TIFTON — For almost ten years, Daniel Shippey has opened his downtown photography studio to artists and musicians to share their talents with the Tifton community, but this past Saturday, Feb. 24, was the last one.

The final show grouped musicians based on genre and compatibility and ended with an intimate performance by the lead singer of Mayday Parade, Derek Sanders.

The local and visiting musicians all have Shippey’s friendship in common so while they may not have known each other, there was still a kinship based on a mutual friendship and a passion for sharing their music with a crowd.

The night opened with Kade Williamson, Connor Holcombe of Brightside, Erica Bitting and Jabez Gill each taking a turn at performing covers and originals. From The Commodore’s “Easy like a Sunday Morning” and Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” to Brightside original “AEIOU,” the group had the standing room only crowd feeling good and singing along.

During the transition to the next set, Darius McGrew an artist from Tallahassee, FL gave what felt like an impromptu performance blending slam poetry and rap. The performance told the story of moving on after a severe break-up. Donning a cowboy hat, McGrew had the crowd laughing and clapping along to his story.

Then, Stephen Carey from Nashville, TN and Tifton native Derrick Dove shared the stage. Dove had just released his debut album the night before. Both artists took the casual nature of the show to improvise and riff of the other’s performance. Carey’s rockabilly style, leather jacket and snake skin boots, and Dove’s take-me-as-I-am personal style, in song and fashion, fostered a unique synergy of blues and country mingling, and it turns out, getting along.

Longtime friends of Shippey, Stages and Stereos made an appearance as well. Daniel Lancaster and Stephen Elwell played some of their most popular songs as if they had never performed them before delivering palpable passion through every lyric. The crowd matched their energy singing and sometimes screaming along.

Finally, Derek Sanders of Mayday Parade took a seat behind the mic. Taking a moment to tune his guitar, he joked with the crowd that he probably should have practiced more.

Sanders played several never-before-heard songs. Pieces originally written for Mayday Parade that he has recently revisited and wants to record. One song told the story of warrior out to hunt a monster, but when the warrior finds him, the monster has already been slain. The warrior, explains Sanders with a small chuckle, “goes home sad.”

Lancaster and Sanders did a mellow cover of Jimmy Eats World’s “A Praise Chorus” and Sanders ended the night performing his own rendition of “Yesterday,” a bittersweet song to close a bittersweet night.

The musicians mingled with the crowd, signed and sold music and shirts. Carey took it as a chance to make new fans. Despite a recent shout out in Rolling Stone, an acoustic show in downtown Tifton wasn’t too small for him.

“I don’t care if it’s in a van or a tour bus, I want to be on the road as much as possible winning fans over in small rooms like this all across the country. That’s the goal.”

His biggest goal, the whole reason for moving from his hometown in Jacksonville, FL to Nashville, is to fill arenas. He laughed after he said it out loud.

“I know that sounds crazy.”

The Rolling Stone article, “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know: February 2018” described his sound as “a Florida native’s physical (and musical) relocation to Nashville, combining the sounds of his home turf — shoreline swagger, summery pop hooks, the amped-up guitars of Southern rock — with Tennessee mojo.”

The sacrifice, leaving his family, friends and support behind to pursue a dream even he thinks sounds crazy, he believes will be worth it. He had to move. He had to grow, but he won’t forget every person and every achievement that got him closer.

“It is absolutely for the friends and family back home that have seen it from the very beginning. That is one hundred percent why I’m doing it,” said Carey.

Derrick Dove has a similar story. He’s managed to gain and retain support from his hometown. His album release party the night before was sold out. After the release, the self-titled album “Derrick Dove and the Peacekeepers,” made it on the top 10 iTunes blues chart.

While Dove is proud of every song, “Brand New Life,” “So strong,” and “Hanging Out with the Blues” are his favorites. “Brand New Life” tells the story of two broken people meeting online and decide to create a new, ideal life together in the country. Soon after, however, they find themselves falling into old traps, desperate to survive. The song then turns from a narrative to a reminder. Dove sings, “There are no fairy tales in this world we’re living.”

Dove’s bluesy Aesop-like fable is a reflection of the kind of songs he enjoys. He loves music that tells a story in witty, creative ways. He said music is almost like a mood ring. For every feeling, he can find a song to match it. He hopes his own music can be the soundtrack for the lives of his listeners.

“If I can touch any somebody in any way with any emotion, that’s what I’m here for,” he said. “They need a cry, they need a laugh, they just need to drive fast— I’m good with it. That’s all I want. I just want people to like it.”

Daniel Lancaster, Stephen Elwell, Derek Sanders, Stephen Carey and Daniel Shippey piled into Shippey’s editing bay, separate from the rest of studio. Perched on crushed couches, chairs and sitting on the floor, they all took an opportunity to reminisce and encourage Shippey to begin his next big project: closing the studio and moving to Nashville, TN.

Shippey, Lancaster and Sanders met at The Lamplighter Pub. A Tifton staple, The Pub has been a long time venue for up-and-coming musicians. Mayday Parade played there long before they were headlining tours. Stages and Stereos built their following on food and beer and the support of the owners. Creating those connections was something Shippey wanted to foster in his own space.

“For me, doing stuff like this really is about the relationships you build, the people you meet and know,” he explained.

Elwell relaxed in an easy chair, said, mostly to himself, “This is a special place.”

The worst thing about the night for Elwell was that it was the last show. The last time, conceivably, that they would all be hanging out together caught in their small town fantasies remembering their first time getting drunk, hustling to sell CDs on tours, traveling together across the country.

For Sanders, this was a unique opportunity. It’s not often that he plays solo, intimate gigs. It was an opportunity for him to be selfish and play the songs he loved even though he knew that the crowd wanted Mayday favorites. It was an opportunity for the audience to see a headliner on a barstool, playing songs that he connected with and chose for this occasion to play exclusively despite his worry that they wouldn’t like it.

Lancaster and Sanders talked about what going to shows did for them growing up and what they hope the crowd feels.

“Ultimately, I hope them to have a good time,” said Sanders.

“Maybe some chills,” Lancaster chimed in.

Lancaster thought for a moment and expanded, “It depends on what you’re coming to the show for.”

He explained, “I mean, we’re an emo band. That’s what we are. If you’re coming there because something happened and you know this band is going to sing these relationship, relatable songs that you can writhe in almost— get out that energy that’s inside. Scream, sing along. Just feel something. Anything. Other than this—” He pretended to hold a phone up in front of his face, recording.

Is that irritating for an artist to see? “As long as someone’s in the room, that’s fine,” said Lancaster. The group chuckles.

Again, they begin to reminisce. Lancaster talks about when he went to shows he went to mosh. Not to release aggression, but emotions.

“It feels good to watch a band that you fall asleep to the record every night, to watch them do the…thing live. It like—”

Sanders finishes his thought, “It’s an escape.” Shows were an escape from work and school and normal life surrounded by people who may not necessarily get it.

Lancaster continued, “You can let go.”

And the best part was, you were never alone. Sanders explained it as being around likeminded people. Lancaster described it as being surrounded by other outcasts, other punks.

The conversation shifted as the outcasts turned their attention to Shippey who sat on the floor in between his friends.

Lancaster leaned over to Shippey and said, “You’ve outgrown Tifton and you’re not here anyway, you know? You’re on the road. You’re on tour, you know?”

Lancaster said that Shippey was there since the beginning of Stages and Stereos. He turns to Sanders to confirm Shippey’s involvement with Mayday Parade and Sanders corroborates that he has been around Mayday Parade for the past 10 years of their existence.

Shippey plans to work with Carey in Nashville along with other country artists. While he’s toured with rock bands and various subgenres of rock, he’s never toured with a country artist. It is one of his major goals in the move.

But he hasn’t forgotten the place that nurtured him and his business from the start.

“Tifton has been very good to me.” He continued, “I have so many connections with people here in general that it is tough to give it up. I’ve had the studio for almost ten years. But it’s just the concept of letting something go in order to gain something new, bigger and better. Just push your own narrative forward. You can’t stay stagnant or stay in one place and expect new things to happen, necessarily.”

This final show was a farewell and a thank you to Tifton. He said putting it together was equal parts fun and stressful.

“This was probably the largest show we’ve had in here,” he said.

Elwell said it was the coolest show he’s played here.

Shippey hopes that Tifton will continue to showcase new and original art and music after he has left.

“I think people need a chance to hear more original music and see original art,” he said. “I think, if anything, they need to try and engage themselves in that, to kind of foster an environment where those sort of artists can live and have an outlet to play and show their work. I think that’s important.”