Tin Pan South
Music
Nashville's 10th annual celebration of the songwriter gets in full swing, as dozens and dozens of performers play shows in clubs all over town. There's an emphasis on Music Row tunesmiths, but room has been made for Americana, blues, jazz and indie-rock too. Here are some highlights:
Flying Saucer Draught Emporium/Thursday (9:30 p.m.) People outside Nashville pay more attention to the city's blues and soul traditions than locals do. That's a shame, because the city has a legacy worth celebrating and promoting. The Dutch label Black Magic has been steadily issuing releases by Nashville blues/R&B types, and plans to continue the series. The foursome featured in this showcase, dubbed "Nashville Blues," include a wonderful writer and a local legend in Ted Jarrett, an equally strong vocalist in James Nixon and two other strong performers in Ken Howell and Amy Watkins.
R.W.
The Basement/Friday (7 p.m.) Singer-songwriter bills don't get much better than this, even at Tin Pan South. Tommy Womack and Kevin Gordon have career albums out, while Rod Picott's latest suggests he could yet join their ranks. The highlight at this show, though, is country singer Mike Ireland. Try Again, the Kansas City native's forthcoming second album, exquisitely bridges the aesthetics and sensibilities of the present and past, accomplishing something that's proven beyond the reach of virtually every one of his history-conscious peers. The past, in Ireland's case, is Nashville's countrypolitan heyday, specifically the great radio hits of crooners like Conway Twitty, Glen Campbell and Charlie Rich. Ireland's beatwise cover of "Life's Little Ups and Downs"—as much a nod to Bobbie Gentry and Everything But the Girl as to the Silver Fox—is the clincher, an out-and-out coup.
B.F.W.
Loews Garden Bar/Friday (9:30 p.m.) Saxophonist Kirk Whalum has taken over the reins from the late Grover Washington Jr. as the rare pop and R&B stylist whose solos retain a sizable amount of sizzle. A master accompanist whose huge sound has been featured alongside George Benson, Luther Vandross, Barbra Streisand and Whitney Houston, Whalum is now featured on a new anthology, The Best of Kirk Whalum (Columbia). He's teaming with Michael Ripoll for what's sure to be an intimate excursion into jazz territory.
R.W.
Slow Bar/Friday (7 p.m.) An exceptionally fine lineup of four songwriters with a literary bent: Paul Burch drew national attention last year with his Last of My Kind book-soundtrack collaboration with novelist Tony Earley. Tom House, the poet laureate of Springwater, once collaborated on an opera adaptation of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. R.B. Morris, at his best, suggests fellow Knoxvillian James Agee reborn as a raunchy roots-rocker. And Mindy Smith, well, she trounced that band she opened for on VH1's Bands on the Run—and humiliating prefab TV stars is the next best thing to literary triumph.
J.R.
12th & Porter/Friday (7 and 9:30 p.m.) Two diverse sets this evening, starting with Matt and Gunnar Nelson, former glam-metal rockers-turned-new country troubadours. The later slot includes fiery Mavericks singer-songwriter Raul Malo as well as Jim Lauderdale, whose upcoming albums Lost in the Lonesome Pine (recorded with Ralph Stanley) and The Hummingbirds impressively demonstrate his affinity for both traditional bluegrass and expansive, rock-informed country.
N.M.
The Basement/Saturday (7 p.m.) Last weekend, Duane Jarvis got to hear his song "There Is a Light" in Dolby stereo, used as backdrop for a crucial scene in the new Dennis Quaid drama The Rookie. Now you can hear him play it live, surrounded by powerhouse country vocalist Joy Lynn White and troubadour Mike Younger. And any bill that includes Phil Lee, whose CD You Should've Known Me Then may have been last year's finest local release, counts as a can't-miss.
J.R.
The End/Saturday (7 p.m.) Remember those George Clinton extravaganzas back in the '70s that would feature a half-dozen acts with essentially the same musicians? It's déjà vu all over again with this night of indie-folk rockers, whose familiar faces turn up in successive acts throughout the evening. Spiritual Family Reunion, led by Patty LeMay and Lambchop/WPA Ball Club multi-instrumentalist Paul Niehaus, offer ghostly Palace-like plaints (including a showstopper called "North Georgia Crematorium"). They're joined by the sad sagas of The Unmentionables and the wry tunes of Idaho singer-songwriter Derek Wolfe and his group Derek & the Sad Apartment. The MVPs are drummer Casey Sanders and lap-steel player Mason Vickery, who perform with every group—including their own, Ole Mossy Face.
J.R.
Exit/In/Saturday (7 p.m.) "He Stopped Loving Her Today," "Holding on to Nothin'," "Ring of Fire," "On the Other Hand," "It's a Cheatin' Situation." Those are just five of the smash hits written, respectively, by Bobby Braddock, Jerry Chesnut, Merle Kilgore, Don Schlitz and Sonny Throckmorton, the five songwriting giants taking part in the Nashville Songwriters Foundation Hall of Fame Show. And some of these fellas can sing!
Comments (0)