It's your pal Marshall McCart here. I'm so pumped to be doing this segment for The News to give its wonderful readership a good look at the unbelievable musical talent and great venues we have in the greater C-town area.

In addition to a few featured shows, I'll also be covering a featured venue in each edition, and then a featured musician or group. Thanks for reading, and get out there and enjoy some of this wonderful, local music.

Featured Shows:

Tiger & Kat Live @ The Social House, 2101 Maine St. Porterdale , Saturday Feb. 13 9 p.m.

Tiger and Kathy Bragg are two of my favorite folks. I did a C-town Music Revue last year that they played and they just completely killed it! Great harmonies and stage presence, these two can do Loretta and Conway and June and Johnny like nobody's business. A great selection of songs will leave you wanting more. And the Social House really is a great venue. Killer food, too.

Featured Venue:

The Speakeasy at The Company Store, 2001 Main St. Porterdale. 770-800-1824

The words special and, even magical, come to mind. Perhaps one of the best sandwiches I've ever had, and they've got a superb bar. And there's just something about that place...you walk in and say to yourself, "yes, this is it. This is the place I've been looking for."

You might even think like maybe you've been there before, years and years ago, even though the place is relatively new. It's...special. Great people, too. Just good, cool folks. As I understand it, they've got some theater and musicals on line, and they're going to be doing a good bit of live music shows as well. This place is definitely worth a look. Porterdale has most assuredly got it going on. Cool place...

Featured Musician:

Johnny Roquemore

The man; The myth; The Legend; The one and only one; The one who won the Gong Show in the 70's by playing the William Tell Overture on harmonica. The same fella that played bass with a fairly well-known regional rock band in California. Speaking of California, the dude — a seventh-generation Mansfieldian — who lived in Malibu for about 20 years was named the Atlanta area’s best singer-songwriter by Creative Loafing a few years ago.

On top of all that, he's just a great guy. He just released his 30th album and puts out one a year. As a point of comparison, I've been a practicing musician for 19 years and have been a part of four released albums. Search out his band, Apostles of Bluegrass, on Facebook. They have a Bluegrass Country-Folk sound with a lot of wit and satire, and great instrumentation and excellent vocal harmonies.

Well, that'll about do it this go around. Hope you enjoyed it. For those of you who are digital subscribers, this column will be released online this upcoming Thursday. If you're a band or venue that would like to be covered, search me out on the book of faces or call in and leave a message with The News. I'm also on the Tonto Network, so smoke signals can also be used as a method of communication. And I always got my ear to the ground. Until next time!

Marshall wears many hats, but being a musician & musical enthusiast are chief among them.