South River EMC member Greg Adair is a promoter and a drummer, currently for a band called Rivermist. His love of music started early, playing at church at six-years-old.

Greg Adair

“I played at C & Adams Street Church of God, which is now Praise Fellowship Church of God,” he said. “I moved to playing with the adults at 8 or 9-years-old, went full gospel at age 13, and then went into secular music at 19, I’ve been there ever since.” Music was always a hobby of Adair's and he played with many different groups, including the Malpass Brothers, joking that he was a drummer for hire.

This drummer for hire has been voted "Drummer of the Year" by Carolina Country Music Awards for two straight years, all as a hobby. “I worked at Goodyear from 1992-2003, and then managed a cable contractor for Time Warner Cable for many years after,” he said. “Went with music full time in February 2017.”

Adair had been playing with a band called Fahrenheit from 2011-2013; and after fundraising for member Richard Honeycutt's cancer battle, the band concluded. Adair and a couple of members from Fahrenheit stayed together and looked for a few more musicians to fill out their sound. At the time that sound was primarily rock, and it wasn't what everyone was looking to book.

"We spent 2014 to 2016 adding and removing members," he said. "And we were all still working full time." Finally, the right grouping came together and they took the leap to full-time musicians in 2017. Enter Rivermist. "We used to play and practice at one member's place on the river," Adair said. "And so, we knew that we wanted river in the name."

Composed of Adair on drums and backing vocals, Doug Bass on lead and backing vocals as well as keyboards, Cliff Bender on lead guitar, Tony Harrison on bass guitar, and Allen Pier on keyboard, lead and backing vocals. The variety band makeup gave the group more music to work with and into shows. "There's no limit to what we can do," he said. "And shows are tailored to the audience."

Rivermist has built quite a following, with over 6,000 Facebook followers enjoying their covers. But COVID-19 made life a little harder for the musicians whose joy is found in celebrating with their fans. "We booked 68 shows in 2019," said Adair. "In 2020, we canceled 43 shows and that's not even counting all those shows we weren't able to book."

However, the pandemic gave the group some creative time and that lead to them recording some music of their own. "Someone was always coming up with a song idea, and most times we would put it on the back burner," he said. "We took that time last year and did some recording." Two such songs are "Beach Life" and "Black Creek".

"Beach Life" has made it on seven charts across three states. Meanwhile, "Black Creek" has had a line dance created for it and performed by the Double D dance team in Rivermist's video for it on Youtube. The song was also up on the Carolina Country Artist Showdown in September.

"It's humbling, and an honor to have people so invested in this group," said Adair. Voted the Best Local Band, six years running, these guys are invested in putting on a good show. "I think that's what really makes us stand out to our fans," said Adair. "The guys are personal and humble, we just love people, and I think they sense that." They will be fronting for Rick Springfield at the Crown in October, which means a 40-minute set for the group.