Heritage Center Presents John Myers Band

     The “Sunset Music Series” at the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center presents the John Myers Band at 7 p.m. July 23.
    John Myers is an extraordinary entertainer whose early career included stints with R&B groups The Five Pennies, The Four Pennies, and then The Hearts of Stone on the Motown label in the early 1970s.
    Now living in Knoxville and performing with some of its top Americana musicians, his career has taken a whole new turn. His current band is comprised of Sean McCollough on guitar, banjo and mandolin, Chris Durman on guitar, Maria Williams on upright bass and Steve Corrigan on drums, with others sitting in from time to time.
    His repertoire still contains some soul songs from his Motown days, but he can just as easily pull out a song by Hank Williams, croon a number by Louie Armstrong or belt out an old-time banjo tune.
    Myers was born in Kingsport in 1935, and he and his family moved to Knoxville when he was 9 years old. His professional career began when he, his twin brother James and his younger brother Herbert formed a group with Benny Washington, Charles Holloway and Clifford Curry.
    They called the group The Five Pennies, even though their were six members. They released several songs on Savoy Records including "Mr. Moon” by Clifford Curry.
    They changed their name to the Four Pennies and recorded three of Myers’s song with Brunswick Records: "Tis the Season," "You Have No Time To Lose" and "You're Gas With Your Trash."
    The group became a popular touring act, including performances at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. In 1970, with a new group called the Hearts of Stone, which included Myers, Floyd Lawson, Carl Cutler and Lindsey Griffin, Myers recorded an album called “Stop The World, We Wanna Get On” on the Motown Label.
    Though the group disbanded not long afterward and went their separate ways, the album still fetches high prices from collectors.
    Myers eventually returned to Knoxville in 1985 and began singing again in the church. He also met Pamela Ternoir, who is a prolific songwriter, and they married. He released a studio album, I Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” last May, a labor of love which was about a year in the making. Previously released was a live album from the WDVX Blue Plate Special radio show.
    The Sunset Music Series is sponsored by BankEast. Admission to each concert is $4 per person at the door, with Heritage Center members admitted free. For more information, call the Heritage Center at (865)448-0044.