Our Critics Picks

The term “breaking big” isn’t supposed to apply to a young bluegrass band, but don’t tell the high-flying Grascals. These six well-schooled acoustic musicians seem not to realize that bluegrassers are supposed to build careers slowly and steadily. After just two albums, the band won the top honor in contemporary bluegrass earlier this year when they were named Entertainers of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association. Last month, they gained their first Grammy nomination. Pairing with legends like Dolly Parton and George Jones surely helps, but the group’s latest album, Long Listof Heartaches, reveals why they deserve all the attention and excitement. Whether navigating high-speed arrangements or showing a honky-tonk influence on ballads, the band understand that it’s emotion, and not just technique, that truly breaks through. Station Inn —MICHAEL MCCALL MUSIC THURSDAY, 28TH CHELY WRIGHT There’s little as fascinating as a great talent in transformation. Wright spent the better part of a decade balancing art and commerce with major-label country hits like “Single White Female,” “It Was” and “Jezebel.” But she has spent the last several years gradually shrugging off the vestiges of Music Row and following her muse into more personal territory. Her 2005 Metropolitan Hotel was a step out of the chrysalis that featured some nakedly emotional singer-songwriter material beside lighter fare that should have appeased radio programmers (but didn’t). She’s at work on a follow-up, but the next step of her evolution can be heard right now: the hypnotic ballad “Wish Me Away” is a highlight of The Other Side: Music FromEast Nashville, a benefit album for the Martha O’Bryan Center family-resource organization. 3rd & Lindsley —CHRIS NEAL FRIDAY, 29TH-SATURDAY 30TH RONNIE BAKER BROOKS This son of blues great Lonnie Brooks doesn’t try to escape his heritage. On his recent album, The Torch, however, he does successfully expand on it. The Chicago resident plays guitar and sings in the hard-edged, electric-blues style of his hometown, with piercing Buddy Guy-style solos and the way-down-south rhythm of his father. But he also incorporates hard-rock dynamics, funk rhythms and the occasional nod to the hip-hop sound of his generation. Unlike many current second-generation bluesmen, he’s more than trading on his name. He’s a sharp and thoughtful songwriter, an engaging performer and a progressive band leader who can rock the joint. His August date in town was received so well that the club has brought him for a two-night, holiday weekend stint. Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar —MICHAEL McCALL FRIDAY, 29TH 3 FOX DRIVE Though the inevitable round of bluegrass personnel changes each winter is just beginning, this year’s “silly season” is reaching both far and wide, and not even the family-centered 3 Fox Drive has been immune. Pared down to just a quartet—though they’ve drafted the Infamous Stringdusters’ Jesse Cobb and his slinky mandolin for this gig—the group haven’t dropped a stitch in coping with departures, including that of spectacular singer Barb Fox. Indeed, the change focuses even more attention on one of the central attractions: the top-notch writing, compelling vocals and adept rhythm guitar of Kim Fox, abetted by the supportive, nuanced harmonies of banjo-playing brother Joel Fox. Supple fiddler Megan Lynch has convincingly stepped up in the third vocal part, while bass man Mike Anglin is, as always, rock-solid—sensitive where that’s needed, but with plenty of drive, too—and the result is eclectic, original bluegrass that’s some of the city’s best. The Station Inn —JON WEISBERGER SATURDAY, 30TH-SUNDAY 31ST RAUL MALO This former Mavericks frontman’s solo career runs the musical gamut from the energetic Cuban pop of his debut CD Today to the twangy neo-traditionalist fare of The Nashville Acoustic Sessions to the sometimes saccharine adult-alternative covers of his latest album, You’re Only Lonely. As was the case with The Mavericks’ genre-jumping career, Malo’s Roy Orbison warble is the common denominator throughout his solo catalog. In between projects, he’s collaborated with seminal Tex-Mex roots rockers Los Super 7 and produced albums for that band’s Rick Trevino and ’80s countrypolitan singer K. T. Oslin. Likewise, Malo’s work as lead singer and chief songwriter for The Mavericks steered the group further from the mainstream into the somewhat obscure realm of Latin-tinged country. 3rd & Lindsley (raulmalo.com) —TRACY M. ROGERS SUNDAY, 31ST RESOLUTION FEAT. NIGEL RICHARDS, JULIUS PAPP, NOEL SANGER & JUJU Electronic dance music fans can find New Year’s Eve fun kicking it with some of the genre’s star DJs and producers. Richards spins house and techno—straight, no-chaser party music. Papp plays a morphed San Francisco-style down-tempo that reflects his disco influences. JuJu chills the party out with his dub reggae-influenced drum-and-bass, while Noel Sanger spins uptempo house and breakbeat in the Paul Oakenfold mode. Local DJs Spoon, Joey Modus and Chip B. are among the many spinners providing support. Ultimo Productions promises VIP treatment on a budget, with food, special rooms, the customary midnight champagne toast and free coffee and hot chocolate for those who get tranced out early. The venue is an after-hours club, so this party will go on until the wee hours. (myspace.com/ultimo_productions) Velvet Ultra Lounge —MARK MAYS JASON ALDEAN If you don’t look too close, Georgia’s Jason Aldean might not look that different from the last 100,000 hat acts generated by Nashville’s well-oiled star-making machine. But Aldean, who along with Trace Adkins opens for Brooks & Dunn, is a new breed of country. He’s not as wild and woolly as, say, Big & Rich—though his two big hits, the big ol’ rock stomper “Hicktown” and the ballad “Why,” were co-written by John Rich—but he’s not ashamed to flash his earrings on the cover of his self-titled debut either. (Released in 2005, it’s still producing popular singles.) Aldean, who sports a memorable baritone voice with more than a hint of a drawl, turns out to be a pleasing mix of the conventional and the edgy. Wouldn’t be surprised if Nashville decided to churn out a few more like him in the years to come. (jasonaldean.com) Gaylord Entertainment Center—WERNER TRIESCHMANN BROOKS & DUNN/TRACE ADKINS Who says Nashville audiences don’t support big-ticket country music concerts? Certainly not those who book New Year’s Eve parties at the Gaylord Entertainment Center. Continuing a long-running tradition, the GEC drops confetti on a country-rockin’ crowd featuring trim, muscular, shaggy-haired guys in cowboy hats who sing about red-dirt roads, spiritual beliefs, honky-tonks and badonkadonks. Fifteen years in, Brooks & Dunn are as good, and as popular, as they’ve ever been, as they balance Stones-style chords, down-home philosophy and Dunn’s soaring ballads with taste and nerve. Adkins is still riding the crest of his dance-floor hit “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” while reminding crowds he’s got too much history and too many scars to be written off as a novelty. Gaylord Entertainment Center—MICHAEL McCALL STEVE HOLYFor Texas-born country singer Holy, nothing has come easily—or quickly. His appealing debut, Blue Moon, was released back in 2000, but didn’t take off until a year later when the breakout ballad “Good Morning Beautiful” topped the country chart for five weeks. And then…crickets. Follow-up singles were relative stiffs, and his second album was delayed and delayed again. That is, until the jaunty “Brand-New Girlfriend” blasted to No. 1 a few months ago, prompting the release of his sophomore album of the same name—a mere five years, 10 months and five days after its predecessor. Redeemed and revalidated, Holy should be in a celebratory mood at this New Year’s Eve show, also featuring Deep South, The Devonshires and Locash Cowboys. Wildhorse Saloon —CHRIS NEAL TUESDAY, 2ND NEW RIVER LINEThough Bill Monroe was a Western Kentucky product, the central and eastern parts of the state have been the birthplace and proving ground for bluegrass musicians for decades, with venues, countless clubs, music halls and auction barns served by endlessly recombinant bands. New River Line are the latest group to emerge from the area, largely—but not exclusively—on the strength of frontman David Carroll’s track record as a songwriter, starting a decade-and-a-half ago with jam session favorite “The Game Is Over” and extending to recent Blue Moon Rising hit “This Old Martin Box.” Sturdy and serviceable, the band’s been getting airplay with Chasing My Dreams, an album that showcases Carroll’s penchant for story-songs with an almost aggressively rural theme and has impelled them to tour more widely. Tonight’s show marks, if not the first time they’ve been to Nashville, the first time they’ve come here with something to crow about. The Station Inn—JON WEISBERGER WEDNESDAY, 3RD WRITERS AT THE RUTLEDGE W/REESE BROWNING, NATHAN LEE & KYLE WYLEYGranted, the last thing Nashville really needs is another writer’s night, with the city already teeming with clubs around town that offer some version of a round-up. But the newly renovated former Blue Sky Court has a few tricks up its sleeve that make this effort promising. For starters, veteran sound guy Frank Sass is on board, and his participation alone means your ears won’t suffer in the club, which is small enough to remain intimate with a 250 capacity. Beginning Jan. 3, the writer’s night will occupy the only slot left during the week not cornered by other clubs—Wednesdays—leaving Mercy Lounge and The Basement unthreatened. And third, this isn’t a cattle call for hopefuls or a back-patting writers in the round: it features established writers who’ll play 45 minute sets each with a full backing band, mainly artists with a few hits under their belts itching to play it their way. The Rutledge—TRACY MOORE THEATER MY LOVER, MY BEST FRIEND & MY ROOMMATE This original play by Shawn Whitsell and Melissa Hughley fits into the growing category of works that probe the romantic and relational travails of middle-class African Americans. Here, a young woman named Mona quests for true love and finds herself on an emotional roller coaster that is propelled by three men who play different roles in her life. Whitsell and Hughley co-star, along with Todd Johnson, J.R. Robles and Raemona Little. Whitsell also directs. The three performances are Jan. 5-6 at the Darkhorse Theater. For tickets or information, phone 995-4401. —MARTIN BRADY TELEVISION “THE FACES OF TENNCARE” If you missed Nashville writer-filmmaker Molly Secours’ short film on the festival circuit, or at its handful of local screenings, here’s a chance to catch up. The 13-minute short addresses the health-care crisis in Tennessee—specifically, the cutting of 200,000 of the state’s neediest residents from the TennCare rolls—by attaching faces to the awful statistic. Joon Powell supplies the photographs, and Minton Sparks the narration; the music is by Maura O’Connell, John Prine and Steve Conn. The film airs New Year’s Day on The Documentary Channel at 4:45 p.m., 8:45 p.m. and later, in the early morning of Jan. 2 at 1 a.m., with more broadcasts throughout the month. —JIM RIDLEY FILM 50 YEARS OF JANUS FILMS For the next two months, if somebody complains there’s nothing worth seeing at the movies, reach over and smack ’em. Imagine that someone ransacked the Louvre and stashed the stolen treasures in Hillsboro Village—that’s what’ll be happening at the Belcourt through Feb. 28. In an event on par with the Frist’s “Quest for Immortality” and “Extra-Ordinary” exhibits, the theater hosts this touring 30-film retrospective saluting the first half-century of Janus Films, the arthouse distributor that introduced many of the giants of cinema to American audiences. Ever wanted to see The Seven Samurai? The Seventh Seal? Seven? OK, the last was a joke—but the 30 films in the series amount to a sweeping introduction to several of the greatest movies ever made. The series starts Jan. 3 with a spectacular new print of Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game, the movie neither the Nazis nor Allied bombs could suppress. The coming weeks bring Agnès Varda’s French New Wave classic Cleo from 5 to 7 (introduced Jan. 4 by Nashville Film Festival artistic director Brian Gordon), Jean Vigo’s anarchic short Zero for Conduct, Kenji Mizoguchi’s epic Sansho the Bailiff, Masaki Kobayashi’s exquisite ghost story Kwaidan, Max Ophuls’ romantic melodrama The Earrings of Madame de… and Roman Polanski’s chilling erotic study Knife in the Water—something for movie lovers of all tastes. Our immense gratitude to the anonymous benefactor who underwrote this series, a gift to the entire city. —JIM RIDLEY MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON “Great principles don’t get lost once they come to light. They’re right here; you just have to see them again!” James Stewart plays the incorruptible idealist who takes a beating from the Beltway when he becomes a U.S. senator in Frank Capra’s rousing 1939 comedy-drama. The last film in the Belcourt’s tribute to star-director pairings, it plays matinees Dec. 29-31. —JIM RIDLEY