Uncle Mike’s Smokehouse Grill will be hosting up-and-coming Nashville country singer Makenzie Raye in a Saturday, July 18, concert.
Raye began singing when she was 4 years old, and following in her musically-inclined family’s footsteps, she went solo at only 13.
The singer has a four-song EP out on iTunes. One of her more popular tracks is “Miserable Girl,” a country song with some distinguishable pop shades.
For a country singer born in Lakeland, stopping in Plant City is a necessity. Raye will be preforming two 45-minute sets at Uncle Mike’s.
It’s not her first time at Uncle Mike’s. Raye and her band visited the restaurant a little over a year ago, and the event was a success.
“Uncle Mike’s is a really great venue,” Raye said. “The crowd was awesome and there were people dancing on the floor the entire time.”
Coincidentally, one of the singer’s favorite musical moments was at Uncle Mike’s.
“It was a few days before my performance, and I was checking the place out when a little girl recognized me and asked for my autograph,” Raye said. “She told me she loved to sing, too, and it just felt right.”
Uncle Mike’s owners, Simone and Michael Tolley, heard of Raye through a friend, who referred her music for their Saturday night concerts.
“Her performance was upbeat, and she really interacts with the crowd,” Simone Tolley said.
This may be because Raye is no stranger to the area. She has played at the Florida Strawberry Festival five times, and every time she returned, the stage just got larger.
“I eventually got to the second biggest stage,” Raye said. “I want to come home from college and play for my hometown festival again, that’s the plan.”
While she has already played numerous gigs around the state of Florida, Raye graduated from King High School in Tampa just this year. She will be attending Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, a school that boasts alumni such as Brad Paisley and members from Florida Georgia Line.
Uncle Mike’s stage has been open to local bands, as well as more established musicians; one notably being the popular country group, Soul Circus Cowboys.
“The restaurant gets seriously packed on a Saturday night, but a good packed,” Simone Tolley said. “We do weddings and parties in the event hall all the time.”
Simone Tolley is a former professional Buccaneers cheerleader, and Uncle Mike’s is named for Mike Tolley. Together the couple opened the restaurant two years ago with a vision and plenty of pasta and steak recipes.
The Tolleys teach line dancing classes and serve Southern staples that keep their regular customers coming and in turn keep the stage lit with talented musicians.
“We are a combination of family-friendly and late-night fun,” Simone Tolley said. “And we’re definitely growing.”
To purchase tickets for the concert, visit EventBrite.com.
IF YOU GO
WHEN: Doors open at 9 p.m.; performance begins at 10 p.m. Saturday, July 18
WHERE: 106 E. State Road 60
PRICE: For ticket information, go to EventBrite.com
DETAILS: The show is for ages 18 and up.
Abby Baker is an editorial intern with the Plant City Times & Observer.