On Oct. 10, 2008, the members of Big Leg Emma ended their seven-year run as one of the area's most beloved bands with a farewell show at the Reg Lenna Civic Center.
At the time, the six members of the band said they needed to pursue new musical projects, dedicate more time to their families and explore different career interests.
Now, nearly a year and a half later, the band is ready to return to the stage and recapture just a taste of the Big Leg Emma magic that invigorated legions of fans throughout the region. Getting back together for three shows in Buffalo, Jamestown and Erie, Big Leg Emma's members say it is time to briefly reunite and give their fans - and each other - one more chance to revisit the memories.
''It's been long enough now,'' said Steve Johnson, the band's singer, songwriter and guitarist. ''We still keep in touch with our fans, through other bands and through the blogs and things like that, so it was just time to bring it back to the fans again, for sure.''
OLD FRIENDS REUNITE
The band went through several changes in its arrangement during its seven-year lifespan, but the six members who made up the last incarnation of the group - Johnson; singer Charity Nuse on mandolin; singer Amanda Barton on fiddle; Steve French on bass; Rad Akers on drums; and Steve Davis on keys - are all back together for the three reunion shows. In addition, a seventh member of the band will be on stage with the band for the performances.
Former lead guitarist Kev Rowe, who left the band in 2006 to move to South Carolina to focus on a solo career, has returned to the area to participate in the upcoming shows.
Rowe's former bandmates expressed great excitement about practicing with him in preparation for the shows and know that fans are going to be thrilled to see him on stage again as well.
Rowe said that with the chemistry and the history that exists with Big Leg Emma, listening to bootleg tracks and mp3s of newer songs and writing his own electric guitar parts to go with the melodies seemed to come quite naturally as he was preparing to return to the area for the rehearsals.
''I've been rehearsing for the past month really, just getting my ears back in tune to the Big Leg Emma sound,'' Rowe said. ''The electric guitar part was just kind of waiting there for me to write, and when it's that easy, it's fun. I can't wait to see all the fans.''
Big Leg Emma had been a huge part of growing up for the members of the band, and reuniting with people who were an intimate part of that maturation process has been an intriguing part of the process as they prepare for shows.
''It just brings back so many memories from when we first started,'' Ms. Barton said. ''We were all so young then, almost 10 years ago. It's just so nice to reminisce and bring back the memories of when it all first began.''
Johnson said that in the immediate aftermath of the farewell show in 2008, he thought there would be no chance that the band would ever get back together again. As time has passed, though, he has found himself missing a part of his life that was important to him for so many years.
''We lived and breathed it with each other for so long, and it's just hard to give it up like that,'' Johnson said. ''You kind of miss that whole thing that started you playing music, that whole feeling.''
That feeling was very quick to return when seven former members of Big Leg Emma stepped into a rehearsal and started playing old songs that were like second nature to them, Ms. Nuse said.
''It took a couple songs to get everybody warmed up, but we just fit right back into that Big Leg Emma pocket,'' she said. ''We were able to express ourselves and create music together that was really good and powerful, energizing and just awesome.''
THREE SPECIAL SHOWS
Each of the three reunion shows will be special, both for Big Leg Emma and to its fans, the band's members said.
The band will make its return to the stage for the first time in 17 months on April 10 at Club Infinity Music Hall, 8166 Main St. in Williamsville. Johnson said bringing a show to the Buffalo area was important because of the band's large following throughout Western New York.
''We have a strong following in the Rochester-Buffalo-Finger Lakes area, so a lot of people would be traveling to go to Buffalo,'' Johnson said. ''We tried to make it so that people who were traveling in wouldn't have a hard time.''
The opening act for the Club Infinity Show is Little Mountain Band, with whom Charity Nuse sings - and she will join the band for a handful of tunes, she said.
The hometown show in Jamestown will be May 7 in the Arena Club at the Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena. Besides being a chance to reconnect with local fans who have not seen all the members of the band together in so long, the evening will be special in that the opening act for the show with be The American People - featuring two more former Big Leg Emma members, Dan Warmbrodt and John McGuire, providing even more chances for catching up with old times.
''When we found out that they accepted to do the opening slot, we thought that it would be great to get them up on stage to do some songs that we haven't done since they were in the band,'' Ms. Nuse said. ''That'll be fun - a lot of fans will really dig that - and I think Amanda is going to actually go up with them and sing one of Dan's songs that we used to do with Big Leg Emma.''
Then, May 8 at the Docksider in Erie, the band will play a special 21-and-over show as its third and final reunion performance. Johnson said that playing an Erie gig as one of the reunion shows was important to the band because that city was where the band first began to build a following.
''Erie was like a home away from home for us,'' he said. ''We had to bring one back to Erie.''
Fans are already lining up to get tickets to each, if not all, of the shows, the band's members said. Ms. Nuse said that on her Facebook page, one fan in particular shared a testimonial that made her realize how important Big Leg Emma's shows were to people over the years and what the reunion events will mean.
''This one guy was giving something along the lines, telling me about all these people he was introduced to at our shows, and how he can't wait to get the 'family' back together from all over the place,'' she said. ''Big Leg Emma has this special magic. I'm really looking forward to feeling those emotions again, and I know that it's going to make a lot of people happy.''
More information about the April 10 show in Buffalo is available at www.infinityconcerts.com; more about the JSBIA show on May 7 can be found at www.jsbia.com; and for more on the show in Erie on May 8, visit www.myspace.com/docksider.
