SIMPLY SEGER: Former Greenfield rock ‘n roll lover brings Bob Seger tribute to WCC

A night full of old time rock and roll that’s the kind of music that soothes and soul is coming to the Warren Cultural Center in Greenfield this weekend.

Tim Gazaway, a former Greenfield resident of the 1980s and early 90s who lives in Arkansas now, considers Greenfield to be his second home. He’s eager to bring the Bob Seger tribute band called Simply Seger, which he is the front man for, here to play 7 p.m. Saturday, July 26.

Simply Seger came to Gazaway out of a low point in his life about eight years ago, when he quit playing music.

“My wife finally said ‘you’ve gotta play. I can’t stand seeing you mope around because you’re not playing.’ I’ve always worked other jobs, but music’s always been a large driver in my life,” he remembers.

Two years later, Simply Seger was a thing. It was born after Gazaway’s wife told him she loved hearing him cover the legend’s tracks.

Gazaway began piecing together the tribute band one person at a time until it was complete. It has remained largely unchanged since.

There are so many hits that Seger has that it’s impossible to cover them all in one show, Gazaway said. Gazaway’s appearance and vocal characteristics lead to him being able to cover Seger’s songs exceptionally well.

It was two years after high school that Gazaway was first introduced to Seger’s music. He was on tour playing in Michigan, where Seger is from. A fan walked up to inform him that if he didn’t know any, he should learn some Seger music, because fans will be requesting it often.

“He said, ‘He’s pretty big!,” Gazaway said. “That’s how I got introduced to Bob Seger.”

Gazaway, now 71, has played in several groups through the years. One of them, wildly popular throughout this area, was the Des Moines-based group Barney Fife. They mostly covered 80s hits. As word has circulated that Gazaway’s Simply Seger group is coming to Greenfield, friends from here have reached out to him asking if he has recordings of Barney Fife. He went into his studio and was able to scrounge up about five tracks that were legible.

“We drove down to Greenfield one day and found this little bar on the corner downtown. We went in there, there was a bathroom that was pretty small, there was a room that was pretty small that had a small stage in it. We looked at each other and said this is small enough and awful enough to have a great time,” Gazaway said. “We booked a gig in there and had so much fun. It was super small and was and overflowing — I’m sure we were way past how many people were supposed to be in there — but that probably helped propel Barney Fife than anything we ever did. We packed it and were immediately getting calls from other towns saying we’ve gotta have you. It kind of did define our band.”

What Gazaway didn’t recall until awhile back is Barney Fife covered Seger too.

“I was having lunch with one of my old drummers from Barney Fife a couple of weeks ago, and he brought me an old set list from Barney Fife, and we had about 11 Bob Seger songs on there,” Gazaway said. “We did a lot of them, we just didn’t do them every night. I don’t even remember doing some of these, but it’s a natural fit for me. I love his music. It’s easy to want to do because every song’s got great words and good meaning. No matter who you are, you can kind of fall in and start to relate to these songs.”

Gazaway visited Greenfield last year, shortly after the tornado, and was devastated by the destruction. A friend of his died in the storm and he was able to reconnect with others who assured him they were OK.

To be back in Greenfield will almost be a dream come true for Gazaway.

This will be the first of two-straight shows at the WCC with a local connection. At 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 1, Denver and the Mile High Orchestra namesake and founder Denver Bierman will bring his big band sound here, backed in part by Greenfield resident Zack Valentine on saxophone.

Tickets are limited for the Simply Seger show. All seats are $25 through July 24 with the price increasing to $35 July 25 and 26. Tickets are available at warrenculturalcenter.com.

“I’m certainly excited to be back, and my guys know all the history. Typically, Greenfield might not have been a stop on our summer tour, but this one meant something to me, so everyone said alright, let’s do it,” Gazaway said. “We like to play old theaters and old opera houses because they’re fun. I am happy to see Greenfield took that on. When I was living there it was pretty rundown. I’m glad to see they got together, made something of that and brought back some history.”