The Tupelo Music Hall celebrates 20 years

DERRY, NH – When the Tupelo Music Hall’s owner and director of entertainment Scott Hayward purchased an old Victorian farmhouse in Londonderry, there were already a number of small shops inside, including a music venue called The Muse, where they featured live acoustic music and served coffee and baked goods.

Hayward, a Derry-native who had returned to the area with a degree in English from Wake Forest University in North Carolina, decided to expand on the concept of live music.

On Sept. 11, 2004, The Tupelo Music Hall—whose name gives a nod to the birthplace of Elvis Presley—had its grand opening.

Hayward said that the date, three years removed from the largest foreign attack on American soil, was not meant to be symbolic; rather, the timing was coincidental. “Karma smacked me for that decision,” said Hayward, whose full-time work at the time was in sales.

When they tried to power up everything in the old farmhouse, including the sound system, the transformer blew right off its pole. Hayward’s friend then ripped a generator from his barn, and the show went on. The performers, a local band called Maeve, started an hour late, but the seed was planted.

The Tupelo Music Hall started to gain success due to Hayward’s hard work — it was a one-man operation when it started — and perseverance.

“Breaking into the industry is not easy,” said Hayward, who now splits his time between homes in New Hampshire and The Bahamas. “You have to reach out to a lot of managers and agents and convince them to put their people in your venue. It’s a daunting task when it’s your only form of income, but it wasn’t my only source of income at the time.”

In fact, Hayward admits that he had “zero plans” of actually doing concert promoting for a living. “But the more I did it, the more I fell in love with the business,” he said. “A few years into it, I started to realize that I could do this full-time. I wanted to stop wearing a tie everyday, so I made that decision.”

In 2017, the Tupelo Music Hall relocated to a larger venue in Derry, going from 200 seats to roughly 700 seats in the new location, which was a Gold’s Gym before being gutted and renovated for live music.

This year, the Tupelo is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a “20”-themed campaign that will run until Sept. 11.

The campaign will include a host of prizes, discounted merchandise and digital engagements for patrons. For example, the Tupelo will be giving away 20 pairs of tickets to 20 shows; they’re selling 20-year anniversary T-shirts for $20; and they’re asking audiences to rank the Top 20 Tupelo shows in the past two decades.

They’re even compiling a Spotify playlist and sharing — family-friendly — stories from past shows on a newly launched blog titled “Backstage Beat” to commemorate the venue’s achievement.

Hayward said that a large component to the Tupelo’s longevity and success are the people who work at the venue, which includes a “scratch” kitchen—all of the food is made from fresh ingredients—as well as the volunteers who have helped Hayward since its days as a one-man operation in Londonderry.

“I think our staff makes us different [from other venues],” said Hayward, who can’t remember the last time he had to hire an employee (the Tupelo now employs 38 people). “Everyone does their job. Everybody respects and trusts everybody else, and they’re very good at what they do. Everyone stays in their lane and helps each other out if they need to. The venue runs itself, and that’s a testament to my staff.”

And the managers at the Tupelo appreciate Hayward’s trust and flexibility, which helps form a cohesive team.

“There is no one department that is siloed from the others,” said Joe Burke, the marketing director at the Tupelo. “The managers have a rapport that runs deep and is built on constant communication. There’s a lot that goes into a smaller venue like ours to put on two to four shows a week.”

Hayward described his approach as “an open book management style,” where everyone is privy to all information from the top down.

“If you have the right people in the right positions, and they’re good at their job—creative and smart—it works great, and we have the right people,” he said. “It becomes a family environment.”

Burke said that Hayward has a knack for placing the right people in the right roles. “Our jobs and roles often overlap on any given day, and Scott has done an amazing job at highlighting our strengths to compliment the team and venue,” he said.

But Hayward also realizes the dangers of complacency, and his goal is to avoid doing the same things and “to keep things fresh,” he said. “I’m a big believer that if you’re not constantly changing then you’re dying. We’re always looking to try new things.”

For two decades, since Maeve first took the stage in that old Londonderry farmhouse in 2004, the philosophy—as well as the dedication to patrons and the performing arts—seems to be working for the Tupelo Music Hall family.

For more information, or to purchase tickets to upcoming, visit the Tupelo Music Hall’s website here.