There’s been plenty of unsettling news in local music this year — especially in the independent venue realm, in which both the Mercy Lounge complex and Exit/In will no longer be run by the folks who’ve been cultivating those places for nearly 20 years. There’s not much more to do than hope that the management and staff hired by the new property owners will do their best to make the forthcoming iterations of those venues play important roles in local music.
However those situations evolve, there are still many, many people who book and promote shows on a mom-and-pop scale all around town. To shout out just a few by name: Tyler Martinez & Co. keep the Housequake pop showcase series going at Eastside Bowl, Ryan Sweeney is a big booster in the local rock scene through Sweet Time, and Chris Davis at FMRL has been steadfast in presenting music that’s experiential, experimental or just plain excellent for decades. For one tiny example: If you enjoy desert blues guitarist Mdou Moctar, it’s advocates like Davis who put in their own time to get clued in and put in the work to set up shows for these artists, years before they get well-deserved gigs opening for big acts like Tame Impala.
Many people across the Nashville hip-hop scene book and promote their own shows; I owe a debt to everyone involved in making sure that hip-hop shows in town aren’t rare these days. There’s also the crew booking house shows at The Mouthhole and the crew at Soft Junk; the teams keeping the calendars full at spots like The East Room, The 5 Spot, Vinyl Tap, Betty’s, Springwater, Bobby’s Idle Hour and all-ages venue Drkmttr; and the folks at To-Go Records who throw shows at Two Boots Pizza and sometimes at Third Man Records.
This is exceptionally hard work, and it’s about the furthest thing from lucrative, but it’s critical work to perpetuate our ecosystem of music scenes. In return, about all they ask is that you buy a ticket or pay the cover and come to the show. For that, I’ll always be grateful.
—Stephen Trageser
Music Editor, Nashville Scene
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