Bow Tie Dance Band bringing dance energy to Olde Towne

By Sherry Lucas

     The Bow Tie Dance Band will bring high-energy dance tunes and a fun, up-tempo attitude to Lions Club Park on Saturday, October 5. With music set for 6 until 9 p.m., they plan to get folks on their feet and grooving to the beat.

     The central-Mississippi band started in 2021, and its lineup of Gena Steele (lead vocals, guitar), Eddie Ingram (vocals, bass), Andy Joyce (vocals, guitar) and David Cummings (drums, vocals) delivers just the right mix for feel-good fun.

     Half the band is originally from Clinton, said Cummings, who grew up in Clinton and graduated from both Clinton High and Mississippi College. Joyce, also a Clinton High grad, still lives in Clinton, and the two have known each other since they were kids.

     All of them have day jobs, Cummings said, but a passion for music channels them into bands and toward the stage.

     “When you’re a musician, it’s in your blood, and you can’t not do it,” he said. “I find myself, when I do have a break, getting real fidgety and wanting to go in there and play. But, it’s also fun. We’ve all been doing it for so long — just years and years and years of playing.”

     Their playlist is packed with dance music covers from the 1960s through current hits, primarily up-tempo dance music. Think Michael Jackson, Prince, Chaka Khan, Al Green, Bee Gees, Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, Bruno Mars, Dua Lipa and more.

     Vocals are their strong suit, Cummings said, with a lot of emphasis on harmonies, as they dissect the vocal lines and phrasing in a hit tune and put their lineup to the task.

     “Our approach in Bow Tie is to strip the songs down to the basics and do them the best we can with the instrumentation lineup that we’ve got.”

     The name might conjure a certain level of formality at play, but Cummings dismisses that notion quickly with the motto, “Bow Dance Band #notsoformal #dance music.” The band’s own black or white dress code stops far short of tux level.

     The fall concert at the Atmos Pavilion at Lions Club Park marks their first performance in Clinton.

     “It’s just fun, and I’m proud to play for my hometown,” said Joyce, a Clinton resident since 1972. “I have lots of good memories here, so I’m very looking forward to it.”

     His family is, too, including a grown son and daughter still in Clinton and a grandson who just turned six.

     “Clinton has always been home to me, and it always will be.”

     The band’s broad, all-ages appeal is expected to draw families, young folks and people who enjoyed some of these tunes the first time around.

     “We play the classic stuff, the timeless music that doesn’t seem to get old,” Joyce said, and he’s seeing those classics cycle back around to captivate a younger generation, such as Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing.”

     The concert happens the same night as the Arrowstock multi-class Clinton High reunion downtown, and some crowd-sharing will come as no surprise.

     “I think they’ll be bouncing back and forth between Jefferson Street and Lions Club Park,” Joyce said.