The Mighty Good Times are off to a blazing start in a strange time in the music business, the country, and the world. Forming in late November 2019, they played their first gig to a sold-out crowd at The Camel on New Year’s Eve about a month after their first practice. On December 27th, front man Tim Beavers II played his last gig with People’s Blues of Richmond (his rock n’ roll trio that played Lockn’ twice, three sets at Electric Forest, and Red Rocks with ZZ Top and Gregg Allman) four days before the debut of the six-piece rock n’ folk circus that is The Mighty Good Times.
The tour schedule quickly filled up with gigs (including Mountain Music Fest) and the band caught the eye of manager Taco Olmstead (Jamwich, Mad Tea Party Jam) as well as Loose Leaf Talent Agency‘s CEO and lead booking agent, Matt Dolliver.
When the Covid-19 pandemic struck and all the shows were canceled for the Spring of 2020, the band joined forces with Julian Ashbee (head of Barking Iron Media who has filmed a mini-series for the NFL and ads for major car companies) and Brian Farquhar (sound engineer at The Camel and for several awesome albums from local bands) to make a half-hour video, filmed and recorded live on a rooftop in Richmond’s Jackson Ward at sunset. Days before filming, the rooftop they planned to play on sprung a leak and a contractor was hired to fix the problem. In order to complete the job on-time, the band showed up several hours early and joined the contractor for a day’s work hauling and laying stone pavers (shown briefly in the end credits). This hard-working band is just what the world needs at a time like this.
They kick off the set with a beautiful intro composed by guitarist Jonny Powell that dissolves into the thundering southpaw rock n’ roll anthem “Call Me Lefty”. Two songs later, “Incarceration Blues” calls out the cruelty of American jails (“…Rehabilitation is a joke, I hope you choke when you say ‘Liberty and Justice for some.'”) while bouncing between beautiful violin solos from Tara Dillard and a gut-wrenching guitar climax. The last song, “Rage”, is a defiant riff-rock masterpiece that holds an unwavering middle finger up to the corrupt men in power in America. You should really grab some good headphones or crank this set loud in your car. Bassist Jake Lawrence and drummer Ryan Bowman are tasteful and patient on songs like “Just Me” and “Outta My Mind”, but on the heavy songs, they thump and smash like a fist-fight in a thunderstorm.
Keyboardist and fire-spinner Brittany Potter was joined by friend Evan Justice to make the stage dance with flames and the end result is a visually and auditorily stunning performance by a new band with all the potential in the world. Follow them on social media, listen to them on Bandcamp, and catch their next video on Loose Leaf Talent’s Peaceful Protest Stream in mid-July!! This video first premiered on JamCast Network‘s live StreamFest Episode 1 May 29th then on Mountain Music Fest’s live stream the following weekend.
The Mighty Good Times Premiere and Rooftop Video
