Wilkerson To Kick Off Rison in the Fall Festival Oct. 12
RISON - One of the newcomers at this year’s Rison in the Fall Festival, Matt Wilkerson of the band Last Call, joined in on the latest episode of the Free Range Conversations podcast.
Wilkerson, a White Hall resident, joins host Douglas Boultinghouse, who is the director of the festival, and festival founder and podcast co-host Roy Phillips.
Rison Shine President Celeste Beatty fills in for host Britt Talent in this week’s episode as a special guest.
Wilkerson’s fiancé Samantha Plumlee sat in on the conversation. Plumlee serves as the band’s manager and booking agent.
Listeners learn that it was a text message from Beatty to Boultinghouse that brought the rising local talent to this year’s festival.
Beatty was scrolling Facebook and came across a video of 22-year-old Wilkerson singing at a Pine Bluff laundromat and sent it to Boultinghouse suggesting they track him down.
“It was an accident,” the singer says noting he only took his guitar to play while waiting on clothes to dry after his washer broke at home.
“That guy walked in and thought it was the radio and asked to record me,” he says.
That viral video has since garnered over 54,000 views.
Wilkerson first got the music bug when his father, also a musician, pulled him up on stage at the age of two during a concert at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
“I was obsessed with the drums,” he says. “That’s where it started.”
At the age of 13, just before his father passed away, he was gifted a guitar and has been playing ever since.
Wilkerson draws his inspiration from the sounds of artists like Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard, but even ventures outside of classic country music to play a little rock from Nirvana and The Eagles, and even current acts like Luke Combs and Cody Johnson.
“I try to stay in a semi-modern era,” he said of his live shows. “That way it’s not just for an older crowd, but the younger crowd as well.”
He also mixes in original music he’s written that he aims to release soon.
For his set at the Rison in the Fall Festival on Oct. 12, Wilkerson will kick off the day of entertainment and is expecting audience participation. He looks forward to bringing his wireless guitar to be able to leave the stage and play among the crowd on Main Street.
“Part of being an entertainer is letting people feel,” he said. “If they can’t feel what you’re feeling when you’re playing, then you’re not doing it right.”
Wilkerson admits that he had a few butterflies in his stomach when he saw the names on the festival line up for this year that include The Voice alums BIAS and Marybeth Byrd, GRAMMY nominee Rissi Palmer, and multi-hyphenate global star Charles Esten.
Looking ahead to taking the stage, Wilkerson reminds himself that, “it’s a humbling feeling to know all these people that came just for you and whoever else you’ve got (on the stage).”
Curious, Boultinghouse asked the back story on the band’s name Last Call.
According to Wilkerson, his band was trying to come up with a name and sat down after a show for a round of drinks. Someone called out “Last call, guys, do you need anything?”
And that’s when the idea stuck that the guys should adopt the name Last Call.
During the podcast Wilkerson touches on a variety of topics including how he honed his skills playing shows at the VFW Post 4455 in Pine Bluff, networking with superstar Zach Bryan, how he puts his setlists together and what surprises he has in store for Rison.
The singer also reveals he has auditioned for the upcoming season of American Idol, even sitting down with the show’s newest judge Carrie Underwood.
Wilkerson’s episode of the Free Range Conversations podcast is streaming now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It can also be listened to below on Cleveland County Herald online.
Boultinghouse encourages listeners to make sure to hit the follow button the podcast on Apple or Spotify to be notified of new episodes.
Episodes are expected to be recorded with each of the acts performing at Rison in the Fall this year.