Bear’s welcomes singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter Trey Lockerbie was sitting in his IU dorm room in the fall of 2006 when he received a call from musician Josh Kelley asking him to join Kelley on the road.

Lockerbie will take the Bear’s Place Ale House & Eatery stage at 10:30 p.m. Friday with another songwriter, Joe Firstman.

“I got kind of lucky I guess,” Lockerbie said.

Lockerbie was a tour manager on Kelley’s tour and filled in as the opening act when needed, but he said he soon realized the business side of performing was not as satisfying as performing itself.

“It’s a good way to get into the business, but if you want to be an artist, just start out as an artist,” Lockerbie said.

Lockerbie was also a pole-vaulter on the IU track team, but after a wrist injury, he decided to drop out of school after two years and move to Nashville, Tenn. in 2007 to pursue his music.

“It is like going off to college. You throw yourself into a whole new environment and you have to adapt,” said Lockerbie who learned to play instruments by teaching himself.
“I think there is a lot to be said about doing it your own way,” he said. “Sometimes the sounds you like can get lost in the technical aspect.”

But Lockerbie was not disappointed in his decision to move. He noticed a new indie progressive rock movement in Nashville and related to fellow Nashville artists such as Kings of Leon.

Lockerbie drew influence for his EP of three tracks titled “Hummingbird” from Bob Dylan, Radiohead, Neil Young and Jeff Buckley.

“I found my own voice. I’m not just making music to sell it,” he said.

Lockerbie is working in the studio now and said he hopes to have his album online by Christmas and out physically by the beginning of next year.

“I hope the crowd feeds off the music as an appreciation of both artists’ talent,” said Derrick Parker, Bear’s booking agent.

Firstman is no stranger to talent. His mother was an opera singer, and his father was a guitar player.

“It is weird to call it the music business because to me it was always just what my family did,” he said. 

Firstman bought a bus ticket from his hometown of Charlotte, N.C. to Los Angeles and started booking gigs.

“I didn’t know it, but scouts were in the audience and my name got around town,” Firstman said.

Firstman said he is constantly influenced by different musicians in song writing, but most recently the Avett Brothers. He said he rattles with producing the two parts of music.

“The artistic side is the divine, unexplainable part that makes you feel good, but the ability to conjure melodies and poetry is the job of it,” he said. “I know I am getting a little better.”