Tuning up Tupelo

Rewind to Sunday night, April 3, 2005. Shawn Colvin walked out onto the small stage at the original Tupelo Music Hall in Londonderry, accompanied only by her trademark vintage Martin D-28 guitar, and sat down on a stool under the spotlight. That was the breakthrough moment for owner Scott Hayward.  

Colvin, the three-time Grammy Award-winner who won the 1998 Song and Record of the Year for “Sunny Came Home,” sold out the venue, which seated only 200 and had opened just seven months before.

“When we booked the Shawn Colvin show and had her on our stage, that was it for me. After her gig, the light bulb went on, and we said ‘let’s take a year and see how much we can do here.’ Then we started getting those bigger and bigger artists,” recalls Hayward, who had a full-time financial services job at the time. “After a while I thought, ‘you know, this could actually be my job. I could not have to do this only on the weekends.’”

Hayward is a Derry native who came home after graduating from Wake Forest University with an English degree and no clue what he wanted to do. But, he was certain that he loved music, and it mattered not whether it was rock, blues, folk, jazz or any other genre.

“I bought the building in Londonderry from Meredith Allen. The gift shops provided rental income, and they had that nice little coffee house (named The Muse) in the attached barn going on. I went to a couple of shows and got my vision for it, so I decided to learn the music business,” he says.

Scott Hayward. Photo Courtesy/ Tupelo Music Hall

First, he needed a new name. Some fans think the derivation is for Tupelo, Mississippi, the birthplace of Elvis Presley. Others are positive that it’s for the sweet honey from the tupelo tree, while a faction swears it’s an homage to Van Morrison’s classic love ballad “Tupelo Honey.”   

“It was all three of those things, not one. I came up with that name and then afterward realized all the connections to it. Probably, it was Tupelo, Mississippi, more than anything, which is strange because I’m not an Elvis fan,” he says. 

Next, he had to learn how to run a venue where he was the only employee, and attract the talent who would sell tickets and generate revenue. 

“It’s been very organic. In the beginning, if you showed me a sound console, I would have had absolutely no idea what it is and what it’s for. I love music, but I didn’t have a clue,” he recalls. “I recruited some people who Meredith introduced me to. They were local folk music people in the industry. They sat down with me and gave me a rough idea of how things were supposed to go down. One taught me how to use a sound console, and one gave me a couple of contracts. Then I just started calling agents.”

That took chutzpah, and surprisingly, agents started saying yes. Hayward’s vision, combined with his business acumen and superb people skills, allowed Tupelo to host 70 to 80 shows of all genres per year and
become more successful each year. In 2017, he bought the vacant building that once housed a Gold’s Gym in Derry and redesigned and renovated it into the state-
of-the-art venue that today seats 1,500 fans and attracts top national talent headlining 150 shows per year. 

Moreover, Tupelo perennially is voted “Best of New Hampshire” by readers of this magazine and many other media outlets, even though new venues have opened around the state to stiffen the competition. 

“Scott is a man of many skills, and what he has been able to do is remarkable,” says Dr. Kevin Keller, the E.B. Osborn professor of marketing at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. “I’ve seen a lot of different kinds of shows there, but the ones for me that are so cool are when you get an artist that really shouldn’t be playing Tupelo because they’re so much bigger than that. Like a Chris Isaak, for example. The artists love the crowd, the atmosphere, the venue and the acoustics.

“To me, those are the more transcendent experiences because those are rare. You’re seeing an artist that normally you wouldn’t,” he continues. “When you look at the back of a T-shirt with all their tour dates, you’ll see all these famous theaters and then there’s Tupelo right there in Derry, New Hampshire, and it’s so cool.” 

Hayward, who now employs a staff of 40, said it’s been fun building Tupelo for 21 years into this phenomenon … but it hasn’t always been easy. Looking back, does he ever wonder why he didn’t go broke in the early years?

“One reason why this worked was because I had an income. I was going for break-even when I opened. I was just looking for this cool hobby job that would help pay the building off. It took about three years before I realized I can actually take a run at this. I figured it out over time and was lucky enough not to lose a lot of money on a lot of shows,” he says.

Hayward may be Tupelo’s sole owner, but he hasn’t made it into one of New Hampshire’s true treasures alone.

“It’s always important that people understand that my employees make it happen. I can get the credit for training them and having the culture at the venue, but if they weren’t wired that way it wouldn’t happen. My employees are gold,” he says. “It’s super important when people come to the venue and they say, ‘Tad was great at the door
and Lisa was great at the bar.’ None of those people are named Scott Hayward. The sound. The bands. The vibe. My people are doing it. They’re like family, and I’m blessed to have them.”

Inventive Thinking & Desperation = Drive-In Concert Venue

John Cafferty and his band performed outside during the days of the Covid-19 shutdown. Photo Courtesy/ Tupelo Music Hall

The COVID-19 pandemic forced public venues nationwide to shutter in 2019. Scott Hayward remembers it as a watershed moment. 

“We were one of the last venues to close after the Dave Mason show on March 15. I had to get through that or I’d lose my deposit. I didn’t know when or if we could reopen. It’s not in me to let that happen without some way of trying to come up with something. We had 40 employees. The first thing I thought of was, ‘these people need to work.’ ”

He floated an idea to his managers. Drive-in movie theaters could be open, so why not a drive-in concert venue? 

“We were literally reborn. During a time like that you don’t want to be closed. You don’t want to be walking around an empty venue wondering how long is this going to go on before I get foreclosed on. You want to at least go down fighting. I brought in the sound and lighting companies we use and made it happen. We pulled out all the stops and opened the Tupelo drive-in on May 16. I thought this is going to put me out of business or help me stay in business.”

Hayward staged 119 shows that first summer, when 150 are typical in a year.  

Tupelo regular Maria O’Brien of Litchfield says, “I loved what Scott did. The outdoor concerts kept me sane over COVID. We went to everyone to get out of the house and socialize. It was great.”

Hayward is proud of that moment, but he’s happy it’s over.

“We were able to give people something and keep our employees working,” he says. “It was very cool for the two summers we did it. But I never want to have to do that again.”