About

Born & Raised Productions is a boutique music promotion company based in Knoxville, Tenn. We create unforgettable music experiences in East Tennessee. We also provide event services. Our services include: marketing & promotion, talent buying, production, event operations and more. If you’d like to discuss your event, you can send us more info on our contact page.

It all started when…

In 2014, then artist manager Garrett Thomson and Knoxville-based music journalist Kent Oglesby decided to work together putting on a show in Knoxville, TN for Caleb Hawley, one of Garrett’s clients. They had the artist. They had (kind of) a sound system. All they needed was a location. The only option was to convince a local business to open their doors and allow a band they’d never heard of and two guys they’d never met to put on a show. No problemo.

For that 2014 Caleb Hawley show, that local business ended up being a now-defunct liquor store in Powell. Obviously, not the most glamorous locale, BUT that gave the two newly-minted concert promoters the idea that started what would become Born & Raised.

Secret Shows

Garrett and Kent took that piecemeal sound system to different local businesses all around town and began a series of Secret Shows under the name of Kent’s music blog, Knoxville Music Warehouse. The first show of the series at a now-defunct Knoxville brewery (Hopefully this wouldn’t become a pattern.) sold out within a few weeks. Then the second one at Knox Heritage Salvage Center sold out. Then the third one at The Hive sold out. Maybe these dudes were on to something.

While still keeping one eye on their respective duties in the music world, Garrett and Kent realized that putting on concerts and events was their wheelhouse. Ever the nomads, they continued to put on shows together for three years in various venues all over town until they decided to turn what was a fun side gig into a more prominent thing. Born & Raised was born…. uhhh… and raised in 2017.

Pretentious Beer Co.

In that year, one of the venues of the aforementioned Secret Shows, Pretentious Beer Co. in Knoxville’s Old City, allowed Born & Raised to regularly book concerts on its patio. Fun aside: At 9am on a Friday morning in 2015, when Garrett and Kent barged in on Pretentious owner Matthew Cummings, he was playing Mario Kart 64 and drinking a beer. “You wanna let us put on a secret show here?” Garrett Asked. “Sure!” Matthew replied without asking for any more information. It’s no wonder that Born & Raised and Pretentious were a good fit. They’ve been booking concerts at Pretentious Beer Co. ever since.

Sunset on Central

2017 was also the first year in which Born & Raised would try its hand at putting on a music festival. On a big empty lot that would eventually become the Central Filling Station, Sunset on Central would put nine bands on two stages in its first year. The festival has grown every year since, and it expanded to more than 25 bands in four different venues on the Central Street Corridor.

The Outpost

In Happy Holler, just up the street from the Sunset on Central festival site, Born & Raised was faced with a unique opportunity near the end of 2018 to take a vacant building and turn it into a temporary music venue. Abridged Brewing Company had just leased the property but needed six months to age the beers they had sitting in their barrels. In the meantime, The Outpost would be Knoxville’s first ever pop-up music venue. In the six months of operation, The Outpost would host Grammy winners and acclaimed nationally touring acts as well as regional and local favorites. Having six months of a full-time venue created the opportunity for Born & Raised to found a subsidiary company Silent Disco Knox, putting on unique events in which three DJs play music into headphones for events that are always crazy fun and wild spectacles. It also provided the birth of a new concert series called The Vs series in which a different all-star cast of local musicians is commissioned to play a show paying tribute to two legendary artists at a time.

Present Day

Currently Born & Raised is working on a handful of events including East Knoxville’s Heart of Town Festival and continuing to book shows at Pretentious Beer Co. Keep an eye out for whatever crazy concept they may come up with next.