s necessary.”

When preparing for a gig, the band prioritizes practicing regularly. They all have families and busy schedules, so sometimes things can get a little hectic, but they always set aside time every Wednesday for band practice.

Their upcoming album is titled ‘I Wanna Build A New Machine.’ They’re currently tracking vocals, then the album will be mixed and mastered with a planned release in the coming months. They described the musical theme of this record as a more guitar-heavy, rock-n-roll record. “We’re going to thrash the drums out a little bit,” said Lipscomb. Lyrically and thematically, there’s some anger. “We’re kind of pissed off with the way the world is right now,” he said. “Not politically, just how we feel like things could be better. Everyone could be better.”

They’re recording the album at Steve’s studio in his home. “Typically, we make it a process as a group. Steve will mix it up, put it on a G Drive, and we’ll all take a listen and put our input on it. That kinda goes on until we’re all happy with it,” said John Evans. The album art is going to be done by Chris DeMaria, who did the artwork for their previous album ‘Meat, No Sides.’ When asked what the expectations were for the art John said, “We feel like he really killed it on Meat, No Sides. We’ve given him free rein on the new one.”

They have at least two more albums planned after this one: a traditional country album, Cutler Station style, and a more experimental album. They have over 50 songs in the queue that they haven’t done anything with yet. They all just want to keep making music. “We have yet to write our best song,” said Evans.

Dunn said live music is an important part of what they do. “It’s integrated into everything you do, he said. “I don’t think anyone should play music unless they absolutely have to,” said Borchard, repeating something a friend recently shared. “What he meant by that was people who have to play music find a way to do it, whether that’s sleeping on couches for 50 years or being able to find a group of like-minded people. There are plenty of people who play, but it’s hard to find people who really want to work.”

“We do this for us,” said Steve Evans. “We’ve never felt, any one of us, that we were as good alone as we could be when we all play together.” John Evans added, “I would go insane if I wasn’t in a band.”

While you’re waiting on the new album, you can find their music on Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp. Check out their wide variety of merch, shirts, hats, patches, records, stickers, CDs, mugs, posters, bathing suits, and even more, available on their Facebook and Instagram shops, Bandcamp, or by coming out to a show and visiting the merch table. Keep an eye out for more show announcements coming soon as well!

The post Cutler Station is Way More Than Just OK appeared first on Clutch MOV.

Marietta Morning Rotary Club Hosts International Dinner

“Enjoy your food, travel around the world, and have a great time!” Khadine Ritter, Event Organizer, proclaimed.

The Marietta Morning Rotary Club held their International Dinner on Saturday, April 2nd, at the Marietta Shrine Club. Upon first entering the Shriner Club, attendees were hit with the powerful and delicious scent of foods from several different countries and regions. Khadine described the event as “a feast of the senses” and nothing could be more true, with attendees being able to see chefs and helpers in their traditional dress with items from their culture while tasting their traditional foods. The dinner also featured a silent auction on a bazaar of items from many places around the world, donated by various individuals.

All the chefs are MOV locals who are either directly from the country they represent or are first-generation residents. The dinner was a great way for people to get out and experience new food and culture from all around the world, locally. This was the 17th year the dinner has been held and it definitely didn’t disappoint! Several new countries were featured this year, including Great Britain, Thailand, Belgium, and Palestine. There were forty-one unique dishes featured from fourteen different countries/regions, including India, Brazil, Sweden, Switzerland, and many others.

When asked what she was most looking forward to with the dinner, Ritter, who was representing Panama as well as organizing the event, said “As a cook, I just want to get through it unscathed and make sure that people have enough food and that they have a fabulous day.”

Many chefs decorated their tables with traditional or personal items from their childhood abroad. Nicholas Newman, representing Switzerland, decorated his table with wooden cows representing his nation’s Brown Swiss cattle breed and his country’s flag. Other chefs regaled attendees with stories of their home country or interesting history facts, like Davis Powers with his Viking helmet and stories of how Sweden mellowed out from their conquering Viking past into a “very useful country.”

Some chefs, like Thangasamy Saminathan, Anitha Thamizhani, Harish Damahe, and Johnsely Sanitha Cuyrus from Tamil Nadu, dressed in full traditional garb and gladly explained the significance of each article of clothing and explained the health benefits of their dishes. Idli, a savory rice cake, is an incredibly healthy breakfast that can be topped with different types of chutney. Some chefs, like Maria Corbin, Sophia Corbin, and Rebecca Coelho representing Brazil, chose not only the most popular dishes in their country but also their favorites.

Personal favorite dishes included the chicken green curry from Thailand, waterzooi (chicken stew with carrots, leeks, onions, and heavy cream) from Belgium, and payasam (a dessert made with vermicelli, milk, ghee, raisins, and nuts) from Tamil Nadu, India.

The dinner was attended by people of all ages and walks of life, from toddlers to senior citizens, from families to couples on date night, and people out with their friends.

Attendee Parker Waters, age 10, said she was excited about the event because she wanted to try food from different cultures and countries. She was surprised to find she liked the pork carnitas from Mexico and the Russian honey cake which she described as “sweet, but not sweet enough to make your mouth hurt.” She said normally she’s a bit particular and just sticks with the things she’s comfortable with, but she went and tried something new. She would recommend the dinner to a friend because “it’s a really good way to learn how different cultures and countries prepare their food, and it’s an amazing idea for them to try.”

“I love seeing all of the different cultures that are represented every year,” said Beth Segrest. “I think it is a great reminder that diversity doesn’t just happen in our big cities. It exists in small-town America, too. I think it is a great opportunity for people to share a part of their identity with the broader community and presents the rest of us with exposure to some small part of a place we might never get to go to. And of course, the food is always fantastic!”

Lively Celtic music was provided during the event by The Brickersons, based in Athens, Ohio. The quartet is composed of Ed Newman (hammered dulcimer), Rusty Smith (fiddle), Todd Sams (guitar), and Zeke Hutchison (mandolin).

Proceeds from the dinner focus on the club’s literacy projects, such as the Dictionary Project, which has been responsible for providing a dictionary to every third grader in Washington county (over 700 dictionaries per year) since 2007, the Boys and Girls Club Reading Room in the Harmar Community Building, and funding the Marietta College Summer Reading Camp.

Christy Burke, the club’s president and Director of Education Abroad at Marietta College, described the Marietta Morning Rotary Club as an “action-based club that prides itself on being in the community.” Aside from their literacy projects, the club focuses on a number of other initiatives, like the Discovery Garden on the corner of Pike Street and Seventh Street, planting trees at Gold Star Park, and working with Marietta Main Street on their clean sweep downtown.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Marietta Morning Rotary Club should contact mariettamorningrotary@gmail.com. The club typically meets on Fridays at 7:00 am at Jeremiah’s Coffee House on Front Street. Burke says the club is a great way to start the end of your week!

The post Tastes from Around the World appeared first on Clutch MOV.

“Rock n Roll is back, baby!” Fletcher’s Grove, the opening act of Mountain Music Festival, proclaimed.

The excitement was palpable as festival goers began to head up the mountain to Ace Adventure resort in Oak Hill, W.Va.. As folks arrived, everyone smiled and greeted each other. It was clear how desperately live music and the feeling of community was missed during the past year of pandemic and quarantine shutdown. One of the most surprising things was how much love everyone had to give. It was almost like everyone had been storing it up for this past year and MMF was the perfect place to let it all flow out.

Thursday was the perfect lineup to let everyone dance away what stresses and inhibitions they had left over from the outside world and really just lean into the love, acceptance, and non-stop dance party that was the rest of the weekend.

MOV gems, Jake Dunn and the Blackbirds helped kick things off Friday morning in one of their first performances since quarantine began. They stayed busy during the shutdown though, managing to put out a fantastic new album. Jake summed up how it felt to be back playing live after taking so much time off as a warm ray of sunshine.

“I haven’t had so much to look forward to and be hopeful about in a long while,” he said, “so it is really just great. I could not be more excited about it.”

Moon Hooch, from New York, set the crowd on fire Friday evening with their mix of saxophone and percussion dance music and their unbelievably charismatic stage performance. They are definitely a must see if you have the opportunity to see them perform.

Saturday was absolutely jam-packed (pun fully intended) with amazing artists running from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. Sunday. Arlo McKinley was a personal favorite. As his merch so perfectly states, “Arlo made me cry.” His particular brand of devastating honesty is something so many fans find relatable.

Local favorites, The Kind Thieves closed out the festival with a dynamite set. The crowd, though sleep deprived, fed off their energy and kept the dance party going until the very end. Clutch MOV spoke to Colby from The Kind Thieves before the festival and he was most excited about being back around friends and family.

“We’ve worked up a ton of new material and can’t wait to play it for everyone!” he said.

One of the most interesting things about Mountain Music Festival is the diversity. With the genre-spanning musical lineup, water park, multitude of workshops offered (Witchin Kitchen with Tara Caldwell was particularly enjoyable), nature hikes, fantastic food trucks, drinks from local breweries like Greenbrier Brewing Company, whitewater rafting, zip lining, rock climbing, and more, this festival truly has something for everyone.

With so many wonderful qualities, it can be difficult to summarize the festival with just a few words – so, we asked for help. Throughout the weekend, Clutch MOV spoke with several festival goers, staff, and musicians, including Arlo McKinley and Casey from Buffalo Wabs & The Price Hill Hustle (another favorite from Saturday), to describe the vibe of the festival in three words. Favorite answers include “Stress free, easy, love, vibrant, laid back, silly, release, nostalgia, and home.”

Event organizer Chris Colin said that preparations differed this year from last year. “We were very cautious as we moved forward. We knew we had to start planning the event last summer so we were very optimistic. We held back on printing, marketing and contracting vendors until just recently,” he said.

“In most years we have this all lined out months in advance but no one knew for sure if the event could actually take place. It wasn’t actually until about a month ago that we knew 100% we were moving forward.”

New River Gorge is America’s newest national park, located in the heart of the mountain state. “Having the National Park designation is the gold star in the park world and this part of West Virginia is truly beautiful,” said Colin. “It is pretty unique to visit a place like ACE Adventure Resort which is over 1,500 acres in size and situated in the National Park.”

After the festival, our team, with some fantastic directions from the helpful staff at ACE, visited a gorgeous scenic spot on the river. The river, while called the New River, is one of the oldest rivers in the world. It is beautiful with plenty of spots to white water raft, fish, or just dip your toes in a bit. The mountain itself was tranquil and at night, it feels like you can see a million stars in this part of the state.

Music is alive and well in the hills of West Virginia and you’d be hard pressed to find a community more loving, accepting, wild, and diverse than these local music fans. Clutch MOV is excited to come back next year – we miss it already.

All photography by Michelle Waters

The post Mountain Music Festival appeared first on Clutch MOV.