Bryon Friedman will ignite some musical light during the darkest time of the year. The Park City-based singer songwriter and his band, Freedog, will perform their annual Winter Solstice Celebration on Saturday at the Prospector Conference Center.But they won’t be alone because Simply B and Meg an Blue perform as special guests this year. “Simply B is a one-man funk band who has this vibe,” Friedman said. “He’s a great performer who brings in some good energy.”Blue will sit in with the Freedog band to add some vocal harmonies and percussion, according to Friedman. “Usually it’s standard that your bass player or keyboard player sing a little bit, but oddly enough, none of my band members sing,” he said with a laugh. “So Megan, who is actually a vocal coach, can just come in and help make me a better singer.” Freedog — featuring drummer Matt “Gordo” Gordon, The Park Record’s former production manager, bassist Stuart Benner-Campbell, lead guitarist Max Webb and keyboardist Nick Chamberlain, have been together for the past three years, and they plan to perform some old favorites and new songs,Friedman said. “This is our fourth Winter Solstice concert,” he said. “We don’t play a lot of shows, but we play interesting events. So it’s special to finally get to release some of the songs we’ve been working on for years into the wild.” Two new songs include “Meet Me on the Moon” and “Montana,” Friedman said. “‘Meet Me on the Moon’ has been recorded but not released,” he said. “‘Montana’ has been through five iterations, and with Megan here, I think we found something we really like. Plus, there are a couple of other fun things we’re working on — new covers and curveballs of Christmas songs — things like that.” Saturday’s concert also marks its second year at the Prospector, Friedman said.  “They are delightful to work with, and it’s so refreshing to have a venue that will say, ‘Here you go,’” he said. “They give you time to load in the day before and set up decor and tables.” Friedman enjoys working with Joe Pagel, the venue’s general manager.  “He gives us an open box, so we program the whole thing — stage, lights and sound,” he said. “Fortunately all the sponsors that help us out continue to up the ante and increase production value.” Some of those sponsors include Powder Buoy, Old Town Cellars, PC Brewery, Cole Sport, Sammy’s Bistro and Lococo, Friedman said. “The cool thing for us is we had a handful of sponsors last year who donated what they could to  help us bring some vibe,” he said. “The cool thing was there was no money involved last year, but when I went back to them this year and asked for some money donations, every single one of them said, ‘Yep, yep, yep.’” The generosity opened Friedman’s eyes to just how much the community supports these concerts. Park City-based singer and songwriter Bryon Friedman, who fronts the band Freedog, belts out some tunes during last year’s Winter Solstice concert at the Prospector. The event returns this year to the same venue on Friday. Credit: Photo courtesy of Bryon Friedman “They believed in this, so now we need to go and deliver and make this experience interesting,” he said. “We have some things that I want to keep secret, but we’ll have some fun things like a chairlift photo experience.”  Friedman also singled out the support from Mountain Town Music, the local music-production nonprofit headed by Brian Richards. “We’re renting their nice, high-end sound system, and that’s one of the lifts in our production value this year,” he said. “What they have done for the community is awesome, and I think we’re, in a way, an extension of what they do. Although this isn’t a free concert, we’re locally fueled. And we’re fortunate to have someone like Brian who not only gets it, but lives it.” Another upgrade this year is coordinating the music with visuals, Friedman said. “We had some visuals last year, but they were more sporadic,” he said. “So this year we’re setting scenes in three acts.” Act I will represent the morning, while Act II will come in with snow storms, Friedman said. “Act 3 will be aurora borealis,” he said. “So, we’re working on this arc, and we’ll see how it goes.” Friedman not only enjoys performing these types of concerts. He also enjoys organizing them. “These are the esoteric events that I love doing the most,” he said. “I love finding the venue and figuring out how to solve the problems and applying for liquor licenses. Last year, Casey Metzger of Top Shelf Services held my hand through it all and gave me confidence to do it this year.”  After dealing with the behind-the-scenes juggling act, Friedman enjoys how the show comes together for the community. “You see a bunch of friends — old ski coaches, local business owners and ski buddies and people who are new to town who just want to hang — in the audience, like a real Park City throwback show,” he said. “In fact, Casey said it best when he said, ‘I’ve never seen such an interesting group of people come together.’ Because you see people who would dine at a nice restaurant congregating with others who would be drinking beer at O’Shucks. This is the purpose of these concerts. We want to bring people together and not outprice anyone. We want to make something that is worth it to come and see.” While the audience relishes in the experience, Friedman finds his high on stage. “It’s those moments when everything connects,” he said. “The band is in sync and the audience is grooving with us. So, those little sparks are the dopamine hits we’re chasing.” Freedog Winter Solstice Celebration When: 6:30 p.m. on Saturday Where: The Prospector Conference Center, 2175 Sidewinder Drive Tickets: freedog.fun The post Freedog celebrates a musical Winter Solstice appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less