Folk Soul Revival played at Heartwood April 12.
Heartwood: Southwest Virginia's Artisan Gateway had a record crowd Saturday night when Folk Soul Revival played on the Heartwood stage.
"We're having a good time," said Justin Venable, who sings and plays the six-string banjo for the band, a group of Southwest Virginia natives whose unique sound has brought them an increasingly national following.
"It always blows our mind that people are singing along with songs that we wrote," said Venable, who added that the band debuted four new songs – along with playing some fan favorites – on Saturday. "We're just appreciate everybody that came out. We're very thankful and grateful," he said.
Band member Daniel Davis said Folk Soul Revival really enjoyed the venue.
"We've really enjoyed the place, and there's been such a good turnout," Davis said. "We're glad everybody came out, and we hope to come back."
More than 400 people were let in over the course of the evening, and dozens more were turned away when the building was at capacity.
The people in the crowd, most of them standing throughout the concert, were dancing and stomping throughout.
"I was amazed at the age span of people that like this music," said Andrea Carroll of Bristol, who came with three friends for a girls' night out.
"We've had a lot of fun," said her friend Lisa Dean, also of Bristol.
Lu Ellsworth, operations manager at Heartwood, said he looks forward to hosting many more successful events like Saturday night's concert.
"We're excited to see such a big, enthusiastic crowd here at Heartwood for Folk Soul Revival," said Operations Manager Lu Ellsworth. "We definitely plan on having more events like this here in the future."
