By Colin Killian, Public Communications Director
In this week’s episode of “What’s Up, College Station?” Marketing Coordinator Grace Hallowell and Visit College Station Events Coordinator Casey Barone talk about how the monthly Hang Out & Tune In events have helped College Station become a dynamic hub for aspiring musicians.
Each month brings a new venue. The first hour is packed with insights from music industry pros, while the second hour is an open mic where performers can showcase their talents. The next event is Tuesday from 6-8 p.m. at The Tap.
The “What’s Up, College Station?” podcast is available weekly via Podbean, iHeartRadio, Spotify, and Amazon/Audible. Please subscribe, rate, and recommend!
If you have a suggestion for a future topic or interview, email me at ckillian@cstx.gov.
TRANSCRIPT
Grace Hallowell:
What’s up College Station? I’m Grace Hallowell. And today, I’m joined by Casey Barone from Visit College Station. Hi, Casey.
We are in the new year. We had a bit of a break, but we are back fully in the swing of things, and Visit College Station has some exciting events this new year starting next week.
Casey Barone:
Yeah. We’re kicking off our Hang Out & Tune In for 2025 at The Tap Tuesday, January 21st.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. And we’ve talked about this event a few times on the show, and I think it’s a very unique opportunity for our different local musicians and just music lovers in general. So let’s kind of refresh our memories and give a brief overview of what this event is, and what makes it so special.
Casey Barone:
Yeah, absolutely. So we started Hang Out & Tune In as one of our incentives of becoming a Texas music-friendly community, which we became the 51st Texas music-friendly community on November of 2023. And Hang Out & Tune In is an opportunity for our local musicians to get together and learn from each other, network with one another, meet each other if they’ve ever met one another before, and then have an opportunity to do an open mic at the end of each Hang Out & Tune In, which is always a lot of fun.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. So it’s a good opportunity to meet people. I’m sure a lot of times nowadays networking is done through social media and following each other, but this event you can kind of talk to each other in person, and learn from different people that are in the music field in our area.
Casey Barone:
Yeah. And I think people forget that College Station is a great hub for musicians.
We have so many great talents here in College Station, and one of the things that we realized when we were working towards becoming a Texas music-friendly community was a lot of times these musicians, they may know about each other, maybe they do talk to each other on social media, but they’ve never been around each other in person. And so it was a really organic way to bring them together once a month. And sometimes, I have regulars that show up every time. Other times, I have newcomers and then I may not see them for a little while and then they come back, and it’s always just really great. I pride myself on, I never forget a face. And so when they show back up, I get really excited. And I love it when new people show up too and we get to hear their talent.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. And it’s not just for musicians. If you’re a fan of music, you can definitely come to these as well. It’s for music lovers.
Casey Barone:
Yes. Come out and check out the great talent that we have here locally. And I change up the location every month, so it’s kind of fun to get a new perspective of a new venue and a great way for also those venue owners to network with the musicians and vice versa. So it’s just been a really great thing that we’ve started roughly a year and a half ago.
And The Tap is always so generous to let us kind of hang there when we need them to. Especially right now, I’m looking for indoor venues because it’s cold. Even though we live in Texas, it’s still cold, and you never know what you’re going to get here in the next couple of months. So it’s just been a really great opportunity, and I’ve just really loved starting this up and continuing it and I hope it continues. And when we get new faces or the regulars, it’s just so fun every time.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. And this week, Corliss from Maverick will be there to give sort of a presentation.
Casey Barone:
Yeah, Corliss will be there. She’s come before to talk about ways that you can be prepared to be on radio or whichever, but this time she’s going to talk about ways to invest in yourself as a musician, whether that be mentally or finances or whichever. If people aren’t familiar with who Corliss is, she is a great resource to have for musicians in our area. So we’re just really… I’m thankful that she’s on our side with these things and willing to provide her expertise this time around again.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. She’s been in this business a long time, and if anybody is passionate about music, it’s Corliss.
Casey Barone:
Yes. Yeah. And I mean, she knows people. She just always has the best advice for our musicians. I watched her in action when she’s come to Hang Out & Tune In. Even when she’s not speaking, but just to hear her talk to these young musicians or aspiring musicians, it’s really great to see her give her knowledge to them.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. So one more time, when and where is this month’s Hang Out & Tune In?
Casey Barone:
It’s Tuesday, January 21st at The Tap from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.
Grace Hallowell:
All right. Well, thank you so much for joining me today, Casey.
About the Blogger
Colin Killian has been with the City of College Station since 2010 after serving 23 years as the associate media relations director for the Texas A&M Athletics Department. He has also worked as a reporter and editor for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and Lewisville News. A native of Hobbs, N.M., Killian graduated from Texas Tech with a bachelor’s degree in journalism/political science.
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