Scott Tady: Campagna & Christian keep climbing; see Dying Breed live

I'm on TikTok now.

Penn State-Beaver students I guest lectured last month convinced me I need to post TikTok videos to garner their interest.

OK, I'm not boasting here, but my Smashing Pumpkins concert highlights video did earn 54 TikTok views. Makes my Twitter followers look like slackers.

One thing TikTok always reminds me of is how amazing Beaver Falls native Vanessa Campagna is. Every time I log onto TikTok, there's a video of Campagna looking utterly glamorous walking the red carpet in a gold-sequined Nadine Merabi jumpsuit and posing for photos like a pro at the Dove Awards (for Gospel music) or the Latin Music Songwriters Hall of Fame La Musa Awards where she honored her friend, renowned songwriter Desmond Child, by singing a Barbra Streisand song he penned, “Lady Liberty."

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Campagna also posted a reel on how she's under Grammy Award consideration as co-writer of Wyn Starks', "Who I Am," which last week hit No. 17 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart.

Amid all this excitement, the Blackhawk High grad is back on the road as a featured vocalist for Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) singer Michael W. Smith. That tour includes a homecoming show Nov. 13 at Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall in Munhall.

"Everyone can expect a night full of Michael's biggest hits, both pop and CCM, as well as some new songs of his and an entire worship set," Campagna said via text. "I will be on stage with him the whole time and leading most of the worship songs. He also gives me a spot in the show to sing my current single 'Hold Me.'"

Smith calls this the Waymaker Tour, after his and Campagna's 2020 cover of a worship song that reached No. 3 on Billboard's Hot Christian Songs list and No. 4 on the Christian Airplay chart. Campagna convinced Smith to record an Italian version, which later reached No. 1 on the Christian Airplay chart and spawned a viral video.

"It's a total blessing to get to do this with people you love," Campagna said, "and I'm so excited to bring them all home to meet my friends and family and see where I cut my teeth and where my roots are."

Christian on the rise

At one point on the chilly late afternoon of Oct. 20, just four of us spectators stood in front of the Beaver Clock Tower, watching Christian Beck sing.

Didn't matter to Beck, who treated the performance like a sold-out concert hall. The Freedom native let loose with that smooth and sturdy voice of his, entertainingly singing country covers by the likes of Dierks Bentley, Jamey Johnson and Eric Church, and adding his own single "Country as Dirt" that earned Pittsburgh radio airplay (and deserved coast-to-coast attention.)

On Halloween, Beck released "Country as Dirt Reboot," a reworked version of the single featuring his hungry new band. That band includes guitarist Ryan Patrick, whose strumming also impressed at that Beaver Clock Tower gig as temperatures dipped into the 40s for a performance arranged as a Third Thursdays event by the Beaver Area Chamber of Commerce. (Psst... hey chamber, publicize those shows more robustly, please.)

Beck premiered "Country as Dirt Reboot" last weekend at a hometown show for I'm sure a much larger crowd at Z Pub in Chippewa Township. He also performed amid a lineup of national country acts at Y108FM's 8-Man Jam last week at Rivers Casino.

With tour dates brewing in New York and Virginia, catch Beck headlining Jergel's Rhythm Grille on Nov. 10. The 8 p.m. free show is a Customer Appreciation night at the Marshall Township roadhouse where famous acts play.

Tull treats

With "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" opening next weekend, The Tull Family Theater will celebrate with a special preview event screening Nov. 10 hosted by Pittsburgh's award-winning rapper FRZY.

The Sewickley theater then taps back into the Pittsburgh music scene Nov. 25-26, with a "Sound of Music" screening and singalong hosted by cosmic jazz cabaret vocalist Phat Man Dee at 10:30 a.m. Tickets are $15.

Dying Breed trying something new

Beaver County/Pittsburgh rock band Dying Breed planned to introduce new singer Kevin Belonzi at a Nov. 5 show at 68's Feed Mill in Daugherty Township.

Belonzi formerly appeared in the bands Zero Fame and Dirty Confession.

Good gigs keep coming for Dying Breed, including a Nov. 20 opening act slot for famed heavy metal band Winger at Jergel's Rhythm Grille, and Dec. 3 at 31 Sports Bar in Bridgeville.

"Tickets for Winger are $31, and we still have some for sale," guitarist Jesse Farren, of Greene Township, said.

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Welshly did well

They blew me away with an afternoon set five months ago at the Maple House Music Festival at Hartwood Acres, so when Cleveland blues-rockers Welshly Arms booked an Oct. 24 headlining show at The Club at Stage AE, I had to be there.

Good call, and I'm encouraging you to give a listen to Welshly Arms, which are a mix of the Black Keys' propulsive force, with the peace-and-love attitude of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes.

Playing its first show in months, Welshly Arms debuted several fine new songs and played fan faves like "Are You Lonely" (chorus: "So hello ... Does anybody talk anymore?") A glorious romp through Rage Against the Machine's "Bulls on Parade" got a crowd of maybe 75 people bopping. The band's slide-guitar seasoned, bluesy-rock rendition of Sam & Dave's "Hold On I'm Coming" demonstrated why Quentin Tarantino used it for the trailer of "The Hateful Eight."

Singer Sam Getz charmed the audience, speaking profusely about how we should all feel safe to be ourselves. In a moment of spontaneity, he did a two-hand, fluttering fingers gesture resembling the flapping wings of a bird. Somehow, he convinced spectators to mimic the two-hand bird flap, sparking enough laughter and participation to promise that stage move will turn up in future Welshly Arms shows. "But Pittsburgh will always be the first and best," he said.

With one male and one female backup singer standing front stage to his left the whole night, Welshly Arms brought a unique element and unbridled enthusiasm I predict will catapult them to much larger stages soon.

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Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times, and easy to reach at stady@timesonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Tady column: Campagna & Beck keep climbing; see Dying Breed live