One Pulse Entertainment wants to make Brown County a destination for international and national musicians again.
One of the reasons Eric Brown targeted Brown County for finding talent and performing is because of its history with The Little Nashville Opry and bringing national talent here.
“It’s definitely our goal to kind of make that happen again,” said Brown, co-president of the company with Jenn Cristy.
“We’re going to put south-central Indiana on the map as far as, ‘Hey, we got talent, too.’”
Brown and Cristy both live in Bloomington, but One Pulse Entertainment’s first music series took place at the Brown County Playhouse over three weekends in September and October.
The “Rock ’n’ Roll Revue Series” opened with “Respect: The Women of Rock and Soul,” Sept. 18 and Oct. 2. Cristy, who has performed with Indiana musician John Mellencamp, took the stage with Brandi Nicole and Hannah Farahan.
“Ross Martinie Eiler and the Hillbilly Cats: The Birth of Rock ’n’ Roll” was staged Sept. 19, 26 and Oct. 3. Eiler played piano in the style of Jerry Lee Lewis.
On Sept. 25, Brown performed with his band, L Street: Working Class Heroes. It pays tribute to Bruce Springsteen, Mellencamp, Tom Petty and others.
“We kind of try to just pay homage to the music that we love so much,” Brown said of the shows.
One Pulse Entertainment provides professional and live entertainment to all stages, including private events, corporate gatherings, theaters, festivals and concert venues. The company plans to perform shows in Brown and other surrounding counties in south-central Indiana.
The production company has about 20 musicians on-call for shows.
The company is “for the artists,” Brown said. Artists perform themed variety shows, like for a specific decade of music, or they’ll perform a show that is “the essence of an artist,” like Springsteen.
This isn’t Brown’s first time performing or organizing entertainment in Brown County. He owned a part of Lonely Street Productions, a production company that put on shows at the Red Barn Jamboree for a year, then teamed up with Golden Ticket Productions and shared the Coachlight Theater for a couple of years.
Brown said he wanted to move on to the next phase of his career, so he amicably split from Lonely Street Productions, and his part in the company was sold last year.
“This is just the start. I’m glad we’re building contacts and friends again in Brown County,” he said. “It’s like coming home. It’s fun to play where you’re from.”
“There’s so much talent in this area,” Cristy said. “Giving people a stage or opportunities to perform in front of audiences with great venues and great sound systems, (those are) professional aspects which aren’t always available for artists either on the independent side or the tribute, cover band side.”
Having experience owning a production company provided Brown the opportunity for a “redo” when he partnered with Cristy to create One Pulse.
“When you’re starting off, it’s like, ‘Well, I’ll take this gig and this gig. I’ll play with this musician even though they get too drunk or they’re not professional enough or they’re not good enough,’” Brown said.
“Really, it’s all about people now. That’s the redo. We’ve been in this business long enough to know that we’re going to put national-caliber talent on the stage.”
One of Cristy’s conditions when someone wants to join One Pulse Entertainment as full-time talent is: Don’t be a diva.
Anyone interested in auditioning can check One Pulse Entertainment’s website for more information.
“Come in and show us what you got. We’ll be loyal to the end,” Cristy said.
Cristy performed in Brown County for the first time last year and is building her reputation, Brown said.
She’s pleased with the support she has received.
“You’re in this long enough, and you meet enough people, it’s always so awesome to run across people, like at The Playhouse or at Out of the Ordinary or places like that, that are just so nice and so welcoming and so supportive of what we’re doing,” she said.
Brown approached Cristy about starting One Pulse Entertainment after the two were on tour together in Arizona.
“Why don’t we do a Midwest-based company and really bring the national caliber of entertainment right in our own backyard?” Brown remembered saying. “We have the talent; why are we flying all over to do it?”
Cristy, a singer-songwriter, was ready for a change in her career.
“I am at a point in my life where this is something that would be good for me, to not always be on the stage, but to be behind the scenes a little bit more,” she said.
“She takes on the original wing, and I kind of am doing what I’ve been doing in the Southwest for the last four or five years, which is putting on tribute style shows of ’50s music, ’60s music and ’70s music,” Brown said.
“We’re very yin and yang. We’re very opposite people. It makes a perfect balance. He’s very business, and I’m very me,” Cristy said. “It works out very well.”
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What: One Pulse Entertainment’s next show: “Respect: The Women of Rock and Soul”
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13
Where: Brown County Playhouse
Cost: $22.50
Learn more about the company: onepulseentertainment.com
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