Dean Clark says the Inglewood Music Club is about more than music; it’s also about creating a community. “There’s something magical that happens when you bring people together for the shared passion of live music,” Dean says. And that’s why he founded the Inglewood Music Club in 2013. It offers up to eight public performances per year of a folk-roots-blues nature.
These take place in the Lantern Church sanctuary. In fact, Dean credits that physical space with helping inspire him to found the Inglewood Music Club in the first place. “A friend of mine was involved with the Lantern Church. I thought, ‘There’s got to be live music happening here,’” he recalls.
Prior to each performance, the Ironwood Stage & Grill serves dinner in the Lantern Church basement, while a local singer-songwriter provides the entertainment. Dean says offering dinner is part of community building, though it is completely optional for show patrons.
He books high-calibre singer-songwriters whose work inspires him, saying it doesn’t hurt if the artist has also developed his or her own following, as that helps build awareness of the Inglewood Music Club. “To build a community, we have to gain – and retain – the trust of our patronage, which means a certain level of artist. Every show has to be stellar,” he says. As such, the Inglewood Music Club books both local and touring artists including the likes of Eric Bibb, Marc Cohn and Martyn Joseph.
