Bo Henry Band, Harvest Moon celebration set

ALBANY — It’s only fitting that Bo Henry would choose to celebrate significant anniversaries of his band and his restaurant on the same day. The two — Harvest Moon restaurant, which is marking 15 years, and the Bo Henry Band, which is at 20 and counting — are bound by strands of DNA whose primary source is the Albany businessman/musician.

The celebration will start Saturday at the 2347 Dawson Road restaurant at 2 p.m. and continue until everyone’s worn out. Local musicians past and present, whose ties to Harvest Moon are unbreakable, will provide entertainment for what promises to be a memorable event.

“Harvest Moon is not just about the food or even the atmosphere,” Henry said as he reflected on his unlikely career as a restaurateur. “It’s also about relationships, about people coming in to sit in one of our server’s sections so they can talk for five minutes to catch up. It’s about the group of elderly ladies who eat with us on their bridge day, the five fishing buddies who come in together at least once a week, the guy from Miller (brewing) who eats with us every Thursday, the ag salesman who brings his clients in.

“Here’s what’s crazy about this place. When I opened the doors 15 years ago, with not even a clue of what I was doing, what you see now is exactly what I envisioned all those years ago.”

As for the longevity of his eponymous band, there was never a question that Henry would stake his future on music. He “played a broom before I could even pick up a guitar” as a kid, and he had the constant influence of his mother and her musical family. With the experience of singing at church and school functions, six years worth of piano lessons and a few guitar lessons from Glenn Tennyson and Mike Waters under his belt, Henry played with a group of friends during a high school garage band phase.

“We had fun, playing at parties and other functions, but we usually didn’t get paid,” Henry said, laughing.

He gave college a try, but found that while he loved the college experience, he didn’t particularly care for college classes. So he came home and went to work. And started playing. First acoustically, then with good friend Matt Gay. There was talk of expanding to a full band and, in April of 1996, he formed a group with Gay, Terry Stubbs and Randy Brimberry.

“Our band has always been a group thing; we’ve never really had a true ‘frontman,’” Henry said. “The only reason we took my name with the band was that I’d book the shows, at Galveston’s or Charley B’s, and they’d put up on the sign ‘Bo Henry’s Band.’”

Members of the band see things a little differently.

“I played in a band, Ella Speed, that was a very good band,” guitarist Kent Dowling, who has been a BHB member for going on 17 years, said. “We played 200-210 dates a year, actually played until we squeezed all the fun out of it. And we made a living. But we never had that guy who drew people to us like Bo does. He’s just one of those magnetic personalities that people relate to.”

Adds original member Brimberry, “What you’ve always seen with the Bo Henry Band is a bunch of good musicians. There’s good energy and what I call a good groove surrounding the band. A lot of that is Bo. He still has that same something special that he had when he started this 20 years ago.”

With the eclectic influences of frequent early trips to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville to hear some of country’s legendary pioneers, the Beatles, the Band, the Allman Brothers, “singer-songwriter Dylan” and the harmonies of the Eagles, Henry and his band became local favorites and, gradually, an in-demand combo of fraternities on college campuses from Athens to Auburn to Tuscaloosa to Statesboro.

And while the Bo Henry Band developed something of a signature sound, steeped in the jazzlike musical jams of the Allmans and the Grateful Dead and the country/rock-tinged vocals of groups like the Band and the Eagles, their reputation as the consummate party band grew exponentially with each new gig.

“We just did a show where the guy putting it on wanted us to, essentially, be a Dead cover band,” Henry said. “We played 38 Grateful Dead songs. That’s the thing about this band. We love doing original material (BHB have recorded an early EP and two proper albums and have “enough material for two complete albums but not enough time to record them”), but we can do a Dead show. We can do an Allman Brothers show, do 15-20 Willie Nelson songs, 10 Waylon or Hank Jr. or CCR songs.

“We don’t really work off a set list — we’ve had maybe 20 shows in 20 years where we even had a set list, but we didn’t stick to it 100 percent. We generally get an idea from the audience what they like, and we play to them.”

And if that audience-band connection isn’t working on a given night?

“There’s an adrenaline rush when you’re playing in front of a great crowd and they’re into what you’re doing,” guitarist Brandon Fox, who’s been with BHB for almost 18 of the band’s 20 years, said. “I’ve always said I’d rather play for 10 or 15 people who are into what you’re doing than for 100 who are not. The great thing about this band is that when we do have one of those nights where people are disconnected, we amuse ourselves.”

While the groove that Brimberry spoke of has remained with the Bo Henry Band throughout its existence, Henry said he views the group in separate phases: “pre-Buck, Timmy and Kent” and “post-Buck, Timmy and Kent.” That reference is to Dowling, drummer Tim Carter and keyboard player Buck Bradshaw, all members of Ella Speed who have been with BHB for 15 years-plus.

“Bo needed a drummer, and he had my phone number,” Dowling said. “He called to ask about Timmy, and Timmy and Buck ended up signing on to play with them after Ella Speed broke up. They were playing a show at St. Simons Island and came through Tifton (where Dowling owned a music store). I’d kind of gotten the itch to play again, so I asked if they minded me sitting in.

“Things clicked immediately, it became this perfect combination of people and musicians.”

Henry refers to his band as a family.

“I know people say that all the time, but we’re like a true family,” he said. “We love each other, love each other’s families and respect each other.”

His bandmates agree.

“I’d been more of a symphony/jazz player, and I got the opportunity to play with a touring band in Ella Speed,” Carter said. “But from the first time I played with the Bo Henry Band, it was like being part of a family. There were no egos, no individuals. It was just about making good music. For Kent, Buck and me, getting together with Bo, Brandon and Terry was like we’d always been together.”

Stubbs adds that the musicians found an instant connection through their music.

“I can’t recollect ever not having a good time playing with this band,” the bass player said. “We just kinda play the songs that we like, and generally they’re songs that the people who come to our shows like. It’s like a fellowship between all of the guys in the band and the audience. It’s like we all come together to celebrate life.”

Henry admits he had no idea what he was doing when he decided to open Harvest Moon in downtown Albany. But he took the plunge, determining the restaurant would give his band a place to play during the week and leave weekends free for shows along the college/frat/party circuit.

“I didn’t know anything about running a restaurant, but I thought this could work,” Henry said. “It definitely was a struggle at first. There were times when I was playing gigs out of town on weekends so that I could meet the payroll at the restaurant.”

But Harvest Moon found its niche among diners looking for more of an eating experience, and it gradually became an anchor as Albany officials sought to revive a decimated downtown. Henry stayed for 7 1/2 years, but ultimately made the move to northwest Albany.

“People say, ‘Why didn’t you leave (downtown) sooner?’” he said. “And, in hindsight, that might have been a smart move. But I can’t stress enough how important being downtown was for me and the restaurant. I learned so much from being there, and I think those things are what have helped us to be successful in our current location.

“Who knows? If I’d left sooner, this might never have worked, and we wouldn’t be talking now.”

Saturday’s celebration will be a gathering of the local musical tribes of sorts. The Evergreen Family Band will start what will be a day of music at 2 p.m. on an outdoors stage set up in the restaurant’s parking lot. And while Evan Barber will be playing acoustic music inside throughout the day, Fletch and the Deplorables, Rod Holt and the Fractured Souls, Fundamentals and BHB will play on the outdoor stage until 10 p.m.

Then the party will move inside.

“We’ll just have different people — whoever wants to play — playing the rest of the night,” Henry said.

Brimberry, who recently had open-heart surgery, said he’s looking forward to seeing his former bandmates and maybe even sitting in on a couple of songs.

“Hey, playing with those guys over the years wore me out,” BHB’s original drummer laughed. “But I’ve always had so much fun playing with them. At our first gig, when we started playing, people just rushed the platform. That’s when I knew this group of guys was special. I’m not surprised they’ve been together 20 years. I’m just proud to have been a part of it.”

Much as the Bo Henry Band has touched the lives of music lovers in the Southeast, Henry and his Stewbo’s Restaurant Group partners — Stewart Campbell and Billy Mann — have touched the lives of hundreds of employees and patrons. Those twin passions will join Saturday to celebrate the restaurant’s and the band’s staying power.

“All of who I am today and who I’ve always been has been impacted by music,” Henry said. “I’ve been able to see and do a lot of things — share a stage with some very famous musicians, watch the leaves change on trips to North Carolina, visit the mountains and beaches, see college towns change over the years — because of this music I love so much.

“After you do this a while, people start talking about an ending. And, yes, all good things do eventually come to an end. But as long as we’re having fun, why would we stop? We don’t talk about that. We’re all going to die, but we don’t sit around and talk about when we’ll die. This has been a great ride, and we’ll just keep holding onto the steering wheel until the car stops.”