Brassville, Tim Gent, Ron Obasi and More Boogie Down on Record Store Day

Nashville’s mom-and-pop record stores have traditionally celebrated their connections to the local music scene on Record Store Day with heaps and heaps of live performances in addition to special releases and discounts. While many local shops chose to focus on the records for RSD 2022, two of them put together full days of free shows with a kaleidoscopic assortment of standout local players.

RSD at Vinyl Tap was absolutely abuzz with people, makers, vendors and music. There was a constant stream of acts playing on both indoor and outdoor stages through the afternoon and into the twilight. Heavy traffic foiled an attempt to see the whole set from rock band The Ragcoats, who were playing outside at 1 p.m., but the hearty response to their last few numbers suggested they knocked it out of the park. They were followed on the indoor stage by alternative dream-rock outfit Keeps, who offered a steady, mellow set of rock songs with layered sounds and slowly building intensity. 

Next, singer-songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan played all by himself on the outdoor stage. Though his lyrics were the star of the show, he filled out the soundscape with his understated guitar skills. His songs and stage banter come with an undeniable sardonic edge, and provide both personal and political commentary that touch on topics like gentrification and nationalism masquerading as patriotism. Though Tasjan’s discography showcases an array of sonic flavors, he came across during this set like an Americana-fied Father John Misty. 

As Tasjan finished up, Ron Obasi took the stage inside along with a DJ and saxophonist Austin Willé. Obasi’s performance was deeply personal — to listen to him is to get to know him. Born and raised in Nashville, Obasi talked about watching the city change. Though he acknowledged the growing pains that come with the city’s evolution, he also celebrated the fact that it brought everyone together that day. He was intentional about connecting with the crowd, and his energy (and Willé’s saxophone) made for a great set. Obasi has had several great single releases lately, whetting appetites for a full-length follow-up to 2020’s Sun Tapes.

Back outside, country rocker Dylan Smucker, who you may remember from the band Iron Vessel, delivered an energetic set before Country Westerns claimed the inside stage. The trio kept their traditional casual presence, looking entirely at home as they churned out their cool, punky rock songs for the overflowing room. 

As showgoers combed through records inside The Groove — the shop had the music being performed in its backyard piped in over the speakers, a nice touch — Tim Gent brought technical agility and contagious energy to his midafternoon set. With A.B. Eastwood on the ones and twos, the Clarksville-raised MC fired off older bangers like “Give & Take (Paper Chase)” from his Eastwood-produced 2017 EP Faith — seemingly played at double the speed of the original version — alongside material from releases that are in the pipeline. 

Between songs, Gent recapped what had been a whirlwind day. After a songwriting session in L.A. last week with Nashville cohort Bryant Taylorr and East Coast R&B contemporary Tone Stith, he'd taken a red-eye home from LAX, practiced his set, headed to work and then high-tailed it to The Groove. “That might've been the least sleep I've ever gotten before a show,” the 28-year-old rapper said with a laugh after the performance. It didn't show.

After Gent and Eastwood clocked out, drag queen Justine Van de Blair danced, strutted and high-kicked emphatically in the round. The crowd roared when a youngster in a red shirt, clutching a stuffed Tempo the Coyote in one hand, bashfully handed Van de Blair a dollar bill with the other, in time-honored drag-show tradition. 

Among the last bands standing from an early-2010s coterie of local country-psych amalgamators that also included the late Blank Range and Ranch Ghost, Chrome Pony delivered the goods with bright guitar tones, killer bass-playing and irrepressible smiles. The material's leisurely pacing and casual virtuosity conjured both the heady, lysergic late ’60s and the thriving East Nashville scene of a decade ago in equal measure.  

As dusk fell, Brassville, who for this show consisted of five brass players plus a drummer and keyboardist, closed things out. The Tennessee State University-schooled septet brought a block-party vibe to the proceedings with smooth-as-silk, firmly-in-pocket instrumentals that reverberated across the neighborhood as showgoers made their way into the early-spring night.