GRAND FUNK RAILROAD – Don Brewer Interview
From 2002 to 2003, I spent a couple of years designing and maintaining a local website for the community I live in (Hermitage, TN). During that time I noticed Grand Funk Railroad was coming to the Tennessee State Fair. One of my tasks was to promote area events. Since I always promoted the state and county fairs, I thought I would go a little further and promote the concert of one of my favorite classic rock bands, Grand Funk Railroad. Through the power of the internet, I finally traced down their publicist, Anne Leighton. I explained to Anne in an email who I was and what I was doing. I sent her a link to my website. She liked the free advertisement and provided me with 3 backstage passes to their show. Brian, my son Justin, and I went to the concert and met the band members backstage.

Through the years I kept the publicist’s information and when Concert Blast had an opportunity to travel to Memphis to see Grand Funk perform at the Mid-South Fair, I emailed Ann again. This time I wanted an interview with the band members. She set up an interview with Don Brewer. Brian, Tom, and I headed to Memphis for our second road trip as Concert Blast. We were excited and very nervous about our interview with Don Brewer. We were trying to decide what to say and in what order. We had no idea how much time we would have with him.

When we arrived in Memphis, we were trying to find the place were we would get our credentials. All we saw were the ticket booths for the admission to the fair. We asked several staff members and we spoke to several policemen who were working the security at the fair. No one had a clue and no one was allowing us to get in without a ticket. We ended up each paying the $5 admission price and went on our way to find the stage.

As we were walking to the concert area, it began to sprinkle a little. Then the rain came down harder, and harder, and harder! We escaped to a huge tent that was setup across from the concert stage area so people could enjoy a meal, or rest, while escaping the blazing hot Memphis sun. The rain continued for 30 to 40 minutes as the water was now finding its way underneath the tent. We were getting discouraged. This was an outdoors concert and it looked as if the concert was going to be canceled or postponed for another day. We didn’t know what was going to happen.

The rain finally stopped and the sun peaked out a little. As we walked out of the tent, Brian noticed there were Grand Funk Railroad fans waiting in the stands throughout the rainstorm. We started recording our show and went to interview the fans in the stands. We met a lot of GFR fans that drove in from all over the region. It was amazing that there were just as many fans from out of town as there were from the Memphis area. These fans became listeners of Concert Blast. Not only did they become listeners, they promoted our podcast on the GFR email forums. This created a huge spike in our download numbers and emails came in from all over the country and various parts of the world.

As we waited for the band to arrive, we talked to many people who began to come in for the concert (along with the fun-loving police officers). We noticed a van pulling up to the back of the stage as the security opened up the fences to let the van through. The band had arrived and now it was our turn to find out if we were actually going to be able to interview Don Brewer.

We went to the back of the stage and spoke to security. They got the tour manager back to talk to us and he said yes we were cleared. The security put backstage passes on us and we were instructed to wait for Don Brewer. Don walked up to us about ten minutes later and seemed to be very glad to meet us. Don was super friendly! We discussed the history of GFR, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, touring with Bob Seger, being a band against hard drugs, and other topics. One exciting part of the interview happened at the end. I was wondering if he would actually sing “Some Kind of Wonderful” with us. He laughed and said sure. Don did the clapping to keep us in time and we officially recorded us singing with Don Brewer backstage at their concert. Since we did this, we were getting attention from everyone in the backstage area and many wanted to meet us and find out who we were. The night turned out better than we could have imagined and the concert was wonderful!

A couple of years later, Don Brewer toured with Bob Seger again and his tour brought him to Nashville, TN. We were backstage after interviewing the opening act, Eric Church, and out walked Don Brewer from his dressing room as they were getting ready to take the stage. I saw Don and immediately told him that the last time we saw him, we were singing together backstage in Memphis. Don replied, “Concert Blast! What are you guys doing here?” He didn’t know we lived in Nashville. It was great to see Don and watch him perform again, but it was even better to have him recognize us. Another great show!