Former McCartney drummer and Beach Boys bassist join star-studded Music Hall show

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Former McCartney drummer and Beach Boys bassist join star-studded Music Hall show
By Kalyn Oyer
Jan 23, 2018


Mike Allen will be joined by 13 world-class musicians on stage at The Charleston Music Hall. 
Provided

The Charleston Music Hall stage will be graced this weekend with a star-studded lineup that includes Steve Holley, former drummer of Paul McCartney and Wings, and Bryan Stanley, former bassist for dozens of big acts such as The Beach Boys, Bryan Adams, Tommy Shaw and Garland Jeffries. 

Mike Allen, Charleston engineering consultant by day and Nashville songwriter by night, will be performing original music with these back-up rock stars for the concert. He'll be joined by 13 musicians. The group includes two Charlestonians: award-winning Latin congo player Gino Castillo and former RCA Records producer and session guitarist Joe Taylor.

"Joe and I met late in 2015 and began exploring my portfolio of original compositions to select a handful for production," says Allen. "My aim was to write songs for a music publisher in Nashville to promote them to record companies and recording artists for their records. We selected 10 songs and arranged them for recording. Then, Joe tapped into his vast Rolodex of great studio musicians."

Through Taylor, Allen has connected with musicians from here and all over, with McCartney's Holley and The Beach Boys' Stanley hailing from England and several others from New York, Philadelphia and beyond. 

"I am a local Charleston businessman with a serious songwriting hobby with connections in the Nashville songwriting scene," says Allen, who has written hundreds of songs for other musicians over the years. 

This Music Hall show will be a chance for him to showcase and perform some of his favorite original music. The concert, which will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27, will be in support of Allen's new original album, "Why, Why, Why."

"The songs are mostly stories — love stories, war stories, patriotic ballads, silly random songs," says Allen. Two cuts off the disc were written by request to be featured in an indie movie starring Sandra Bullock and Greg Kinnear.

Allen just needed a little help from his friends to make a live performance happen. 

"This ain’t no group of buddies who play a little guitar or piano," he says. "I’m talking serious professional musicians, many with legendary pedigrees."

Tickets are just $15 and available at charlestonmusichall.com. 



STEVE HOLLEY