The Moorestown Music Collective (MMC) will host Emily Drinker and band at the Moorestown Theater Company on March 18, part of its effort to promote both music and artists.
“I’m excited about the show, and she has a good following locally,” Mark Hines, member of the MMC, said of Drinker. “That’s part of what we’re trying to do, is not only bring people into Moorestown for great live music, but also get more exposure to artists that are on their way up.”
The MMC is a nonprofit whose goal is to host live musical performances on Main Street and showcase local artists’ work. Hines explained in an earlier edition of The Sun how the MMC came to fruition after he discovered an article about a neighborhood near Akron, Ohio, that used a vacant building as a nonprofit music venue to bring life to the town.
Hines was inspired to bring the idea to Moorestown, and after receiving feedback on social media, connected with Mark Morgan, co-founder and producing artistic director of Moorestown Theater Company, who offered the theater’s rehearsal studio as the MMC venue.
Since its inception, the MMC has featured the Angela Everwood, John Byrne and John Train bands, among others, and artists like Abbey Stace, Lisa Matera and Deborah Moss Marris.
“We just want to make Moorestown more of a music destination for artists and audiences,” Hines explained. “So (it’s) to bring people into Moorestown, or people who live in Moorestown. They still have more opportunity to go up to Main Street … More of a feeling of a vibrant atmosphere in Moorestown on Main Street.”
According to her website, Drinker is an award-winning singer-songwriter from Philadelphia who blends folk, pop and rock with a high-energy band and soulful three-part harmonies through live looping. She has played at regional festivals and, most recently, won a contest with her band that resulted in a slot on the Martin Guitar Main Stage at the 60th Annual Philadelphia Folk Festival last August.
Hines looks forward to the crowd hearing Drinker perform if they haven’t already.
“People will learn who this artist is, and I’m sure there will be people taking a chance and who don’t know much about her, and suddenly like her,” he noted. “That’s kind of what we’re doing.”
Looking ahead, the MMC anticipates adding more multi-piece bands to its lineup.
“We tend to start with (a) kind of singer-songwriter folk artist-type of approach, because it’s the easier thing to do because of room and everything,” Hines said.
“But now, we’ve gotten more comfortable with having larger bands, more amplified instruments and drums, (so) we think we can do that.”
Doors at the March 18 show will open at 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit https://www.moorestowntheatercompany.org/tickets.
“We are bringing live music to Main Street, and hope to have an opportunity for people to come to Main Street and make it an evening,” Hines offered. “We really love the vibe of how we’re having a big glass window at our venue separating the outside from the artists, so people walk by and see a lot of activity.”
