Tim McCoy, longtime bassist with Lemon Fresh Kids, Heavens to Murgatroid, Hokum and his own project, Tim McCoy and the Papercuts, takes the reins at Bourbon’s music club this week.

When McCoy played the Portsmouth venue with Hokum recently, he ran into Chris Gansburg, who had taken the job of bar manager.

“He called me last week and asked, ‘are you interested in working with me to get the downstairs room rolling?’” McCoy says.
After thinking about it, talking it over with friends in the business and spending extensive time talking with the club’s owners, McCoy felt compelled to accept on Friday.

“It’s the last rock room left in Portsmouth, the way I look at it,” he says. McCoy remembers when rock ruled Portsmouth in the 1990s, when places like the Portsmouth Brewery, The Rosa and the now-defunct Elvis Room offered a range of options. While several clubs now offer high-end music, Bourbon’s is the sole room in the city dedicated to straight-up rock.

Owners Gerri and Tony Scheena bought the first floor Muddy River restaurant in January 2006, and the lower-level music room came as part of the package. When the club re-opened after a few weeks of being dark this summer, music managers Laurie Nolan and Ann Bryant introduced a music series that had an urban feel, with local and touring bands, known and unknown, mixing it up two to four nights a week. After they parted ways with the club, Adam Demers handled booking and promotion until recently.

McCoy, undaunted, says he understands the transitions haven’t been easy on local bands. He hopes to smooth the experience for performers—in terms of both paycheck and perks—and better the experience for fans as well. Weekend nights will probably continue to feature the eclectic lineup established by Nolan and Bryant, though McCoy is thinking about reinstating reggae nights or possibly adding a night of live country music, which is hard to come by in these parts. You can drink shots at the bar again, and last call has been extended to 12:45 a.m. For the time being, the room will continue to be a haven for those who prefer a little smoke with their music. But McCoy is taking suggestions from all parts.

“There’s 3,000 little things that have to happen to make it successful,” he observes.