In high school, Billy Harrington started compiling iTunes playlists of his favorite music.
Those playlists included music recorded at Motown and Stax Records as well as songs and albums released in 1971.
“I became someone who was really interested in the liner notes, and I was making my own custom columns of [music] being done in [different] studios,” said Harrington, a drummer-producer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
“I also had playlists based on different years, and I kept noticing all of these great records that were happening in 1971. [That year] kept popping up, and it wasn’t just albums that I knew were famous and popular, but they happened to be my favorite albums. They were my cherished recordings, and they all kept coming out in 1971.”
Years later, Harrington and his brother, guitarist Michael Harrington, met Mark Jay, owner-engineer of Ann Arbor-based Immerisfi Recording Services. They would often discuss music while hanging out at the bar, and many of those conversations led to a love of music from the 1970s.
“We’re air-drumming to all of these songs, and it became a laughable inside joke,” said Harrington, who’s produced several artists and performed and toured nationally with different tribute shows. “We’d say ‘This is ’71 again.’ It kept coming up, and Mark was one of the inspirations to push it into the show world.”
What resulted is “Experience the Music of 1971,” a revue-style show that takes place October 11 at the Canton Village Theater and pays tribute to music recorded and released that year.
It’s a time when Carole King, James Taylor, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Marvin Gaye, David Bowie, and others released era-defining music.
“We had done a James Taylor show, and we had done a Beatles-themed show,” said Harrington, who’s co-producing Experience the Music of 1971 with Michael Harrington and working with Jay as one of the show’s sponsors.
“Both of those shows were at the Canton Village Theater, and we thought, ‘Maybe it’s time to do something new.’ And 1971 was highly requested by Mark, and I thought, ‘There’s so much great music that I want to play on stage with people.’”
I recently spoke to Billy Harrington, Michael Harrington, and Mark Jay about the show ahead of its debut at the Canton Village Theater.
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