There’s always more music news pertinent to Nashvillians than we can ever fit into feature stories and critics’ picks alone, and sometimes the flood of information simply overruns our blogging bandwidth. Before you kick off your weekend, here are 10 items of note, including several shows, a charity auction, a great crowdfunding project and some new releases.
The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever Nashville, happening 2:30 p.m. Saturday, July 29, at Fanny’s House of Music, is more an “event and a spectacle” than a “traditional show,” but it sounds fun and silly as hell. In honor of Kate Bush’s birthday (which is actually Sunday), anyone and everyone is invited to don their crimson-hued gear and join in a mass re-creation of the “Red Dress” version of the promo video for Bush’s debut single, the 1978 smash hit “Wuthering Heights.”
Back in 2020, Third Man Records held an online auction called the Third Man Garage Sale. Proceeds from the sale of all kinds of music gear, memorabilia and more — belonging to the label and/or founder Jack White himself — benefited several great nonprofits. They’re back for another round, with more than 100 items awaiting your bid and a portion of proceeds benefiting Detroit’s Clark Park Coalition, a project to revitalize a public park in White’s hometown.
Available items range from handsome office furniture to custom instruments to two electric cars — White’s personal 2013 Tesla and the label’s cheese-wedge-esque 1970s Sebring-Vanguard Citicar. Come to browse, stay for the descriptions by TMR co-owner and archivist Ben Blackwell. Don’t dally: The auction ends at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 30.
Legendary bossa nova singer Astrud Gilberto died June 5 at age 83. On Wednesday, Aug. 2, guitarist-about-town Josh Halper’s bossa nova band will pay tribute at The Blue Room at Third Man Records. A ton of phenomenal Nashville singers, including Nicole Atkins, Tristen, Savannah Conley, Annie Williams and more will join in.
Singer-songwriter Kyshona has an exceptional ability to make music that’s simultaneously engaging, moving and thoughtful. In her practice as a music therapist — which extends through her program Your Song — she helps people write songs about their experiences as a way to understand more about themselves. The purpose can vary from processing trauma to managing stress.
As she toured around her 2020 album Listen, Kyshona began to explore her own story further, including trying to process and absorb her family’s history of coming to the United States as enslaved people. She’s launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund recording the songs that have emerged from this process. You’re definitely going to want to hear them, and you’ve got until Friday, Aug. 4, to contribute. Learn more in the video above.
If you’ve had “check out some great Nashville hip-hop” on your to-do list, August will be a great month for you. Jyou and K.O.N. celebrate the release of their new collaboration The Boombox with a DJ set by Jyou on Aug. 4 at Jefferson Street cocktail bar EG & MC, and the kickoff of a tour in support of the record with an Aug. 6 show at The East Room featuring Tim Gent and Chuck Indigo.
On the same tip, Kadmon Love is on a bill with several rock and blues bands at Brooklyn Bowl on Aug. 10. Meanwhile, The East Room is the place to be again on Aug. 17 for 808s in the 615, which features Blckfriend, Ron Obasi, Muchi, Lowercase and Griizly. Then, on Aug. 25, the BlackCity crew heads to Third Man Records for Mo Better Blue Room, featuring Brian Brown, OGTHAGAWD, Ashley EMJ, Moody and DJ Memville.
On Aug. 15, a massive collection of songsmith talent will convene in the midsize room at City Winery for Together in Action, a fundraiser for efforts to prevent gun violence. Autumn Nicholas, Chris Housman, Denitia, Julie Williams, The Kentucky Gentlemen, Devon Gilfillian and Jason Isbell will all perform, and grassroots org Moms Demand Action will be there as well.
Belcourt Avenue event space AB Hillsboro Village — which among other things hosted an inclusive prom after nonbinary teen and Nashville Christian School senior B Hayes was turned away from their prom — is organizing the AB Block Party on Labor Day, Sept. 4. The stage will be set up across the street from AB in the parking lot of the Belcourt, and Joy Oladokun, Southern Avenue, Denitia and many other musicians will perform as well as comedian Josh Black. Expect craft and food vendors, too; there’s no cover, but a VIP upgrade is available.
In May, Ivory Coast-born Nashvillian Peter One released his fantastic new country-and-folk LP Come Back to Me. Recently, he visited NPR Music’s headquarters to film a Tiny Desk Concert, with help from Luke Schneider on banjo and lap steel, Augustin Escalante on a bunch of instruments and Jeanne Eveline Wandjou and Abigael Audrey Wilson on vocals. Check it out and follow Peter One on Instagram for updates.
In 2021 and 2022, Rashad tha Poet — a stellar rapper, spoken-word artist, public speaker, actor and activist — teamed up with S-Wrap on a pair of music-driven spoken-word LPs, The Other Side and The Other Side Too. Now Rashad has reignited the spark of his musical partnership with The Beathead for He’s the Producer, I’m the Emcee, an enticingly groovy six-pack of tracks. Among the standouts: “Blue Note,” in which Rashad looks at the history of Black creativity in context with contemporary society.
A few months ago, host Mr.Adamsbtw and his crew launched the Mobile Melody interview series, which features in-depth conversations with folks in and around the Nashville hip-hop community. Most of the vids include talking in the studio as well as field trips to locations that are significant to the interview subject. Check out their talk with Lord Goldie, which includes a visit to the South Nashville apartment complex where she grew up.
