Faced with canceled tours, postponed festivals and shuttered venues as we attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19, musicians in Nashville and across the U.S. have turned to livestreams. Until we've dealt with the pandemic, this is going to be our live music scene, and we'll report on it here in our live-review column The Spin. Though neither the experience nor the broader economic impact of a stream is the same as going out to a club (and signal quality can vary, depending on the platform and your internet connection), streaming is a way for musicians to do as much as possible of what they do best.
In the case of U.K.-born folk-sci-fi-psych-rocker Robyn Hitchcock and Australia-born songsmith Emma Swift, who streamed an acoustic set via StageIt from their home in East Nashville Wednesday night, that includes singing songs that reflect the strangeness of the truth. Between tunes, the couple also shared some charming insight into how they're coping with being cooped up together at home — even renowned musicians need a little help from stuffed animal friends and a pair of cats (who don't seem to care for their people's singing, even though the harmonies were good).
Their 11-song set was heavy on requests and included a pair of choice covers (Neil Young's “Motion Pictures” and a couple verses of Bob Dylan's “Just Like a Woman”), though the majority of songs were Hitchcock's. Though there were longtime fan favorites like “Madonna of the Wasps,” “Glass Hotel” and “Queen Elvis,” there were beautiful renditions of deeper cuts. All seemed to be relevant to our weird times, but one standout was “Television,” a gently surreal love song to the small screen from Spooked, Hitchcock's 2004 collaboration with Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings.
It was comforting to feel some solidarity with others who also don't feel particularly great about any of what's going on right now, but who seem determined to get through it. And it was nice to get a taste of that old familiar zing that comes from an inspiring performance. A good number of people seem to have felt the same way: Gross donations tallied after the show were $7,000. The exact numbers will depend on service fees, says Swift, but about 70 percent of that money will be transferred to the community fund established by The 5 Spot, a further 15 percent is earmarked for an employee support fund from the folks at Five Points bar Duke's, and the remaining 15 percent will be divided equally among three local service-industry workers who are out of a job while the pandemic continues.
Many musicians are streaming to collect funds to replace lost income. Others like Swift and Hitchcock, who are in a better place financially, are doing what they can to look out for fellow community members. Conditions may get a lot worse before they get better, but it's heartening to see so many people adapting this well and this quickly.
