There are moments when music becomes more than background noise.
A familiar song begins to play, conversations stop, toes start tapping, and before long, people are singing along or moving to the rhythm.
In a community like Fairfield Glade, music has a way of bringing people together.
For Dennis Long, music has been doing exactly that for most of his life.
“I started so young,” Long said. “Music is part of my DNA.”
Long grew up in the Boston area and was born into a musical family. His brothers, along with his parents, all played an instrument or sang. Music was simply part of his life.
By the time Long was 8 years old, he had decided to start a band of his own called the Guppies.
“I had a drummer, a keyboard player and I sang,” he said.
The Guppies never managed to land a gig, but two years later, he started another band, the 4th Chapter, and this time they actually performed.
His parents always supported his musical interests, and what began as a childhood pastime eventually became a lifelong passion.
Over the years, he learned to play saxophone, guitar, bass, keyboard, drums and congas.
“I love the drums,” he said, “but it’s hard to sing when you’re the drummer.”
Today, Long performs with Run for Cover while also performing shows on his own.
As for his musical tastes, “it depends on the day,” he said. “I love emotional songs, soul or a ballad. Even country.”
Among the musicians who have influenced him are David Bowie, Paul McCartney and Paul Simon. Long admires artists who can take an idea or emotion and put it into music in a way that other people may have difficulty expressing themselves.
“They capture ideas that most of us find it hard to put into words,” he said.
Long’s path to Crossville didn’t begin with music. It began with a very unusual piece of equipment. Long was working for a company in Virginia that made mirrors when Delbar Products in Crossville purchased the same specialty equipment.
The machine was 60 feet long — and there were only three like it in the world.
Delbar hired Long to assemble and program the machine and manage the glass-coating department. That job brought the Boston native to the Crossville area.
But Crossville offered Long something else that caught his attention: Nashville.
Long was excited to be living so close to Music City, and that proximity soon led to numerous music-related trips to Nashville.
Before long, music would begin connecting him even more deeply to his new community.
Long’s introduction to performing at Fairfield Glade events came through a rather unexpected phone call. Years ago, Long was taking guitar lessons from Jack Jones, an employee of DAT Pro Audio, when Jones received a call from the Elks Club. They were looking for someone to do a show.
Jones didn’t hesitate.
“He said, ‘I’ve got just the guy and he’s sitting right here,’” Long recalled. Then Jones handed Long the phone.
That conversation led to an introduction to the Elks Club as well as to Abby Julian, the events manager in Fairfield Glade. She came to hear Long perform, and, as Long puts it, “the rest is history.”
Today, Long performs regularly throughout the area.
He plays at the Elks Club on the first Saturday of every month and has performed at The Grove, Bristow Road Winery, Lake Tansi, The Palace Theatre and numerous other locations throughout Cumberland County. He also performs at private parties.
But one of his most memorable performances wasn’t memorable because everything went according to plan.
Quite the opposite.
Long remembers one Friday night at The Grove when the rain began to pour down.
“I thought, ‘Well, this is it. Everyone will leave,’” he said.
But they didn’t.
Instead, people grabbed their chairs and huddled beneath the trees to wait out the downpour.
Long kept performing.
Kay Southall was there that night, and the experience left an impression.
“I attended Dennis’s concert several years ago and was totally captivated by his performance,” Southall said. “I haven’t missed many of his concerts since then when he’s performing at The Grove. On that first time I saw him, there came an unexpected downpour. Everyone grabbed their chairs and we all huddled under the trees. Dennis never missed a beat. He kept singing and dancing as if nothing was going on.”
For Southall, the rain was only part of what made Long’s performances memorable.
“Dennis is a very talented entertainer—his singing voice, musical abilities and ‘happy’ dance moves,” she said.
Those dance moves have apparently become part of the Dennis Long experience.
But there is another person helping make those experiences happen, and she usually does it from behind the scenes.
Long’s wife, Sheree, may not be the one standing at the microphone, but she is an important part of the performance.
While Dennis is entertaining the crowd, Sheree is often moving around the venue, making sure the sound is just right and helping with requests from the audience.
She also shoots the videos that accompany some of Dennis’s music.
It is a behind-the-scenes partnership that helps keep the music going.
The couple themselves are an example of how unexpected life can be. Sheree is from Philadelphia. Long is from Boston. Yet the two met right here in Crossville.
That connection with the audience is one of the things Long enjoys most about performing in Fairfield Glade.
“The people are so receptive,” he said.
There is also a certain give-and-take between a performer and an audience, he explained. Over time, a musician learns which songs people enjoy.
“So, when I look out and see those people, I work their song into my show,” Long said.
Residents also request particular songs, and when he knows the song and can perform it, he does.
For Long, seeing people participate in the music is what it’s all about. If he looks out and sees people singing, dancing or tapping their feet, he knows the music is doing its job. If everyone is looking at their phones, however, he knows something isn’t quite right. “I’m thinking they’re bored,” he said with a laugh.
Long’s recent retirement has given Long more freedom, along with something equally valuable.
Time.
“I’m not so divided. It allows me to be more creative,” he said.
That creative side extends beyond performing.
Long has created five albums, all original music and a Christmas CD. He plays all the instruments on his recordings.
His website, DennisLong.net, features his performance schedule, videos and music. Long invites anyone interested to visit the site, listen to his songs and enjoy his music.
At one point, Long was also a disc jockey. He says his programs had a 55% listen ratio, which he considers a strong number for radio.
For someone who has spent a lifetime surrounded by music, perhaps none of that is surprising.
Music has been there through nearly every chapter of his life.
Asked to name the songs he would choose if he could play only three for the rest of his life, Long chose “If You Could Read My Mind” by Gordon Lightfoot, “Blackbird” by the Beatles and “Somewhere Bound” by Long himself.
Choosing just three isn’t easy for someone who has spent a lifetime listening to and playing music. “There’s so much great music,” he said.
And perhaps that is why old songs can sometimes mean more as we grow older. Long believes songs from long ago can carry meanings that reach beyond the words themselves. They can take us back to people, places and moments we haven’t thought about in years.
Ask Long what song best describes his life, however, and his answer is considerably more upbeat: “It’s a great day to be alive.” This song was written by Darrell Scott and sung by Travis Tritt.
It seems an appropriate choice for someone who is still creating, still performing and still finding new ways to share his love of music.
Long hopes people have a good time when they come to his performances. “Even if only for a few hours, I hope I help them forget about their troubles,” he said.
Long’s connection to the people of Fairfield Glade has become personal, too.
A group of friends surprised him with a retirement party. “Wow, what a bunch of friends I’ve gotten here,” he said. “I get so emotional when I think about it. How can you ask for more than that? They’re special people here.”
The appeal of Long’s music isn’t limited to Fairfield Glade residents.
Phillip Brouch was visiting Fairfield Glade to play golf with a few friends when they decided to venture out to The Grove. It just so happened to be one of Long’s concerts.
“What a great concert to end our time here,” Brouch said. “The quality of music here makes coming to Fairfield Glade part of the fun of the place.”
The music isn’t simply filling a few hours on a calendar. It is becoming part of the Fairfield Glade experience — something that can bring residents together, give visitors another reason to enjoy their stay and create memories long after the last song has ended.
He came to Crossville because of a 60-foot machine —
But along the way, he found a place where he could continue doing something that had been part of him since childhood.
He also found a wife.
And friends.
And he found a community willing to dance in the rain.
If Fairfield Glade has a soundtrack, Dennis Long is certainly one of the musicians helping to write it.