The Moorestown Music Collective’s Music on Main concert series will feature singer and songwriter Chris Barron at the Community House of Moorestown on Saturday, Jan. 20.
Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30. Free parking will be available in the community house lot behind the building. Ticket sales will end on Friday, Jan. 19, at 11:59 p.m.
Barron is best known as the lead singer of the rock band Spin Doctors, whose hits include “Two Princes” and “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong,” among others. The group released the albums “Up for Grabs” and five-times-platinum “Pocket Full of Kryptonite” in 1991, but the latter took nearly a year to break through, according to AllMusic’s website. When it did, the band was embraced by MTV, mainstream radio and Apple, which sponsored its biggest headlining tour.
A Grammy nomination for best rock performance by a duo or group followed, for the single “Two Princes.” The song was one of two top-10 hits for the Spin Doctors; the other was “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong.” Both also earned a BMI award, Grammy nomination and a Rolling Stone magazine cover. Barron’s solo albums include “Angels and One-Armed Jugglers,” “Pancho and the Kid” and “Shag,” whose diverse influences include rock, jazz, country and funk.
“Spin Doctors came out when I was in college in the early 90s,” said Gary Zukowski, a music collective member. “To me, this is like going back to my college days, so I’m super excited about this one.”
The collective is a nonprofit whose goal is to host live musical performances on Moorestown’s Main Street and showcase the work of local artists. Its concert series came to be after member Mark Hines discovered an article about a neighborhood near Akron, Ohio, that used a vacant building as a nonprofit music venue to bring life back to the town, as reported in The Sun.
“It’s a nonprofit, completely volunteer activity, and it’s music brought to town by music lovers,” Zukowski explained. “We’re all people that love going to shows, and we like artists that are known. We (collective members) like discovering new artists, so not everyone we’ve had has been a household name, but those shows have been just as good.
“It’s really been about the fun of music lovers being able to bring live music.”
Previous collective concerts featured rock band Session Americana and included musicians such as Wesley Stace, Wreckless Eric, Kate Dressed Up, April Mae & the June Bugs and Steve Wynn. Now with Barron added to that lineup, Zukowski is excited, sharing how a conversation with a friend got the ball rolling.
“ … I was texting him one time and I was telling him about the whole concept of the music collective and he goes, ‘I have the perfect artist for you. I just saw Chris Barron from the Spin Doctors do a solo acoustic set as an opening act down here in Asheville (North Carolina) …'” Zukowski recounted of the conversation with his friend. “‘You should definitely put him on your list and see if you could get him. It would be perfect for what you’re trying to do over there.’”
Barron will play in the community house library room for what Zukowski expects will be a great show. The latter also anticipates what’s ahead for the music collective in the new year.
“We haven’t nailed down anything solid yet, but we certainly got some feelers out to some different artists,” he noted. “Hopefully we’ll have some exciting things to announce in the relatively near future, but nothing solid right now. But we’re always looking and trying.”
For more information on events or Barron’s show, visit the collective’s official Facebook page.
