- In the words of Terry Cherry, Leader of the Band -
"Museum Preservation Society Band was born out of the love
for music and a desire to help support Meridian Museum of Art and the efforts
of my super, sweet wife, Kate Cherry, the museum’s executive director. With budgets getting tighter everywhere,
especially at nonprofit organizations depending almost entirely on volunteers,
Kate asked me to provide some background music for a reception. After doing it by myself a few times, I
started calling my friends for help. John
Marshall, phenomenal guitarist, was the first to be recruited. He and I had actually played many gigs as a
duo. The band seemed to grow organically
and exponentially from that point.
Mouise Richards told me he played harmonica, so I invited him to come by
the museum to jam a little. He did and I
loved the way he played soulful harmonica solos rather than the typical blues
licks. He was a little shy at first and
I actually kind of tricked him into his first gig at MMA, but he loved it after
that. Richelle said she would like to jam
with us some time and Kate said, “What about tomorrow night at the reception?” Well, it looked like we had at least a part-time
manager in Kate! I figured that would be the end of it, but to my surprise
Richelle showed up and added a dimension to the music I had always wanted—harmony
vocals. She also plays guitar, piano, mandolin and maybe more! Well, now the “band”
had a lead guitarist, a harmonica soloist, a harmony vocalist extraordinaire
and me. Kent Allen came by one day to jam with us at practice and brought a
couple of guitars and a banjo. Well, we
were already guitar rich and I usually don’t like much banjo, but Kent played
it in a subtle way that added a swampy element to our sound that seemed just
right. That completed Museum Preservation Society. All the band members, in addition to being
musicians, are creative artists in other disciplines like painting, pottery and
poetry. Kate named us and lets us
practice in the museum basement. From
there, when we play a reception at the museum, we are just two flights of
stairs from having some of our best times, musically and artistically, and best
of all, with our friends, which is, you know, the best part!"
Enjoy four songs from The Meridian Freedom Project Cinco de Mayo fundraiser!
We'd love to play at your event! Contact Us
We'd love to play at your event! Contact Us
