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CJ Drisdom and Changing Lanes will perform at Peery's Egyptian Theater Feb. 4 as part of Excellence in the Community's ongoing free concert series.

Photo supplied

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In this undated picture, Will Baxter Band performs at Peery's Egyptian Theater as part of Excellence in the Community's ongoing free concert series.

Photo supplied

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OGDEN — Excellence in the Community, a nonprofit celebrating 20 years of bringing free musical performances to venues around Utah, is preparing for the return of its concert series to Ogden’s Peery’s Egyptian Theater next month.

On Tuesday, Feb. 4, from 7:30 to 9 p.m., Changing Lanes Entertainment Group — led by bassist and bandleader CJ Drisdom — will grace the stage at the historic movie palace for a night filled with Motown’s biggest hits.

Included will be songs popularized by the likes of The Temptations, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and more.

As with all of Excellence in the Community’s concerts, admission is free. The organization’s founder and managing director Jeff Whiteley told the Standard-Examiner that making the best music and musicians the state has to offer available to everyone — regardless of their age, demographic and economic status — is the goal of the series.

“We’re in the joy business,” Whiteley said. “We’re in the business of using quality music to enhance the quality of life, to bring people together. We’re underfunded, understaffed and overworked. But the fulfillment factor is very high. We are grateful and feel very privileged to be doing the work we do.”

It’s Whiteley’s intention that participating artists and performers benefit from the endeavor, too. Part of Excellence in the Community’s mission is to provide them with a platform to share their talents, something he struggled to find at times in Utah while performing with Lori Decker as Lark & Spur.

“We had great success in Europe, particularly in France, and we really thought we could make a career of it in our younger days just by being good,” Whiteley said. “We underestimated the cultural difference between France and the United States in terms of artistic education. … We would come back to Utah and we’d play and the group would get better and better, but nothing would happen.”

So, Whiteley initiated a dual-pronged effort to create the infrastructure for performance that groups like his yearned for while also fostering the love of music within the local community. Thus was Excellence in the Community born, and the group has been working to nurture the Beehive State ever since.

“I want children in every Utah town to grow up saying, ‘I have great memories of the music, the quality of the music and the variety that my town offered me growing up,'” Whiteley said. “We can do this.”

Last year, Excellence in the Community produced some 133 concerts in 23 different communities statewide, according to Whiteley, with a total combined attendance of just over 51,000. This includes 18 school performances; Whitely said a performance for students at Hooper’s Freedom Elementary will occur later this month.

He added that performances like the one on Feb. 4 are made possible through the sponsorship provided by Peery’s Egyptian Theater, the Weber County RAMP program, Bank of Utah and Gandy Dancer Mercantile as well as private individuals and other organizations throughout the state.

Free general admission space for “Motown with Changing Lanes” can be reserved online via eventbrite.com/e/motown-with-changing-lanes-tickets-1110814468979/.