By FRED KRONER
fred@mahomenews.com
There was a time years ago – actually, now, decades ago – that Connie Hoagland entered a talent contest.
She wasn’t yet a teen-ager.
“I remember losing out at Danville’s Douglas Park to some 5-year-old baton-twirling tap dancers,” Hoagland says.
She still recalls which selection she performed for the judges.
“I sang ‘Love Will Keep Us Together,’” Hoagland remembers.
She accepted the consolation prize of a 2-liter bottle of Pepsi Cola and some Burger Chef coupons.
Hoagland was disappointed, but not discouraged.
“I have always been a ‘want-to-be’ singer,” she says. “As a kid and young adult, I would call myself a super fan of music and musicians. “
As they arose, she took advantage of opportunities.
“I sang in chorus in high school and joined my friends to sing at our graduation,” the Oakwood High School graduate recalls.
“My (Oakwood) basketball teammates and I handed out tickets to our concert in the health room,” Hoagland remembers, “which basically was a live karaoke event with us belting out ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ by Pat Benetar.”
As the years passed, and life commitments multiplied, Hoagland became involved – and consumed – by time-filling endeavors that didn’t feature music.
She was an assistant women’s basketball coach at Danville Area Community College for 13 years.
Road trips were seldom a time for quiet reflection, however.
“We always had the music blaring on the radio on those two-hour van rides to and from games,” Hoagland says.
Her tenure at DACC was followed by stints on high school staff at Urbana and Mahomet-Seymour (starting in 2009). By the time Hoagland stepped aside from coaching, she had 27 years in with basketball and 13 with tennis.
With a bachelor’s degree in physical education and health, Hoagland accepted a position in the Mahomet-Seymour school system in 2012, “as an aide,” she says, “to get my foot in the door in the district.”
For seven years, she worked with older students, those between 18- and 22-years-old, in the ATLAS program.
Hoagland found it rewarding.
“I have loved working with all the special needs children in our classrooms and haven’t found the desire to leave this section of education yet,” she says. “I truly believe some of our students are angels here on earth and teach me lessons daily.
“I also have learned the teachers and aides that work with this population are some of the most genuine, professional and compassionate human beings I have ever encountered in my educational career.”
She made a slight change in course this year, and is in her first year as a teacher’s aide at Lincoln Trail Elementary School in the Compass Program.
And that reunites us with Hoagland’s ambitions to be a singer.
“I grew up on 70’s pop music, while my mom (Betty) was listening to country and my sister (Patty) was listening to rock and roll,” Hoagland says.
“My sister listened to Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Foreigner, Boston, Chicago. She really loved R&B and Motown. I had some great diversity in my household … Captain and Tennille, The Beatles and The Statler Brothers, plus many more, could be heard daily in the Hoagland house.”
With the demands of coaching put aside, Hoagland has the time to devote to another interest.
“I needed to find a new passion to fill up all those hours I spent in the gym over the years,” she says. “So, I turned to music.”
She didn’t have far to look.
“I met a couple songwriters from Nashville, Chelsey Tackett and Lisa Carver, who performed for our Betty’s Battle against Alzheimer’s events,” Hoagland says.
With their encouragement and the influence of some of her current musical idols, Kenny Chesney and Sugarland, Hoagland ventured forward.
“They (Chesney and Sugarland) have written a lot of their own music,” Hoagland notes. “I was inspired to try my hand at writing music, too.
“My only problem is that I don’t play any instruments.”
She regrets now that she left behind music instruction at a young age.
“I can’t imagine my life without music being such a big part of it,” Hoagland says. “They say music is the soundtrack to your life and I believe it.
“I started out in grade school chorus and band at Danville Lutheran Schools. I played the trumpet for many years and played at church and special events. I also took piano lessons when I was young, and wish I would have listened to my mom and stuck with it.”
Her focus as a teen-ager in Oakwood was on volleyball and basketball, sports which she played throughout high school.
Hoagland picked a familiar subject to start her songwriting career.
“One of the very first songs I wrote was about some of our special needs students here in Mahomet called, ‘They’re So Special,’” she says. “I turned to Dave Cooper of Nickel and Dimes and my current bandmate Kathy Larson to help me put the music to that song and it kind of took off from there.”
It was a natural progression for Hoagland to immerse herself in the local talent that can be heard with regularity.
“About 10 years ago, I became a fan of Champaign-Urbana’s local music scene,” Hoagland says. “Ryan Ideus and the Fuedin’ Hillbillys got me hooked, and now I have heard so many talented musicians right here in our area that just blow me away.
“Nickel and Dimes, Chrissy Sparks Rigsby, Dave ‘n Lisa, Kathy Harden, Bad Medicine, Love Sign, 90’s Daughter and my newest favorite, Harmony GRITS.”
Through her connections, Hoagland got her foot in the door.
“I was given a few opportunities to sing some of my original songs with other bands in the area,” she says. “Every once in a while, I would get on stage and sing a song I had written.”
She is now becoming a fixture on the local scene with her group, Southernicity.
“Southernicity is my first try at having a band,” Hoagland says. “After coming up with a handful of original tunes, my friend Kathy Larson and I decided to get together weekly and practice our original music.
“She plays the keyboard and I became the lead singer by default since I don’t play an instrument.”
The group had humble beginnings.
“Our first practice was probably in Linda Kostinko’s garage about two years ago,” Hoagland recalls. “Our first goal was to participate in CU Bands and Fans Original Artist Night, where one can perform three original songs.
“Terry Miller and her crew at CU Bands and Fans do such a fantastic job of providing a platform for original artists as well as promoting live music in this area. Their Facebook page keeps everyone in the know about the music scene.”
Southernicity began as a duo in October, 2017.
“Finally, Kathy and I wanted to be able to have a short set of songs to perform and asked Nickel and Dimes guitarist and friend, Dave Cooper to jam with us one night,” Hoagland says. “He had so much fun he just kept jamming out with us.
“That is how Southernicity was born. We started out being the opener for more established bands in town and as our confidence grew, our set list grew, too. We got our first paid official three-hour gig just a little over a year ago at The Clark Bar, in Champaign.”
Southernicity now has a standing date on Tuesdays from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at Champaign’s Clark Bar.
All three current members of Southernicity have full-time jobs and are band members on the side.
Joining Hoagland – whose stage name is C.J. Hoags – are Larson on keyboard and vocals, and Geoff Boise on lead guitar.
Boise is a CFC Service coordinator at Child and Family Connections No. 16 in Champaign. Larson is an Economic Development Specialist at the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission.
Boise is a recent addition, replacing Cooper.
“We really couldn’t do much more when Dave was a member of our band because he played in so many other successful bands,” Hoagland says. “We are really looking forward to expanding our performance schedule with our new guitar player.
“Especially hoping to play in Mahomet soon. We would like to play two or three times a month for sure.”
While the group plays primarily country songs, they are not exclusively in that genre.
“We do songs by Elvis, CCR, Kid Rock, Kenny Loggins, Pat Benetar and multiple others,” Hoagland says. “We are always looking to expand our set list while staying true to our Southern name.
“We are hoping to stay together for long enough and be capable of taking requests and being able to play whatever the crowd might want to hear.”
Their bread and butter is country music, dating back to the 1970s, but also including recent releases.
“We have a very loyal group of friends and fans who support us and our music,” Hoagland says. “There is definitely a lot of toe tappin’, hand clappin’ and singin’ along at one of our shows.
“We even have several audience participation songs we love to play, ‘Country Girl’ by Luke Bryan being one of those songs.”
From feedback received thus far, Hoagland predicts a bright future for Southernicity.
“The reaction to our group has been very encouraging and I think they are looking forward to seeing us emerge from an up-and-coming band to one of the mainstays in the Champaign area,” she says. “I know they will be right there with us as we grow.”
One of Hoagland’s favorite bands is Sugarland – she was at the 2011 concert at the Indiana State Fair when the stage collapsed, killing seven people and injuring 58 others – and that band was in her thoughts during the process of selecting a name for her group.
“One of my very favorite songs is called ‘Southern Gravity’ by Kristian Bush of Sugarland,” Hoagland says. “So, I had that in the back of my mind when we started discussing band names.
“A couple we tossed around were Coonhound Grove, CJ and the Coonhounds, and Shady Rest Road. But we started talking about how it was just like synchronicity how we all came together at the right time in our lives, and how we were primarily a country band with influences from all genres.
“We were country at heart but live in the city, hence Southernicity; a combination of synchronicity, country and city.”
Hoagland estimated that approximately 25 percent of the material in their current set list are original songs and the other 75 percent are covers.
“Both Kathy and I write songs independently and perform them together,” Hoagland says. “We have yet to co-write a song, but hope to do some co-writing in the future with her and other local musicians.
“Waiting to put music to my first co-write with Kim Chambers called ‘Mama Shook the House.’”
Southernicity has about 50 songs in its repertoire. The group practices twice a week for two to three hours per session.
Hoagland is in it for the long term.
“Like most musicians, I just want to grow musically,” she says. “I want to use music as a connection to anyone who comes to listen to us.
“It always rejuvenates my soul to hear some live music; to be able to put away life’s worries for just a little bit and let the lyrics and sounds take you to another place and another time for the few hours we share.
“I think my group wants to promote positivity and wants to have a sound that people can groove, dance and sing along to.”
Being close to the horrific scene when the stage collapsed during a strong wind at the 2011 Sugarland concert was frightening for Hoagland, but the subsequent impact created positive overtones.
“Out of the rubble on the track arose such a strong community of Sugarland fans,” Hoagland recalls. “So many positive things came in the aftermath of that one horrible night.
“Music can heal many wounds and unite what once seemed divided. It is one of the few things in this world we can all relate to.”
The group hopes to expand its availability and to reach audiences beyond Champaign-Urbana.
“We would like to become a mainstay in the Central Illinois music scene,” Hoagland says. “We would like to be a band that people want to have at their event and help them make some great memories in that soundtrack of their life.”
Hoagland has a myriad of artists who have impacted her writing.
“I am influenced by anyone who writes a great song,” she says. “Kristian Bush and Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland, Kenny Chesney.
“I love sweet lyrics that tell a story, or make you feel something. Songs like ‘One Tin Soldier Rides Away,’ ‘The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,’ ‘American Pie,’ ‘Stay,’ ‘Little Miss,’ ‘Up Here,’ ‘Right Side of History,’ ‘Bullet and the Gun,’ or ‘Remember When.’
“Those are the songs I aspire to write.”
She holds big-time ambitions.
“Personally, my goals are to write and record a song that goes to Nashville,” Hoagland adds. “If it happens to land on country music radio being sung by one of my country music favorites … now that’s a dream come true.”
Southernicity has an Alzheimer’s Benefit (Betty’s Battle) on the books for Sunday, Nov. 3, from 2-6 p.m. where it will open for Harmony GRITS at Boomerangs Bar and Grill in Urbana.
