She used to host talents like George Michael.
Today, Rebecca Walker-Jones, a native of England who now lives in Auburn, is working with the Event Center Downtown in Opelika to hold a monthly event called Opelika Unplugged.
"Years and years ago in London I used to run a nightclub called Singer's Nightclub," Walker-Jones said. "It was a sort of underground nightclub in the middle of Soho in central London. We used to have a ton of singers, including George Michael. He would come along and just get up on stage and sing.
"From that was formed a club called Songwriters, and that became a platform for other songwriters."
Walker-Jones said she hopes Opelika Unplugged will offer the same type of platform to local songwriters.
"There's going to be six singer-songwriters, with all original songs, and they're going to be performing in our brand-new upstairs venue," said Lisa Beck of the Event Center Downtown.
Walker-Jones said there aren't really opportunities like this is the Auburn, Opelika area.
"It's a college town, but what I found was there are really just places for bands to play and not a platform for singer-songwriters," she said. "So I wanted to start something with a really cool kind of vibe that a lot of writers and musicians could come along to."
Beck said Walker-Jones loved the new upstairs venue at the event center right away.
"She's been over to our place several times, and when I took her over to our place for the first time, the upstairs renovations were at a standstill for a long time, but she fell in love with it and said this is the perfect type of place for sing-songwriter gatherings," Beck said. "We started moving forward again with renovations and we're close to being complete."
Walker-Jones knows about songwriting venues in England and the U.S. She had a publishing contract in Nashville for ten years when she first moved.
"I played the Bluebird Cafe twice. I would like to turn Opelika Unplugged into kind of like the Bluebird Cafe of Alabama. Where perhaps record companies or artists would come to see what's happening and what's current."
The event, which will occur on the first Friday of every month, was inspired by the old MTV show Unplugged.
"It was all these fantastic songwriters you would see with full bands, but it was just them telling the stories behind their songs and singing them," Walker-Jones said. "Really that's where I got the idea for Opelika Unplugged."
Walker-Jones is looking forward to use the upstairs venue.
"It looks over downtown Opelika and it will be candlelit and the song writers will be in the middle of the room," Walker-Jones said. "It's going to be very intimate. They'll tell stories and the audience will ask some questions if they want to."
Beck said the event will include snacks and the bar will be open. The event is free and open to the public.
Walker-Jones encourages anyone interested in playing to contact her at rebeccawalkerjones@gmail.com or her cell, 334-787-1716.
"I wanted this to be a real support platform for songwriters to talk to other songwriters and really just be heard," she said. "I think, unfortunately in this day ... the actually songwriter kind of gets a bad rap. Most of us are broke and hardly ever get paid what our songs are worth. It's just nice to get recognized."
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