HUNTSVILLE, AL (CelebrityAccess) – Huntsville’s best small venue to see original and live music, SideTracks Music Hall, will be closing its doors for the final time at the end of August.
In a FB post on Sunday (August 21) by venue manager Eddie Yessick, he says, “The rumor mill is working hard today, so I’m letting you all know. SideTracks is closing soon. It’s been a great run of five plus years with all the great people I’ve met along the way.”
In a follow-up post on Monday (August 22), Brandi Burgess, who assisted with booking SideTracks, added, “Unfortunately, this isn’t how we wanted to announce it because we still have details to work out with upcoming shows, and we have some really cool things in the works, but word got out.”
Furniture Factory Bar and Grill owner Mark Comara also owns SideTracks. AL.com reports that Comara plans to reboot the space into another club. It is housed in a shopping center downtown with train tracks nearby, hence its name. The current capacity is about 400.
Yessick and his wife Meredith Carlton Yessick, opened SideTracks with Comara’s backing, hoping to fill the void left after Crossroads Music Hall closed in 2013. Sadly, Meredith died in 2018. But the couple and their staff poured their hearts and souls into the venue.
Between 2013 and 2017, SideTracks performers included notables like Lucero and Shovels + Rope. Long-running groups like Southern Culture on the Skids, Reverend Horton Heat, and Cowboy Mouth.
Rock throwbacks, Greta Van Fleet, and Dirty Honey played SideTracks early on. Americana superstar Jason Isbell performed a solo acoustic show/fundraiser there. Not to mention Sebastian Bach, L.A. Guns, and Faster Pussycat performed. Blues wunderkind Christone “Kingfish” Ingram too.
As news spread of SideTracks’ closure, local music scene staples took to social media to voice their sadness. Rock musician Steven Whaley wrote, “As much as everyone brags on Huntsville’s music community lately, there’s only a few venues that consistently book artists playing original music and are open to showcasing different sounds/genres. SideTracks is one of the best places to play or see a show in the area, and the people working/running it are great. Hate to see it go.”
Photographer Stephanie DeFreese put it poignantly: “Man, the memories that were made inside and outside those walls,” DeFreese posted. “The music that was shared. I just can’t really explain to anyone that wasn’t a part of it. It was just really special.”
