The D.I.Y. (“do it yourself”) music scene may seem small, but Maddie Bennett works to document more than that — a tight knit community where local musicians from any background can come together and connect through music.
Bennett, a former KSMU intern, first created a radio show on Drury University’s radio station, KDRU, while studying there. She called it Funky Fresh FM, and she would interview local musicians and play local music. Bennett said the endeavor started as a school project that quickly became a passion she wanted to pursue. As someone who loves music and the music scene, Bennett loved the aspect of interviewing and documenting Springfield’s local artists.
“It seems small, but once you get involved it’s really big,” Bennett said. “It’s a hidden gem.”
After graduating, Bennett felt torn about ending Funky Fresh FM. The show had received a lot of support during its time on KDRU, so she decided to turn it into a small business where she books and documents independent artists at small venues like Mother’s Brewing Company or The Den, a D.I.Y. venue. As the founder of Funky Fresh (FM), Bennett works with her team, consisting of Carter Walker on photography, Jordan Aultman on videography and Eli Aye on sound. They’ve been hosting one to two shows every few months, welcoming and encouraging more people to be a part of the close-knit community.
Bennett said a D.I.Y. music “hub” is in the works. Funky Fresh (FM) currently has an Instagram (funky_freshfm) and an email (freshhfunkyy@gmail.com) where they book artists and share documentation and information about shows, but she said an official website is dropping soon. It will feature local music content like documentation and interviews with artists, live footage and audio from the shows, blog posts, ways to get involved and information on shows and booking.
“It’s really cool because a lot of bands, like Radiohead, Talking Heads, they started as garage bands or very small D.I.Y. bands and they grew very large,” Bennett said. “I’m hoping to just be a person that can document that and be with them along the ride.”
These Funky Fresh (FM) shows give small artists the opportunity to express themselves through their music while connecting with the community.
Carson Davis is an independent artist that played in a Funky Fresh (FM) show in April. His solo performances, under the name Carson B. Davis, are mainly made up of piano and guitar. Davis was introduced to music at a young age through playing bass in a church band, and he said music is an outlet that he has always been able to turn to in life.
As an independent artist and dad, he said initiatives like Funky Fresh (FM) have helped him to be able to put being a dad first, while still having the opportunity to do what he loves when he can.
“The amount of music that I play now feels just right,” he said. “I don’t have to go out hunting for shows. Maddie just hits me up, and it’s really cool.”
Davis added that the representation and exposure that independent artists get from opportunities like these make him feel like the passion for what they’re doing is being reciprocated by the community.
“We’re all doing this out of our own pockets, I think for the love of it,” Davis said. “It’s very community-centric, so to have representation and exposure feels like the community wants us here.”
Davis noted that the D.I.Y. scene is here for the community.
“We’re your neighbors, he said, "and the role of music throughout history has been community not consumerism.”
Isaiah Thompson is a part of the band Blue Marigold, which played at the last Funky Fresh (FM) show in June. He plays several instruments like the guitar, clarinet and saxophone. Thompson said he was first introduced to music in middle school when he joined the school orchestra, but that was just scratching the surface. He began experimenting with different instruments, and it quickly grew from what he considered an escape, to a deep joy.
“I needed music and it kind of just came at the perfect time,” he said.
Thompson is a blue collar worker, and he said he usually puts in 50 hour work weeks. He said he tries to divide his time as best he can but struggles to make time for the things he truly enjoys.
“When opportunities like this come around, it gives me an excuse to just focus on music,” Thompson said. “They’re just golden.”
The D.I.Y. scene is a network of local independent musicians who play in unconventional spaces like living rooms or basements. Bennett noted that some of Springfield’s venues have opened up to the scene, like Mother’s Brewing Company, which hosted the most recent Funky Fresh show in their Barrel Room at the end of June.
The D.I.Y. scene has been most prominent in the Midwest part of the United States. It’s known for its intimate and inclusive environment, according to a past KSMU report. Bennett said the D.I.Y. scene is largely the queer music scene and is known for being a safe space for everyone, especially women, people of color and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“It’s the music scene that not a lot of people get involved in but should,” she said.
This scene is inclusive of many different genres of music, but punk, indie, soul and folk are some of the most popular. D.I.Y. music is seen as a way to expand the local music scene by connecting community members to each other and to local artists.
