By Beverly Keel
If you want an indication of how much Nashville’s music scene has changed in the last 24 months, take a look at Billy Block’s Western Beat Roots Revival. What began as an outlet for acts on the fringes of country music has, over the past two years, evolved into a far-reaching, multi-leveled organization. The live show, held at Zanies every Tuesday night, celebrates its second anniversary this month. Block, an enthusiastic, 42-year-old drummer and promoter, has expanded his original concept to include a radio show, a photocopied publication, and a regular column in Music City News and Blink magazines. Hardly content to stop there, however, his next goals are to launch a television show and to release a compilation CD.
The Roots Revival, which has booked more than 400 bands over the course of 104 shows, has become an impromptu showcase for Nashville’s best talent, and for promising national talent as well. Block says the show has been instrumental giving exposure to a number of performers who have since ended up with record deals. Among a long list of artists, he mentions Kevin Gordon, who celebrates the release of his Shanachie Records debut this coming Tuesday at the weekly show.
Block, who moved from Los Angeles to Nashville in 1995, based his concept on the Ronnie Mack Barn Dance at L.A.’s Palomino Club. ”A lot of people had moved here from L.A. and Austin who were familiar with that kind of show,“ Block says. ”I just felt there was a void in Nashville for alternative country and roots music and traditional country.
”The goal was to bring the community together, to give people a place where they could be creative and play music that wasn’t necessarily mainstream Nashville and not feel alienated or out of place. I wanted to give these people who are on the fringes an opportunity to have a community center.“ Indeed, Block has been so successful in his endeavors that the Roots Revival could hardly be considered on the fringes anymore.
In February 1996, Billy Block’s first show, then called the Western Beat Barn Dance, featured Walter Hyatt, Jim Lauderdale, and Duane Jarvis at The Sutler; attendance was standing-room-only. (Block had already been playing regularly at The Sutler with Hyatt.) Five months later, he began broadcasting the show live, first on MOO 102.9 and later on Radio Lightning-FM 100.
The show quickly outgrew The Sutler, but Block remained loyal to the venue for over a year. Then, in June 1997, he decided to relocate to Zanies. ”You either have to make a commitment to growing, or the thing will die,“ he says. ”It’s really the same show now, it’s just a bigger venue. I think people really enjoy having more space there. The Sutler was a nuthouse, because you couldn’t move. One of the goals [now] is to do a live show, a radio show, and a TV show. Zanies solved all of those problems.“
Currently, the show is taped and then broadcast Sunday evenings as part of Block’s five-hour Western Beat Radio show on WZPC-102.9 FM. The enterprising promoter has also formed Guitar Town LLC with Tommy Oliphant Sr. to develop a pilot for a television show. ”We’re talking about doing a series of compilations of the best of the Roots Revivals,“ Block says. ”I would love to see our radio show become syndicated and played on country radio stations across America.
”The future of what they call Americana or alternative country, I think, is really at country radio. [That’s] where this music belongs. What we’re doing is creating an opportunity for the country listener to hear all of this new music without alienating the core listener.“
Back in business
Respected pop songwriter Bob Feldman was inspired to move from Florida to Nashville after hearing John Michael Montgomery’s ”Be My Baby Tonight“ on a golf course. ”I was listening to my headset, and they said, åIt’s the No. 1 country song,’ “ Feldman recalls. ”To me, it sounded like a 1965 rock ’n’ roll tune with a fiddle and steel guitar. It sounded like stuff that I had been writing most of my life. I said, åI can do that.’ “
Feldman wasn’t being overconfident. In the ’60s, he’d written The Angels’ ”My Boyfriend’s Back“ and The Strangeloves’ ”I Want Candy,“ and he produced The McCoys’ hit ”Hang on Sloopy.“ This year, he’s celebrating his 40th anniversary with BMI; during the past four decades, he’s had more than 100 chart hits worldwide.
After hearing the Montgomery tune, he paid a visit to Nashville and wrote a song with an old friend. It was a major turning point for him—he hadn’t been able to write for nearly a decade because his wife had been terminally ill. ”I didn’t have a creative thought while she was sick or for a couple of years after she passed away,“ he says. ”I came here and wrote a wonderful tribute to single moms. The creative energy I felt here was unbelievable. It’s given me a new lease on life.“
It has been three years since Feldman moved here, but he has purposely kept a low profile until recently. He took the time to analyze country songwriting so that he wouldn’t be considered just another Yankee trying to cash in on a good thing. ”I grew up on the Grand Ole Opry,“ he says. ”In the ’50s, Conway Twitty and Brenda Lee were considered rock ’n’ roll.
”I don’t consider myself a country writer. I consider myself a songwriter/producer and a good songwriter. A good song is a good song; it’s the way it’s interpreted.“
Feldman has an arsenal of new material he’s ready to pitch, not to mention a catalog full of older songs. ”I wrote a song called åNighttime’ that I recorded with The Strangeloves in the ’60s,“ he says. ”That song is made for a Hank Williams Jr., Brooks & Dunn, or Rick Trevino.“
Feldman has an arsenal of new material he’s ready to pitch, not to mention a catalog full of older songs. ”I wrote a song called åNighttime’ that I recorded with The Strangeloves in the ’60s,“ he says. ”That song is made for a Hank Williams Jr., Brooks & Dunn, or Rick Trevino.“
