Live music can be a risky investment.

If you're out on a Friday or Saturday night and decide to hear a new band, you can pay the $5 cover and hear something original, well-practiced and balanced, or you might hear a messy, poorly written attempt at entertainment.

It's musical Russian roulette.

The situation makes it hard on bands, too. They settle for sprinkling their original songs throughout a four-hour set made up mostly of covers that will keep the audience's attention and ensure people have a good time.

One concert this weekend aims to fix some of that.

The No Cover Show, as its name suggests, is free. It also includes no cover songs. Four acts will play their original tunes at Breakaways. The music starts at 9 p.m. Each one is set up for a 45-minute set. Like the spring weather in Missouri, if you don't like it, just wait a few minutes. It'll change.

"We all play covers. That's just a fact of it. You have to," said Josh Tomlin, the guitarist and vocalist with The Biggest Car in the County. "But this particular show will just be songs that each act has written themselves."

Tomlin's band, along with Sara Corbin, The Big Idea and Guy Morgan and the FT Crew, will play the No Cover Show.

"This is just an opportunity for original artists to have the spotlight -- or at least a bigger share of the spotlight," he said.

Tomlin said The BCC usually plays a 50-50 mix of originals and covers, if not more covers than that, in a typical concert. The band also tries to always have another band play with them to break up the time. Most emerging bands have enough polished originals to fill an hour or so of stage time and be proud about it.

For this concert, Tomlin said he tried to think of bands that have been around a while and have a decent size catalog of songs.

Guy Morgan and the FT Crew has about 20 original songs. The nature of the band's genre doesn't really lend itself to covers. If the punk-rock band does play a cover, it's of a famous punk song or an underground hit.

"You'd never hear us put like a punk spin on a radio tune," said Nate Comer, lead singer and guitarist for the group.

Comer put the band together in the spring of 2008. The members started writing and recording and began really playing the stage scene in January 2009. The current lineup is Comer, Dustin Woods on bass and Ron Ruppel on drums.

Comer started playing guitar at age 13 and started writing music soon after.

"I just never wanted to play other people's songs," he said. "I always wrote my own songs, even in high school."

Tomlin said he wanted to organize the show to promote groups like Guy Morgan and bands that are "trying to not just play music, but write it, perform it, put their heart into it.

"I just think it's something that should be done. I think these bands and these musicians that have worked very hard to write and create their own art, their own music should have their own show," he said. "And it's free. You don't have to worry about wasting $3 or whatever to come see a show. If you don't like it, just come back later."

Sometimes, like with acoustic singer/songwriter Sara Corbin, the songlist doesn't extend for the common three- to four-hour gig. She has between 20 and 25 "completed originals," she said.

Corbin has mostly played open mic nights around town and at a winery or two.

"This will be my first show out," she said, adding she was "absolutely thrilled" when Tomlin asked her to participate in the show.

Corbin's full-time job is in IT, but her music is a fun passion.

"My only goal right now is I would just like to play out on a regular basis," she said.

She qualifies her sound as folk-pop.

"It's not really, really folky, but it's definitely not mainstream or pop or anything like that," she said.

Corbin will start the night at 9 p.m., The Big Idea will follow, then The Biggest Car in the County and Guy Morgan and the FT Crew close the night.

charris@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address: 15 N. Main St., Cape Girardeau, MO