Seldom does a week go by when you can’t hear one or more exciting new releases from Nashville musicians. More than a few stellar locals have new material coming out around this time of year, and you can build out an impressive show itinerary using just their release parties and/or hometown shows.
For instance, widely traveled punk champions Snooper will be home to celebrate their aptly titled new LP Worldwide on release day — that’s Oct. 3 — at Eastside Bowl. Multifaceted multi-instrumentalist and songsmith Jess Nolan’s Right at Home lands Oct. 10, when she’ll play at East Side honky-tonk Skinny Dennis. Singer, songwriter and rocker Madi Diaz drops her new one Fatal Optimist Oct. 10 as well, but has her release party Oct. 11 at The Basement East.
Wilby
Some artists with new work have a little more time between release and event. It’s not a record, but Third Man Books published musician and poet Lou Turner’s new verse collection Twin Lead Lines on Sept. 16, and the book launch — with readings, sound collages and more — is Sept. 26 at venerable DIY spot Soft Junk. Psych-folk-rocker Kashena Sampson will release Ghost of Me Oct. 3, and will play The ’58 at Eastside Bowl Oct. 9. Shrunken Elvis, the experimental/experiential trio of ace instrumentalists Mikey “Rich” Ruth, Sean Thompson and Spencer Cullum, released their self-titled debut Sept. 5; their Oct. 14 show is also at Soft Junk. Mirador is a new project from two hard rockers — Ida Mae’s Chris Turpin and Greta Van Fleet’s Jake Kiszka — whose self-titled LP lands Sept. 19 (read our talk with them in this week’s music section for more), and their sold-out gig at Brooklyn Bowl is Oct. 14 as well.
Indie-popster Wilby’s new full-length Center of Affection is out Oct. 10; mark your calendar for her show Oct. 24 at The Blue Room at Third Man Records. Country badass Cam released All Things Light July 18, and she stops at the Ryman Oct. 26. Roots-schooled rocking songsmith Nicki Bluhm’s latest record Rancho Deluxe drops Oct. 3, and she’ll play Skinny Dennis Nov. 16. The great Margo Price leaned further into rocking country twang than she has in a hot minute on her latest record Hard Headed Woman, which came out Aug. 29, and her homecoming headline show is at the Ryman on Nov. 20.
Plenty of upcoming shows have an affiliation with or are raising funds for great causes. Sept. 22 at Exit/In, an installment of the We Save Us abortion access series will feature greats like country singer-songwriter Kaitlin Butts and R&B maestro Devon Gilfillian in support of Access Reproductive Care Southeast. Get Out, Get Loud brings drag performers, musicians (lineup TBA as of this writing) and more to Marathon Music Works on Oct. 5 to help Nashville Pride close a funding gap that emerged when sponsors dropped out. Oct. 9 through 12, You Got Gold takes over a variety of Nashville venues for its fourth annual run, celebrating the life and spirit of songwriter’s songwriter John Prine and raising money for his family’s nonprofit The Hello in There Foundation.
Margo Price
Beloved nonprofit all-ages venue Drkmttr marked its 10th anniversary with a crowdfunding campaign that wrapped in early September, but any ticket purchase to Drkmttr Fest II Oct. 17 and 18 is going to help expand its mission to make music and music communities accessible to all. Nashville’s own rocker Soccer Mommy, St. Louis synth punks The Mall and many more will be on site, as will an array of vendors and a slate of electronic sets curated by the Phaaser dance-party crew — you’ll want to be there as well. Meanwhile, rising-star bandleader and guitar wizard Grace Bowers hosts her third annual We Gotta Live Together benefit show Oct. 18 at Brooklyn Bowl, with proceeds going to musicians’ health advocacy group MusiCares and gun safety organization Everytown.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s annual Ryman residency, happening Oct. 16 through 18 and Oct. 23 through 25, isn’t a benefit show per se. But the choice of opening acts gives a platform to youth arts organizations like Nashville’s YEAH! and Athens, Ga.’s Nuçi’s Space, which provide services for the public good that were chronically underfunded even long before the latest cuts in federal arts funding. The inaugural Nashville Jazz Festival, which includes local legends like The Lori Mechem Quartet and Jeff Coffin and touring acts like Cory Wong, heads to 3rd and Lindsley Oct. 25 and 26. It will shine a light on the jazz scene in Music City as well as the vital work of Nashville Jazz Workshop.
Sometimes a concert is just a concert, and that’s great too. As ever, there are many, many of those worth your time, and we’ve rounded up two dozen to add to your calendar.
- Sept. 24 at The Basement: Nashville Show to Go Birthday Party feat. Teevee Repairman, Wesley & The Boys, more
- Sept. 27 at 3rd and Lindsley: Government Cheese 40th Anniversary Party
- Oct. 1 at the Ryman: BigXThaPlug and Friends
- Oct. 3 at Row One Stage at Cannery Hall: Juan Wauters w/Tristen
- Oct. 9 at Eastside Bowl: Black Moth Super Rainbow
- Oct. 14 at the Ryman: MJ Lenderman and the Wind
- Oct. 24 at The Basement East: S.G. Goodman
- Oct. 24 at Eastside Bowl: Headliners Only feat. Daisha McBride, 2’Live Bre and Tim Gent
- Oct. 30 at The Caverns: Glass Beams
- Nov. 1 at Brooklyn Bowl: The Beths
- Nov. 1 at Fogg Street Lawn Club: Digable Planets
- Nov. 4 and 5 at Bridgestone Arena: Sabrina Carpenter
- Nov. 6 at The Pinnacle: Paul McCartney (way, way sold out)
- Nov. 8 at The Basement: Jonny Fritz
- Nov. 14 and 15 at Brooklyn Bowl: They Might Be Giants
- Nov. 17 at Marathon Music Works: Dijon
- Nov. 20 at The Basement East: Willi Carlisle
- Nov. 20 and 21 at the Schermerhorn: Guerrero’s Return: A Hero’s Life
- Nov. 22 and 23 at The Blue Room at Third Man Records: Die Spitz
- Nov. 29 at The Blue Room at Third Man Records: William Tyler and Friends
- Dec. 5 at The Blue Room at Third Man Records: Bonnie “Prince” Billy
- Dec. 6 at Marathon Music Works: J.I.D
- Dec. 8 at The Pinnacle: Erykah Badu Mama’s Gun 25th Anniversary Tour
Our preview of the season’s most exciting art, music, book, theater and film events
