William Tyler and the Impossible Truth at The Blue Room, 11/25/2023
William Tyler has been a familiar presence in Nashville music since his high school rock band Lifeboy made waves around town in the late ’90s. In the wake of tenures with bands like Lambchop and Silver Jews, he’s built up a sophisticated, thoughtful catalog based on solo guitar work that incorporates an impressive range of musical ideas, from krautrock to 19th-century art music and beyond. This year, that yielded Time Indefinite, a tape-loop-centric collaboration with Nashville engineer Jake Davis, and 41 Longfield Street Late ’80s, fruit of his creative partnership with U.K. electronic producer Four Tet. At the same time, Tyler gets his band and a bunch of great guest vocalists together at least a couple of times each year for wholesome, heartfelt and badass cover shows under the William Tyler and Friends banner. He makes room for it all, from evocative, organically technical expression to bashing out Huey Lewis and the News’ “The Power of Love.”
