On Friday July 1 2016, Riley Smith hosted the first annual Riley Smith Youth Music Festival. The event took place in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was also a part of the Annual Freedom Festival. Iowa born actor & musician, Riley most recently played Markus on ABC’s Nashville. He will also star in upcoming show, CW’s Frequency. Click here to follow Riley on Twitter.
Riley teamed up with Eastern Iowa Arts Academy to showcase seventeen youth musical acts. The acts were rock bands, singing groups and solo performers. The youth performers came from various cities in Iowa, such as Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Waterloo.
The music festival started at 10 am and lasted until 8 pm. The local talent that was choosen to play would go on first. Then Riley’s band The Life of Riley would take the stage. Tickets ranged from eight dollars to fifteen dollars. There was merchandise attendees could purchase. This included festival t-shirts and cd’s from the local talent, as well as, the Life of Riley. All the proceeds from the event will go to support the Eastern Iowa Arts Academy. This also includes any The Life of Riley merchandise sold.
Attendees could also buy raffle tickets. The prize included a Fender Squire Telecaster electric guitar signed by Riley. From the Eastern Iowa Arts Academy, the prize also included a one hour recording sessions, two thirty minute guitar lessons, three annual memberships, two tickets to annual fall event and two Excel class certificates. The Eastern Iowa Arts Academy is a non-profit after school organization for K-12th students. They offer classes in music, art, drama, cultural arts and creative writing.
The local youth talented that performed are listed below:
The Life of Riley played several original songs, Trouble, By the Way, Hang, Worth the Wait, Forget about Me, She got a Move and 86. They also played an unreleased song called I’m on Fire. The Life of Riley also covered John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16 by Keith Urban and Use Somebody by Kings of Leon. They also sang Riley’s redidtion of Buried in Detroit by Mike Posner called Buried in Laffeyette. Laffeyette is a small town in Iowa.
Riley also played songs sung on ABC’s Nashville. They played In the name of your Love, Don’t make ’em like you anymore, and Tonight Feels Different. Then he closed out the festival by encouraging the crowd to sing along with a cover of Night Moves by Bob Segar.
Riley was so impressed by one the youth bands, Royal Flush that they were asked to to perform again while the band took a break. Brookley also joined The Life of Riley for the entire set as backup vocals. Brookley is a local artist that Riley helped in recording a cd. She also got to perform two original songs. Local rapper and musician, Bloke C also joined The Life of Riley on stage.
After performing, Riley took the time to sign event t-shirts, merchandise and take pictures with the attendees.
Check out the music of The Life of Riley here.
Listen to She got a Move by The Lofe of Riley peformed at the event below.
Tell us what you think about Riley supporting the arts in his home state. Tweet us at @CelebMix.