Beats, Brews & Buddies

Andy & Abbey Neikirk are Roanoke natives and newlyweds. They met at Journey church when Andy joined the church’s band. While Abbey has primarily played music at church, Andy has been in bands like AM Avenue, Rutledge, Long Story Short and was a founding member of the Jerry Wimmer Trio. Andy plays guitar, bass, and is a vocalist. In part with playing music, Andy has gotten into live and studio audio engineering, in part mixing the songs for the online church service. Abbey sings and plays a bit of piano. They have recently started a band together called The Blend and are excited to play more music together.

Corey Hunley is a natural-born entertainer, just a guy passing through life with a guitar in his hand and a song in his head. He has been fortunate enough to share the stage with renowned musicians like Marty Stuart, Darrell Scott, Will Hoge, John Hiatt, Paul Thorn, Colbie Caillat, Uncle Kracker, and a few other cool folks. As a singer-songwriter, Corey possesses the ability to captivate his audience. He's not only a good singer but also a helluva songwriter and an all-around fine guitarist. Corey's music has a way of making you want to drink harder, love stronger, and live longer.

Sandra Aranegui launched Lover’s Rock Productions and Smith Mountain Lake Live Music (a DBA of Lover’s Rock Productions, a not-for-profit booking and promoting business) in September 2021, focusing on community events and festivals involving live music. She books musical talent for a total of 18 different restaurants, bars and breweries, and offers a weekly listing of live music and community events for the area. She launched the first annual Smith Mountain Lake Live Music Festival with Center in the Square as a beneficiary, a huge success with a combined 32 bands, eight total stages and five additional satellite venues. She works closely with Franklin County, the Town of Rocky Mount, CruisIn Rocky Mount and local business owners to coordinate music events for everyone. She is currently working on forming her own 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization called “Live Music Lives On,” focusing on fostering the love for live music in children to promote and inspire our youth to follow their dreams of performing live music, bringing together current performing musicians and children and more. “[Music] has the ability to bring joy to someone who has had a hard week. It has the ability to form bonds in friendships and love. It’s really a remarkable thing to witness,” she says.

JD Sutphin is a father, husband, musician and business owner from southwest Virginia.  Born in Botetourt County he finished out school in Franklin County where after graduation became an on air personality at WROV-FM in Roanoke as well as XL102 in Richmond while fronting the hard rock metal band, Madrone. 

For over ten years, Madrone toured throughout the East coast eventually gained nationwide support with their top 50 Billboard single “Daybreak” as well as charting with the follow up single “House of Ghosts".  

In 2014 JD left WROV and radio to create Big Lick Entertainment, an events and marketing company.  The company created Big Lick Comic Con in 2017, the most attended comic convention in Virginia.

JD put a pause on Madrone in 2015 creating the band The Low Low Chariot in the country and alt-rock world, who continues to perform and create to this day.  

JD is also co-owner of Big Lick Comics in Roanoke with his brother Adam.

JoJo Stockton is a Franklin County native who has opened for several Grammy-nominated artists such as Corey “Lil Pop” Ledet, “TAZ” Brandon Niederauer and Delbert McClinton. A true music enthusiast, JoJo enjoys all genres but holds the Blues near and dear to his heart! Thanks to his father’s early exposure to the blues guitar, JoJo has written, recorded and performed his originals all throughout the region with tremendous success. 

Currently a Roanoke resident, you can find JoJo always downtown playing for the local scene w/ his award winning band Solacoustix.

Stockton still finds time to make it to the NRBS jams from time to time which he loves. Nicknamed Roanoke's "Mayor of Music", his bodies of work include 2 albums: “ Cookies & Ice Cream” and “Dreaming”, both available on all digital media.

Hi, I’m Tad, born-and-bred in east Tennessee, and a Roanoker for almost 25 years. I’m 58 and I’ve been beating on things for about 50 of those years. I’ve been writing for about the same amount of time. I don’t do either one of them great, but I enjoy them both. I’ve played in country bands, rock bands, blues bands. Lately, I’m a member of alt-rock original songs group Monster Atlantic, and honky-tonk act Rachael Hester & The Tennessee Walkers. If I’m lucky, I’ve got another 20 years of doing what I love at a decent level.

Brooke Tolley is a native of Roanoke, Virginia and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance from Liberty University and a Master of Arts in Voice from Radford University. Brooke’s opera roles include Kate Pinkterton in Madama Butterfly, Johanna in Sweeney Todd, the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief and Lucy in Menotti’s The Telephone. As a concert soloist, Brooke has performed in Handel’s Messiah, DuBois’ Seven Last Words of Christ, Schubert’s Mass in G, and Pepper Choplin’s A Journey with the Shepherd, which she premiered at Lincoln Center in 2017.

Cameron Hughes is a local Roanoke musician, producer, an engineer. He grew up in Rocky Mount, VA and attended Franklin County High. After high school, he studied Music Tech at Belmont University. His gift of playing piano started when he was around the age of 12 years old. By the age of 16 he started traveling professionally playing Smooth Jazz and R&8. Since then he has worked with multiple Gospel and R&B artists. His production company “Hughes Music Entertainment” was created to give local artists a feel of what the big stage feels like so they can be prepared when the time comes.

Festival in the Park is a community event offering live music and a diversity of local vendors that has operated annually since its founding in 1968. As a qualifying 501C3 organization run by an all volunteer board of directors, Festival in the Park owes its annual success to the generosity of local

volunteers and the undying support of the community.

Asia Sawyer, lead singer for the Asia Bronte Band, is an up-and-coming vocalist born and raised in the Roanoke Valley. She’s loved music as long as she can remember, but in the last few years she’s taken her passion to the next level with the help of her band mate Lewis Stump. Her biggest musical inspiration is Miranda Lambert, but her style isn’t confined to any one genre. You can find the Asia Brontë Band rocking the doors off of local bars like the Hangout, where their energetic vibe can take any event to the next level.