Crystal Bowersox tops off Midwest Rhythm Summit with sizzling performance

FREMONT — Crystal Bowersox revels in telling stories and revealing the inspiration behind her songs.

She shared her stories with fans and Terra State Community College students this weekend, as the college welcomed the return of the Midwest Rhythm Summit.

Before Bowersox capped this year's Midwest Rhythm Summit with her headliner set Saturday, she relaxed and visited with a childhood friend from Ottawa County inside one of Terra State's office suites.

Bowersox said her main message to students who attended her afternoon clinic was to lean into the things they resist or fear.

"If we don't lean into the things we resist, we're not going to learn the hard lessons we need to learn," Bowersox, a Graytown native and runner-up on the ninth season of American Idol, said Saturday.

The Midwest Rhythm Summit ended with a bang Saturday, with Bowersox regaling audience members with personal stories and her mesmerizing voice, Los Angeles-based Dig Infinity rocking out with heavy guitar and bass-infused beats, and or Stranger than Fiction getting people on their feet with crowd-friendly cover songs, .

After a two-year absence from Terra State's campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the summit returned with a vengeance Friday and Saturday.

Michael Czeczele, Terra State's director of musical arts and technologies, said this year's summit had been the best experience yet, in terms of the clinics and community interest in the concerts.

"The cool thing about it is, you won't get an education like this from a classroom," Czeczele, the drummer in Stranger than Friction, said before his group performed Saturday night.

Midwest Rhythm Summit concludes with Saturday night concerts

Bowersox's concert was preceded by Fremont's Stranger than Fiction and Los Angeles-based Dig Infinity.

The Together Band and New York City-based My World headlined on Friday night.

Czeczele said the turnout for concerts both nights was better than what he expected.

Musicians come from across the country to speak, perform at summit

It's about 500 miles to drive or fly from Nashville, Bowersox's current residence, to Fremont.

Pancho Tomeselli, JB Eckl and Paul Gonzalez are the core lineup of Los Angeles-based Dig Infinity.

They traveled almost 2,300 miles to perform and speak at the summit.

After their concert Saturday at Terra State, Dig Infinity Band members said they felt it was important that they serve as educators as well as performers.

Eckl said he got asked by a Terra State student how to write guitar riffs after one of the summit's clinics.

"I said, 'There's really no shortcuts,'" Eckl said.

Eckl, Tomaselli and Gonzalez said they enjoyed talking to the students during the two-day summit.

"They do have a lot of questions. It's cool. They're really wide open. There's not attitudes," Eckl said.

Gonzalez said that, if Dig Infinity had any influence on the students' enthusiasm for music or working in the music industry, it would be be the "greatest feeling in the world."

Eckl said students who decide to enter the music business need to get as good as they can, performance-wise, and understand the business and promotions end of the industry.

Performers include Terra State students

The summit was Dig Infinity's first gig since the pandemic began.

Terra State students took part in the concerts during both nights of the summit.

Alex Poynter, a digital media major at the college, played tenor sax during part of My World's show Friday night and for one song in Dig Infinity's Saturday set.

"It was exhilarating. It was absolutely a blast," Poynter said, adding that the things he learned from the summit's concerts and clinics were "a very welcome wakeup call to what could be my future."

John Montalbano, front man/bass player for My World, said bandmate Rob Noxious came up with the idea for incorporating the students into their Friday set.

"It was more than what we could have ever expected," Montalbano said of his band, which includes Noxious and Chris Munger.

Montalbano said it's not every day musicians can find a music program that is as high-quality as Terra State's.

Matthew Veleba played trumpet during both the My World and Dig Infinity shows at the summit.

"It was a lot of fun. It was a learning experience," Veleba said.

Veleba said he started listening to both groups' music prior to their arrival at the summit and really got into their sound.

He said he performs with the college's fusion band, brass choir, jazz band and concert band ensembles.

For Ottawa County native Bowersox, she said she grew up 30 minutes from the Terra State campus and acknowledged it felt good to be home.

An independent artist now based in Nashville, Bowersox said she didn't follow the rules of the industry.

She said she planned to do live concerts when she could, keep recording albums and put music out when it's ready.

"I'm a one-day-at-a-time gal," Bowersox said.

Bowersox said she had done some shows in the last few months, as the COVID-19 pandemic has waned, but tended to tour more in the fall months.

dacarson@gannett.com

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Twitter: @DanielCarson7

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Midwest Rhythm Summit Saturday concerts