I finished my post on IBMA only to have my computer swallow the whole thing. Oh, technology. Yes, shame on me for not saving it. So, nope! I’m not rewriting it, I’m heading out to the TACA Fall Crafts Fair this afternoon instead.
Here’s the gist, though: We were hesitant to cover IBMA, just because I’m not a huge fan of contemporary bluegrass music.. Unless it involves Jerry Douglas (no Jerry at IBMA!). My knowledge of contemporary bluegrass is severly limited to Jerry’s catalog (minus Alison Krauss/Union Station, who I don’t care for) and a couple of Del McCoury CDs. When it comes to rootsy-type music, I go for older bluegrass, americana and old-time string bands (let’s pause for a moment of reverence, in honor of Old Crow Medicine Show and Chatham County Line). So, we’re not too hip to the scene. Luckily, our family bluegrass aficionado, Brad Talley (sweet-potato-lover and dobroist-extraordinaire) was happy to point out a few outstanding acts that you shouldn’t miss. You can also visit the IBMA Fanfest schedule online, if you’d like. The shows run today through Sunday. Tickets are a steep $75 for all three days, $40 for a one-day pass, and $20 if you’re a student (or at least can pretend to be a student).
So, Brad says this:
Friday, 1:25-1:50 PM (like, now): Steep Canyon Rangers on the lower level of the Convention Center
Friday, 10:05-10:45 PM: Mountain Heart, on the lower level of the Convention Center
And we’d recommend Del McCoury, too, appearing right after Mountain Heart.
3 PM this afternoon, Three Ring Circle, another Brad-approved bluegrass act, is appearing on the Roots and Branches stage.
Saturday, we all would wholeheartedly recommend going to see the Infamous Stringdusters perform on the lower level of the convention center - they play from 11:50 AM - 12:15 PM. They are one of the better young bluegrass acts playing around town these days.. They’re also doing a set at the Station Inn tonight.
Also on Saturday, Brad recommends going to see dobroist Randy Kohrs. He plays directly after the Stringdusters, on the lower level of the CC. Shawn Camp is another good bet, he’ll perform on the lower level at 2:45, right after Rhonda Vincent.
If you’re not into bluegrass, there’s Branford Marsalis at the Schermerhorn, tonight and tomorrow night. Tomorrow night, at the Cannery Row Revival, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band performs. I’ve seen them live only once, but it was a fantastic show - they had people dancing in the aisles by the time it was over. And the Fall Crafts Fair is here all weekend!
I have to say that I’m dragging a little this morning after a late night out, but it’s nothing a little coffee won’t fix. And it’s more than worth it, because we saw an absolutely amazing night of music last night. Tom Gillam’s Tractor Pull started the night off with a Southern rock infused set that seemed to wake up the crowd and get things moving. Chatham County Line played a ridiculously good set, all gathered around one microphone in shirts and ties. The surprise of the night was Charlie Louvin, and I don’t know why I didn’t expect a great show, but I was dead wrong. He may be getting old, but his band was great and the songs were classic. Hem was just lovely, a mellow and layered sound that was unique to the evening. And then we gave out and had to leave (Brittney, we left just before Mindy Smith, sorry!).
Tonight is looking to be just as good. Celine is going out of town unfortunately, but I’ll be back at Mercy Lounge/Cannery Ballroom for these acts:
First on my schedule is The Duhks. They play at The Cannery Ballroom at 8:30. The Duhks are one of those bands that I’ve heard randomly here and there for awhile, but I’ve never had a chance to see them live. But I love her voice, and I love their sound.
Immediately following The Duhks, the Darrell Scott Band takes the stage. I recently acquired my first Darrell Scott CD, The Invisible Man, and I still haven’t gotten over it. He’s simply one of the best in all facets of his artistry, from the singing to the playing to the overall performance. And let’s not forget the writing! There’s really no one like him, and this will be my first Darrell Scott show. I can’t wait.
To polish off the night, I’m moving upstairs to Mercy Lounge for Chris Knight’s 11PM show. Chris is another guy I’ve admired for years but have never seen live. He might actually be the first “Americana” artist I ever listened to. Chris has so much great work to choose from, but I’m going back to the first album I bought, his self-titled release. If memory serves, this was the first single off of this album, which country radio just couldn’t digest:
If perchance you’ve had your head stuffed in a dark hole for a week, you may not have heard that the Americana Music Conference is hitting Nashville starting on Wednesday. The daytime activities consist of miles and miles of booths in a conference hall shilling everything from guitar strings to the latest Americana single, boring panels and lectures on how the digital age is changing music (really?? we had no idea!!), and the general music business elbow rubbing and martini lunches. But luckily for us, the evening activities are much more interesting.
So before we get to all of the great music that’s going to be happening this week, here’s the deal concerning tickets. Passes for the evening shows are $25, which sounds steep at first until you realize that it gets you into about a million shows over the course of three nights. And these aren’t lame shows, we are talking some of the best Americana talent out there today.
There’s no way we could possibly cover all of the great shows that will be here this week, so we’re just going to tell you where we’re going to be spending our time. Like any other festival, many of these shows occur concurrently, so choices must be made. We’re going to take this one day at a time, so let’s get to Wednesday.
On Wednesday night, we’ll be lining up at Mercy Lounge for the following lineup:
This is an awesome lineup from top to bottom (and it looks pretty good all centered up there, huh?). Here are a couple of tracks to whet your appetite. In order of appearance:
Celine fell in love with Chatham County Line, and since they’re from my homestate of North Carolina, I find them a little irresistible too. We saw them play live a couple of years ago at the Cave, in Chapel Hill. A tiny little spot, four guys gathered around a microphone. They never fail to put on a fantastic show. Here’s one of our favorites:
Whew! And that’s just the first day! You have no excuse for sitting at home this week, Nashville. This is why Music City is such a great place to live. Where else could you possibly find this much good music for such a cheap price? I’ll be back tomorrow with information on Thursday’s lineup.
-Matt
PS-These iTunes links are new, let us know what you think. We think they’re pretty cool, but be warned that if you click on the iTunes button (instead of the song title), iTunes will open on your computer.
It’s a great week to be in Nashville, y’all. There are about a dozen-million exciting things going on around town, just in the span of a week. I wanted to post a few quick links to a few of the more interesting events. We’re blogging about the Americana Music Conference later this week, so stay tuned for that. We’re both facing a mandatory out-of-town trip this weekend to see family (my brother, soldier in the Army Nat’l Guard, is leaving for Iraq in the next couple of weeks), so I’m not sure how much we’ll be able to see. Disappointing, YES. But family comes first. We’ll blog more in depth about a few of these events, but for now just a couple quick links:
1. If you are at all interested in seeing Del McCoury perform on Wednesday night at the Country Music Hall of Fame, would you let us know? We scored two tickets to see him do a live performance and question/answer session from 650 WSM and then promptly realized that we have about three other events that we’ve already committed ourselves to (the most important being the AMC show at the Mercy Lounge - I do enjoy DM, but I just can’t pass up Mercy’s line-up). You’re more than welcome to have our tickets, just e-mail us and let us know that you’d like to attend. If we still have the tickets, they’re yours. The show is on Wednesday evening at 7 PM, with doors at 6. We can meet somewhere and hand them over, or possibly leave them in your name. This show is invitation only, I don’t think any tickets are being made available to the general public. You can read more info on the event here.
2. The Belcourt has three major events going on in the next week. First, on Wednesday (God, what is it with Wednesday this week?), M.Ward (click here if the official link doesn’t work) is playing a show.
Second, R. Kelly’s masterpiece, Trapped in the Closet, is screening this weekend, on Friday night at 11:30. YES, dudes, it’s a sing-a-long. We’re not kidding. Pre-show puppetry from the Pull the Strings Players.
THIRD, and the most important of the three, is the upcoming performance from Solomon Burke on Monday evening, the 25th. Burke is someone we’ll definitely be focusing on later in the week, with a few tracks from him as well as his upcoming duet partners. He was a master of soul and gospel through the 60s, recording some country music, and has now completed an album of country songs on his own, with some help from duet partners Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Patty Loveless, Gillian Welch and Dolly Parton. The album hits stores on Tuesday, the 26th. Emmylou, Gillian, Patty Griffin and “others” will appear at the Belcourt show. This show will be fantastic. You want to know why you should be so lucky to live in Nashville? It’s because of shows like this. Tickets are a bit pricey, at $40 a pop, but the show will be well worth the expense.
3. You probably have already heard that the Americana Music Conference is in town this weekend. If you’d like to see a full schedule of all the performances, you can click here. We’re planning on seeing the Mercy Lounge showcase on Wednesday (Chatham County Line, Hem, Mindy Smith, etc.. CCL is playing again at a Yep Roc party that’s open to the public on Thursday night, if you just can’t get enough! That’s at the Basement, from 6 - 8, free to the public.. Jim Lauderdale and Tres Chicas will also perform). Thursday, we’re doing the Cannery Ballroom showcase, featuring Darrell Scott, The Duhks, and others. Friday evening’s selections are vaguely underwhelming, but from 3 to 6 PM, Nettwerk is hosting a party featuring a performance from the Be Good Tanyas (LOVE.) at “The Sync,” a place that we’ve never heard of. The address: Suite 206, 1201 Villa Place, Nashville; 615-320-1200. “The Nettwerk Music Group Party with food, drink and friends! Featuring Be Good Tanyas.” No word at the site on whether this is only open to convention delegates or the general public. You could try to crash the party!
Friday night is the AMC awards ceremony and concert. Here’s the info on that:
THE HISTORIC RYMAN AUDITORIUM: 116 5th Avenue North, Nashville
7.00pm 5th ANNUAL AMERICANA HONORS & AWARDS
Hosted by Jim Lauderdale
Featuring an all-star house band led by Buddy Miller
With special guests:
Ronee Blakley
Sam Bush
Rosanne Cash
Elvis Costello
Rodney Crowell
Charlie Daniels
The Dynamites featuring Charles “Wigg” Walker
Tim Easton
Alejandro Escovedo
Vince Gill
James Hunter
Kacey Jones
Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch and Fats Kaplin
Delbert McClinton
James McMurtry
Tim O’Brien
Barry Poss
Kim Richey
RobinElla
Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives
Bryan Sutton
Allen Toussaint
Uncle Earl
Kenny Vaughan
and more!
THE AMERICANA HONORS & AWARDS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Tickets ($35) available now via The Ryman and Ticketmaster.
Shell out 35 bucks for that, if you’d like. We won’t be around, but we’d probably be at the Cannery Ballroom showcase, featuring The Derailers and Jim Lauderdale. It turns out that Alejandro Escovedo will not be appearing at the festival. We’d also jet over to the Mercy Lounge and check out the Paul Thorn Band, too.
Anyway, we’ll have some samples from our favorites, up later this week. But that’s the rundown for now. You can get wristbands for $25, available at Grimey’s, the Basement, Mercy Lounge, Cannery Ballroom, 3rd and Lindsley, and the Station Inn. From the site: “Wristbands are also available at Belcourt Theatre, Border’s on West End, Brentwood and Cool Springs; Christopher Pizza; Corner Music; Davis Kidd; Ernest Tubb Record Shop (on Broadway); Fork’s Drum Closet; Frothy Monkey; Regions Bank Music Row; and Katy K’s Ranch Dressing.”
4. ALSO, on Wednesday evening, the Borat movie, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, will premiere in cities across the United States, and Nashville has been selected as one of the locations for the premiere. Admission to see the Borat movie is free (if you’re not familiar with Borat, a character played by Sascha Baron Cohen (Ali G, and Will Ferrell’s French nemesis in Talladega Nights), you can check out a ton of Borat videos online). Getting in to see the show is sort of complicated, however. You have to have a myspace, first of all. Second, you must add the movie’s myspace profile and Borat to your friends, and place them in your “Top 8″.. Then, print off your profile, showing that you’ve added them to your Top 8, and take that with you. This is your ticket to the show. Yeah, that’s a lot of work, but it should be a great movie. Borat is screening at the Green Hills Cinema on Wednesday, September 20th, and the doors open at 9. It’s first come, first serve, and only one myspace printoff per person will be allowed. The movie has endured a slight bit of controversy on the part of the Kazakhstan government, culminating in an visit to the US from the Kazakhstan President. It was originally reported that he was interested in meeting with GW to discuss the negative stereotypes that Borat brought to Kazakhstan (seriously) but the White House denied that Borat would be the focus of the meeting. Whatever, dudes.
To celebrate Borat (and Nashville! with Porter Wagoner! !), here you go:
Remember Dirty Friday? (Those songs are still around if you’d like to give them a spin.) This week I’m switching gears and going with some good, old-fashioned gospel music. Wash your mouth out, comb your hipster hair and get ready: TO ROCK. Or something. (here is my music history note of the day: the use of the term “rock,” as in “get ready to rock!” or “rock and roll!” or “painting turtles rock your face off!” (ps: really, they do.) partially has its roots in black gospel music, where “to rock” literally meant reaching a stage of spiritual bliss through the rhythm of music in praise songs. it really goes a bit deeper than that, actually dating back to the 1600s as a nautical term referring to the motion of a ship at sea, but the connection between “rock” and music began with black gospel.)
We’re kind of disappointed with the weekend’s offerings as far as live music goes. I think we’re going to see The Features tonight at The Mercy Lounge. Tomorrow night? The Damnwells are doing a show at The End. I have a friend who works with them and says that they are a fantastic live show. Sounds tempting, but I think we’ve got other plans. The Australian Music Festival and Wine on the River are both going on this weekend as well. AMF looks vaguely.. underwhelming, but could be a nice stroll through the park if the weather stays cool. Wine on the River is just plain expensive, at least for our taste. Sold out, too!
Happy weekending, whatever you plan on doing! (By the way, what are you doing? Can we tag along?) Next week is shaping up to be pretty sweet, especially with the Americana Music Showcase in town. We’ve already got our schedule all planned out (not an easy task, there are a ton of great acts) and will be previewing a few of the artists who are set to perform here on the blog.
We’re going home to visit family this weekend, but thought we’d throw a few ideas out there for some promising entertainment. It’s kind of been a boring week, huh? We’ve been bored, at least. Anyway, here are some interesting suggestions for the weekend:
- Looking for improv comedy? Uncle Sonny’s Pudding Parade performs tonight with members of Troupe 93. Show is at 8 PM, you can see them at the 12th South Arts Venue (2907 12th Ave. South).. Suggested donation equals five whole dollars.
- The Coal Men are performing tonight at Windows on the Cumberland. Sadly, this is TCM’s last show at Windows, as it is shutting down soon. Matt’s played there a couple of times and we’ve always enjoyed the vibe. I’m sad to see it go.
Saturday?
- Saturday afternoon (or Sunday, even) you can head downtown for the Music City Jazz, Blues and Heritage Festival. And in the evening? Time is running short if you’re interested in dancing the night away in Centennial Park. They’re offering free dance lessons at 7:30 over at the Pavilion, followed by an evening of big band music and dancing until 10 PM. It’s all free, it’s fun, and there’s a pretty diverse crowd. Go just to people watch, even. This goes on every Saturday night in the summer, but ends on September 30th.
- There’s an awesome lineup for the 9:30 show over at The Bluebird. Our friend Don Henry is playing, along with Craig Carothers, Gene Nelson, and Randy Sharp. Don is an amazing performer - he’s a great guitar player with a warm, sweet voice, and his songs are beautiful.
Sunday? Well, not much on Sunday.. You could try out the Jazz, Blues & Heritage fest on the riverfront (see above!) or you could mosey on down to the Franklin Jazz Festival, going on all weekend (well, it starts Saturday night). What’s better than hanging out with a bunch of rich white dudes?! Hanging out with rich white dudes who love jazz. Just kidding, there are a few great acts that will be appearing - Beegie Adair, Som Brasileiro, and the Nashville Jazz Orchestra, among others.
Here’s to next week - may it be infinitely more exciting for us than this week has been.
I haven’t had much of a chance to write a huge entry about this, but don’t forget that the Mucklewain Festival is happening THIS SATURDAY in Harriman, Tennessee, which is about two hours east of here on I-40. Mucklewain is a southern rock festival, and there are a ton of great bands and artists that are performing there on Saturday. The line-up includes performances from Steve Earle, The Katies, Will Hoge, Lucero, Will Kimbrough, Malcom Holcombe, Glossary, Garrison Starr, The Yayhoos, Todd Snider, Cory Branan, and Allison Moorer. And a ton of other people, although I’ve probably just listed more than half of them. Mucklewain begins at noon on Saturday and goes until midnight, tickets are $30 advance purchase, $45 if you want to buy at the door (cash only), and you can camp tonight and tomorrow, if you’d like. Should be a great festival, all around!
