The Eastside Bowl in Nashville is hosting fundraisers for well-known sound engineer Frank Sass, best known for his work at the Exit/Inn. The first, held this afternoon and evening, featured Gretchen Peters, Bill Lloyd, Kim Richey, Dave Pomeroy, the Shazam and Homemade Sin.
The second, set for August 20 beginning at 2 p,m., will feature Tommy Womack, Tim Carroll, Walk the West, Dave Coleman, the Raelyn Nelson Band and the Sour Ops. It’s great music for a good cause.
By Ken Paulson –
A tribute to the late Rusty Young of Poco has paid a welcome dividend: the birth of a new band.
Five artists, all with significant ties to Young and Poco, teamed up late last year for My Friend: A Tribute to Rusty Young on Blue Elan Records. The quintet, dubbed Cimarron 615 for the recording, contributed five songs to the collection and apparently had enough fun to continue as an ongoing band.
Tonight Cimarron 615 took the stage at the 5 Spot in Nashville for what was described as their “first real live gig.”
These are true veterans of country rock and that showed throughout their lively set.
There’s a lot of Poco DNA in that band and harmonies abound. The songwriting appears to be evenly divided among all 5 members, but it all holds together, unified by a very familiar sound.
The set was just 10 songs long, cut short either because of Webb’s looming laryngitis or because that’s all this new band has mastered. Either way, the show was an eye-opening introduction to Cimarron 615, a group that taps into decades of collective experience to create a compelling sound today.
By Ken Paulson –
Words never spoken after a Steve Forbert concert: “I’m just so tired of him playing the same set on every tour.”
Forbert, a former Nashville resident, returned to the town’s City Winery tonight with a performance that promoted his new album Moving Through America, but seemed to be largely fueled by whim.
I was just telling George we might do “Complications,” he said mid-show, nodding toward his guitarist, the affable and adept George Naha.
It was a set that included two compositions by his idol Jimmie Rodgers in the first half-dozen songs, and spanned more than four decades of his recorded music.
At one point, he emphasized the title of his album by recalling the cities he and George had already visited on the tour, briefly confusing Pascagoula with Pensacola. Still, the point was made. Forbert’s music has always had a travelogue quality, from songs like “Strange Names (North New Jersey Has ‘Em)” to his art exhibits.
Highlights included the title song and “Fried Oysters” from the new album, plus audience favorites like “What Kinda Guy?”, “Sure Was Better Back Then” and “Romeo’s Tune,” plus a sampling of “Sunny Side of the Street” and the Beatles’ “Good Night.”
It was the kind of show we’ve come to anticipate from Steve Forbert, with energy, intelligence and idiosyncrasies wrapped up in a melodic package.
Opening the show was the Delevantes, playing songs from their new album A Thousand Turns.
The duo of brothers Mike and Bob Delevante emerged in the ’90s with two excellent albums, but A Thousand Turns is their first release together in more than 20 years. As they hit the stage at the City Winery tonight with “Little By Little. the harmonies made clear that the Delevantes truly were back.
The new album was produced with E-Streeter Garry Tallent and Dave Coleman of the Coalmen. Coleman also joined the Delevantes onstage, playing impeccable guitar throughout the show.
By Paul T. Mueller –
“Spring break” took on some added meaning early this year, when the pandemic shut down normal life and most people had to adjust to a strange new reality. For Nashville-based singer-songwriter Will Kimbrough, Spring Break turned out to be a good title for an album recorded during a forced hiatus from touring and other activities. It’s a solo acoustic album of mostly new material, with a few older songs thrown in, and a fine showcase for Kimbrough’s many musical strengths.
Some of Kimbrough’s songs deal directly with the pandemic and its consequences. “The Late Great John Prine Blues” is a gentle, sad tribute to one of COVID-19’s better-known victims. “Handsome Johnny’s coming home/with the late, great John Prine blues,” Kimbrough sings. “All Fall Down” takes a wider view of the situation, realistic but is also hopeful. “Maybe we should listen to some good advice/Maybe it’d do some good,” Kimbrough sings, later concluding, “We rise and we fall together/We fly like birds of a feather/We shine through good or bad weather.”
Several songs deal with travel, and the frustration of being unable to do so. “I Want Out” is the first-person story of a waitress trapped by circumstances, while the narrator of “Trains” dreams of hopping a freight and getting away. Harmonica breaks give the song a Springsteen-like vibe. “Philadelphia Mississippi” tells the story of a woman who left her small town for brighter lights, only to return. “She never felt at home, until she ran away,” Kimbrough sings, accompanying himself with a lovely slide guitar.
Kimbrough acknowledges the need to accept reality and get to work in the folky “Plow to the End of the Row.” In the same vein, “Work to Do” is an anthem to confidence and determination: “I ain’t wasting my time here/I got work to do.”
Not so directly connected to current events are the confessional “My Sin Is Pride,” a bluegrassy take on “Rocket Fuel” (a co-write with Todd Snider, whose band Kimbrough once led), and “Cape Henry,” an account of a Revolutionary War naval battle also written with Snider. Humor finds a place in “My Right Wing Friend,” in which a long friendship transcends political differences; “Home Remedy” explores romantic love, and “Child of Light” is a hymn to parenthood. Kimbrough closes with “Digging a Ditch with a Spoon,” a country blues tune about doing the best you can with what you’ve got.
It’s hard to overstate Kimbrough’s skill and style as a player. Seemingly anything with strings is fair game, and he does justice to a wide range of wood and wire, including several guitar, dobro, mandolin and banjo. Kimbrough is also an accomplished producer, and he does a good job with his own material here, leaving things simple and letting the playing and singing shine through.
By Paul T. Mueller
“I’m getting used to living alone,” Eliot Bronson sings on the title track of his new album, Empty Spaces. “I’m getting used to nobody there when I come home… I’m getting used to the empty spaces that you used to fill.”
And that’s one of the happier songs on this 10-song collection.
Empty Spaces is one fine breakup album – written, as Bronson says, as therapy in the wake of painful breakup and a move to a new city. It’s got everything one would expect – sadness, confusion, bitterness, resignation – and, of course, emptiness. One could easily imagine most of these songs on breakup mixtapes, if that’s still a thing. The album is also a pretty good metaphor for the times we’re living in, as we navigate the transition between the world we used to know and the new, harsher reality we find ourselves in.
Several albums into a solo career, Bronson is only getting better as a writer. Around every corner here is another skillful turn of phrase to capture experience and emotion. “Don’t give me words, words can confuse,” pleads the weary narrator of “Let Me Go.” “Words can conceal the weapons we choose.” Confusion and frustration fuel “Good for You”: “If it’s so good for you, why aren’t you kinder? If it’s so good for you, why don’t you step lighter?” And in “Montana,” a sweetly sung bit of misplaced hostility, Bronson vents his rage on a proxy instead of his real target: “Your mountains in the night/Look like the edges of a knife that cut me… You took her away from me, and how could I ever compete with what you’ve got?” In “Gone,” the album’s bleak closer, he sings, “I listen to the rain play on the leaves/Like seconds ticking away, tiny thieves,” accompanied by twangy guitars and a lonely-sounding harmonica.
Empty Spaces encompasses a range of musical genres. “Visitor” is introspective singer-songwriter pop, while “Good for You” has a glossier feel. There’s a little country in “Good for You” and “She Loves the Mountains,” and “With Somebody” is packed with ’80s-style guitars and drums. The title track is a lovely, timeless pop song, full of sweet melody and catchy hooks, layered vocals and understated playing.
The album is also a showcase for Bronson’s talent for composition and arrangement. He shares credit for the project’s atmospheric production with bandmate Will Robertson, who also plays guitars, keyboards and bass. Other contributors included Bret Hartley (guitars), Colin Agnew (percussion), Marla Feeney (violin), Andrew Colella (viola), and Prisca Strothers (harmony vocals).
Bronson has been doing weekly livestreamed shows for the past few months, and for the most part they’ve been lively and upbeat – not surprising from a guy who last year came up with a funny novelty song based on that viral tweet about “30-50 feral hogs.” That he’s written and released an album’s worth of downbeat songs speaks to his skill as a writer, as well as his willingness to bare the darker side of his soul. It’s been said that artists turn pain into art, and Eliot Bronson has certainly done that with Empty Spaces.
The Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University wants all Americans to know and use their First Amendment rights, and its new awareness effort has some star-studded support to get out the word across the country.
Nashville’s taking center stage in the center’s new 1 for All Campaign for the First Amendment effort with help from artists, authors and athletes including multi-Platinum award-winning artist Kane Brown; the legendary Loretta Lynn; multi-Grammy Award-winning musicians Rosanne Cash, Jason Isbell, Brad Paisley and Darius Rucker; Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton; and bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Ann Patchett.
They’re among nearly two dozen Nashvillians sharing the critical need nationwide for Americans to know, and practice, our First Amendment rights to free speech, a free press, peaceable assembly, religion and petitioning the government.
“Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen the First Amendment in action on the streets of America,” said Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center in MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment. “Citizens using their freedom of speech, right to assemble, freedom of the press, the right to petition and freedom of faith have changed America for the better. (Disclosure: Paulson is also the editor of Americana One.)
“Our goal is to have Americans better understand the scope and impact of the First Amendment and never take it for granted.”
Surveys by the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center indicate that one-third of Americans can’t name a single freedom in the First Amendment and that a vast majority have very little understanding of these liberties.
Lynn, a multi-Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and author with a career spanning six decades, makes her appreciation for the First Amendment clear in her typical blunt and succinct manner.
To remedy that, the campaign ads direct members of the public to http://1forall.today, where they can learn all they need to know about the First Amendment, including tips on how to help preserve and protect these essential freedoms.
“My free speech showed up in songs like ‘The Pill’ and ‘You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man).’ I always say — and sing — exactly what I mean,” Lynn said in supplying the text for her poster for the campaign.
Using lyrics from his latest release, “Worldwide Beautiful,” a song urging peace, reason and equality that’s already topped the U.S iTunes sales charts as well as Billboard’s new music poll, Brown called for using the First Amendment to create more harmony.
“We’ve still got some work, but we still got a dream,” Brown said, adding, “let’s use our freedoms of speech, press and assembly to build understanding and mutual respect. The dream is within our reach.”
Hamilton, a U.S. and world figure skating champion who won Olympic gold in the 1984 competition, said that protecting one of the First Amendment’s freedoms helps preserve them all.
“My faith is the driving force in my life every single day. Thanks to the First Amendment, what I believe, say and write is protected by this amazing one-of-a-kind nation,” Hamilton said.
This new 1 for All effort, which includes support from 1 for All program-founding partners The Tennessean, Gannett/USA Today, the Tennessee Press Association and the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, also includes national support from the Associated Press and news organizations from across the country.
Brown, Lynn, Cash, Isbell, Paisley, Rucker, Hamilton and Patchett are being joined in the campaign by fellow First Amendment advocates:
• Ruby Amanfu, singer-songwriter and co-writer of the Grammy-nominated “Hard Place,” performed by H E R.
• John Cooper,
co-founder of the multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated and Billboard Music Award-winning rock band Skillet.
• Billy Ray Cyrus, singer-songwriter and actor featured in Lil Nas X’s No. 1, 10-million-plus-selling hit “Old Town Road” and the “Still the King” TV series.
• Colton Dixon,
singer-songwriter and former American Idol fan favorite/finalist.
• Mary Gauthier, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter whose “Rifles & Rosary Beads” album, featuring songs co-written with U.S. military veterans and their families, earned the International Folk Music Awards’ 2018 album of the year honor.
• Marcus Hummon, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, performer and member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
• Amy Kurland, founder of Nashville’s famed Bluebird Cafe.
• Kathy Mattea, multi-Grammy-winning and platinum-selling singer featured in Ken Burns’ “Country Music” documentary.
• Ketch Secor, co-founder of the multi-Grammy-winning Old Crow Medicine Show and featured in the Burns “Country Music” documentary.
• Aubrie Sellers, singer-songwriter and 2020 nominee for the Americana Music Association’s emerging artist of the year.
• Ruta Sepetys, bestselling author and winner of the Carnegie Medal.
• The Rev. Becca Stevens, social entrepreneur, author, priest and founder of the Thistle Farms organization for women’s recovery.
“We’re grateful to the artists and authors who support the campaign,” Paulson said. “They’re critical to ensuring that a new generation takes notice. We’re marketing the First Amendment to young citizens who can make history using its freedoms.
“The 1 for All campaign is nonpartisan and apolitical. Our only positions are that the First Amendment’s five freedoms are at the heart of a great nation and that every American needs to better understand and respect these core liberties.”
Established in August 2019 as a nonpartisan public policy center, the Free Speech Center at MTSU strives to build understanding and support for the five freedoms of the First Amendment through education and information.
The Free Speech Center’s resources include the unique First Amendment Encyclopedia, the world’s single most comprehensive free reference work on the five freedoms guaranteed by the first item on the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights. All center resources are open to the public anytime at http://freespeech.center.
“What better place to launch a national First Amendment campaign than at Middle Tennessee State University?” Paulson asked.
“We have scholars versed in democracy, media and government at the Free Speech Center, the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies, our American Democracy Project chapter and the Albert Gore Research Center. We have a nationally recognized College of Media and Entertainment and both the expertise and facilities to create content for multiple media and platforms. It all fits together to make this mission possible.”
For more information on the 1 For All Campaign, visit http://1forall.today. For information about the Free Speech Center at MTSU, visit http://freespeech.center. And for more on MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment and its programs, visit https://www.mtsu.edu/media.
Here’s a terrific tribute to John Prine from a great group of Nashville musicians, all friends and colleagues of John’s.
Performing the album in its entirety:
Bill Lloyd , Beth Nielsen Chapman. Radney Foster, Stacey and Don Schlitz,Chuck Mead, Shawn Camp, Will Kimbrough,Garry Tallent, Kim Richey and Dan Baird.
Bravo!
The prolific Bill Lloyd talks about his new live album cryptically called “2GTRSBSDRMS.” It’s full-throttle back-to-basics rock.
By Ken Paulson
John Prine meant the world to our family.
My wife-to-be Peggy and I went to see John, Steve Goodman, Bill Quateman and Bonnie Koloc at Ravinia Festival just after high school graduation in the Chicago suburbs.
We were so excited that I missed the exit on the way home and badly blew curfew. Peggy’s mom was …. judgmental.
One of my earliest paid writing gigs was a handwritten review of John’s second album “Diamonds in the Rough.” I praised the album, but pointed out his limited vocal range. Punk.
His music was everywhere in our household, and we had to convince our 12-year-old son to join us for a Prine concert in New York. He liked “Space Monkey.” Now a music writer for the Tennessean, he just wrote his own celebration of John.
We thought of John as our local musical hero because of shared Chicago ties, but then John moved to Nashville. And a decade later, so did we.
It was coincidence, but the best kind. Suddenly our favorite artist popped up all over town, on stage and in the grocery store. One night a dear friend tipped me off that John was going to hold a secret Christmas party in an hour, and sure enough, there he was with his brother Billy, friends and family in a local sports bar. John liked Christmas.
I had the privilege to host John on our “Speaking Freely” TV show on PBS stations years later and saw firsthand what I had been told so often: He was the same guy on stage as he was in-person.
And then just last fall, my wife and I attended “All the Best,” the magnificent festival he and Fiona Whelan Prine staged in the Dominican Republic. There was a truly special night when he took the stage to perform his first album from start to finish, as a full and incandescent moon was reflected in the waves. For the rest of my life, when I think of John, I’ll think of that moment and those songs.
So thankful for that, and for everything John Prine brought into the lives of everyone who loved his music – and him.
By Stan Garfield
Quarantine Playlist of the Day: Nashville (the TV series). This show ran 6 seasons from 2012-18, starting on ABC and ending on CMT. It wasn’t the best dramatic show, often feeling like a soap opera. But it had some great songs written by some very talented songwriters. This Spotify list includes 12 songs from the show.
5 more things we liked about the show:
1. Connie Britton, who played TV’s all-time great heroine, Tammy Taylor, on Friday Night Lights
2. Lennon & Maisy Stella, who were on Cayamo 2014
3. JD Souther, singer/songwriter and actor, who played John Dunnway on thirtysomething
4. T Bone Burnett
5. Buddy Miller, who has been on all but one Cayamo, just like me
Stan Garfield is a longtime music fan, veteran Cayamo cruiser and inveterate producer of house concerts. He’s sharing his daily Spotify playlists with Americana One.
Here’s just the song for a Sunday while under siege from the coronavirus. Marshall Chapman is about to release Songs I Can’t Live Without, her first album since 2013. It includes this stirring performance of He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands, a #1 hit in America 42 years ago this week by 13-year-old Laurie London.
The incredibly prolific Jim Lauderdale has a new album celebrating his home state of North Carolina, with a little help from the North Carolina Arts Council. Here’s the title track “When Carolina Comes Home Again,” co-written with John Oates:
Sara Peacock brought a fresh new voice to this year’s 30A Songwriters Festival and we’ll be featuring her in an upcoming edition of the Americana One Podcast.
We’ve just learned that she’ll be doing a live concert at 7 p.m. Central via Facebook Live and Instagram tonight to promote her new album “Burn the Witch.” Highly recommended.
The Mavericks Play the Hits is to be taken literally. The band plays the hits. Other artists’ hits.
In this edition of the Americana One Podcast, Raul Malo tells us why the Mavericks decided to cover songs like Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart,” Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel” and Freddy Fender’s “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” – all with new arrangements and in delightfully tacky packaging.
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By Ken Paulson –
Throughout his performance last night at the Country Music Hall of Fame, Marty Stuart emphasized the unique nature of the concert, saying “This is never going to happen again.”
That’s true of course, because this was the final evening of Stuart’s Artist-in-Residence series, but it would be a shame if the Country Music Hall of Fame doesn’t find a way to create a new role for him, something along the lines of Ringmaster in Chief.
Stuart brought three rings of entertainment and insight to the Hall of Fame over the past three weeks, showcasing everyone from Chris Stapleton and Emmylou Harris to go-go dancers.
He and the Hall staff masterfully put together three distinct evenings and then populated them with extraordinarily talented people.
Last night was no exception. The theme was “Songs That Tell A Story” and Stuart’s guests included John Prine, songwriter Dallas Frazier, Brandy Clark and Doug Kershaw.
Among the highlights:
Stuart’s first guest was Dale Jett, the grandson of A.P. and Sara Carter of the Carter Family. Jett’s back-to-basics performance was a revelation, particularly welcome in a week in which America is caught up in the history of Country Music via Ken Burns’ documentary. Jett did one of his own songs about compassion, pulled out a rarely heard A.P. Carter song about a cyclone killing children at a local school and then joined Stuart for a robust “Sunny Side of Life.”
Stuart and the Superlatives performed a breathtaking rendition of Marty Robbin’s “El Paso,” a song the band worked up for Grady Martin’s (he played guitar on the record) induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Great harmonies and guitar work throughout.
By Ken Paulson –
You know you’re in for a particularly spirited evening at the Country Music Hall of Fame when Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives tackle the Surfaris’ classic “Wipeout” and drummer Harry Stinson plays a solo on his face.
That was just one example of a night full of surprising and highly entertaining performances on the second night of Stuart’s three-week run as artist-in-residence at the Hall of Fame in Nashville.
There’s nothing conventional about Marty Stuart and this series reaffirms that. On this particular night, he declared it to be a “Psychedelic Jam-Bo-Ree”, essentially crafting a lava lamp of country music: free flowing, mesmerizing and colorful throughout.
How did one qualify to appear on this stage? Stuart explained that every guest had to meet three criteria. They would have to come from the ‘60s, wear rhinestones and have a personal relationship with Jesus. That led to some pretty exclusive company, including the Old Crow Medicine Show, Connie Smith, Buck Trent, Jim Lauderdale and two members of the Byrds.
Stuart, who is on every PBS station in America this week as a particularly thoughtful commentator on Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary, skillfully curated his own show, bringing the audience back to the look, sounds and vibe of the ‘60s.
Highlight included Stuart’s performance of “Six White Horses, a top five country hit for Tommy Cash in 1969. Written by Larry Murray, the song mourns the passing of John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy.
Early on, Stuart recalled how much he treasured watching Porter Wagner’s TV show in the ‘60s with his father. He then introduced former Wagon Master Trent, who performed with great joy, and showcasing both jokes and suit coat lining from the ‘60s.
And what would the 60s have been without drugs? (Probably the ‘50s) Charlie Worsham’s performance with Old Crow Medicine Show of his “I Hope I’m Stoned When Jesus Calls Me Home” was particularly apt.
The evening came to a stirring close with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman joining the Superlatives for a mini-set of Byrds classics, including Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man, Pete Seeger’s “Turn Turn Turn,” Gene Clark’s “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” and Chris Hillman’s “Have You Seen Her Face,” which he told the audience was inspired by a blind date that David Crosby had set up for him.
It’s the third time we’ve seen the Byrds-Superlatives connection in the past year, including Marty Stuart’s Late Night Jam and the Ryman performance on the “Sweethearts of the Radio” tour, but no complaints. In truth, the Superlatives are a better band than the Byrds ever were and every performance was transcendent.
Marty Stuart’s third and final performance of his residency, comes next Wednesday, September 25th, with special guests John Prine, Brandy Clark, Dallas Frazier, and Doug Kershaw. Tickets are still available from the Country Music Hall of Fame.
By Paul T. Mueller –
Amy Speace is a keen observer of humanity, and of all the good and bad humans are capable of. She’s also a gifted songwriter and performer, able to translate her observations into beautiful and moving songs. Speace’s latest collection is titled Me and the Ghost of Charlemagne, and it’s full of the excellent writing and singing we’ve come to expect from this New Yorker turned Nashvillian.
The title track is a description of the traveling musician’s life, drawn from Speace’s experiences and using the aftermath of a show in Aachen, Germany – said to have been the birthplace of the medieval German emperor – as a jumping-off point. Amid the architectural remnants of centuries of European history, Speace reflects on her hopes for her own legacy. “We all want to leave behind/A thing that says that we were here before we die,” she sings.
Speace moves into more uncomfortable territory in “Ginger Ale and Lorna Doones,” an account of a woman’s experience at the kind of medical clinic that draws protesters and worse. For all its social and political implications, the decision this unnamed character has made is a difficult and lonely one, softened only by small gestures along the way. “Closest thing to kindness/Who would ever think of this,” Speace sings about the products in the song’s title. “Little bit of sweet and fizz/Filling up the emptiness.” The song’s emotional impact is the more devastating for its understated nature.
“Icicle King” is another disturbing trip to the dark side, a first-person account of a child’s escape from domestic violence through fantasy. That’s sad enough, but toward the end the words hint at a more ominous possibility: “I sailed from the port of Ohio one night in December/Snuck out of the back from the door leading west to the creek.”
Speace is happy to acknowledge good in the world as well. “Grace of God” is a gospel-flavored ode to redemption, and “Both Feet on the Ground” is a declaration of commitment that can be heard as a lullaby to her young son or as a hymn. The album closes with her rendition of Ben Glover’s “Kindness,” a musical benediction whose verses end with “May you know kindness and may kindness know you.”
The rest of the album’s 11 tracks are of similar high quality, fueled by her powerful and expressive voice (she was a theatrical actor before her musical career) and her capable playing on guitar and piano. Speace’s fine supporting cast includes guitarists Will Kimbrough and Kris Donegan, bassist Dean Marold, violinist Eamon McLaughlin and drummer Neilson Hubbard, who also produced the album.
We recently enjoyed a not-so-strange chat with the engaging Mandy Barnett about her new album Strange Conversation. The setting was WMOT’s 895 Fest on the fields of the Hop Spring Beer Park, a distinctly different venue than her upcoming “Nashville Songbook” concert at Feinstein’s/54 Below on Broadway on August 13.
But that’s no surprise. Mandy Barnett’s career has always been about versatility, balancing the classics and the contemporary, as you’ll hear in this week’s podcast:
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By Paul T. Mueller
Beloved singer-songwriter Julie Miller made a rare concert appearance in Nashville on June 26, and it’s hard to say who enjoyed it more, Miller or her adoring fans. A sellout crowd at City Winery greeted the artist and her husband, Americana superstar Buddy Miller, with a lengthy standing ovation before they sang or played a note. The enthusiasm continued throughout the performance, leaving both Millers clearly moved and delighted.
Fans not in attendance might be out of luck. “This is the beginning and the end of our world tour,” Buddy Miller announced two songs into the 45-minute set, which included five songs from the couple’s recently released CD, Breakdown on 20th Avenue South. Julie Miller has not performed much in public in recent years, and her husband’s concert schedule is much lighter than it once was. No other performances are scheduled for the duo.
On the first song, “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me,” Julie’s vocals seemed a bit hesitant. But the song was met with thunderous applause, and after repeating “Thank you so much!” several times, she seemed to gain strength and confidence, her high-pitched voice harmonizing sweetly with Buddy’s gruffer delivery.
Highlights included the mystical “Feast of the Dead,” featuring multi-instrumentalist Colin Linden on the Millers’ antique hurdy-gurdy, and a lovely cover of Richard Thompson’s “Keep Your Distance,” with Buddy playing a small guitar he had once given to Julie. “It looks like you got it at the airport,” she told him with a laugh. An intense rendition of “All My Tears” came near the end, leaving some audience members, not coincidentally, in tears. Another standing ovation followed at set’s end. After a short break, the band returned for a one-song encore, “Hole in My Head,” which Buddy described as “one of our sillier songs,”
The show was preceded by well-received sets from fellow Americana icon Jim Lauderdale, whose CD From Another World was released the same day as Breakdown, and young singer-songwriter and fiddler Lillie Mae. In between, Linden – former musical director on the TV series Nashville – performed one song on his own, using a more familiar instrument, a resonator guitar. The show was recorded for the SiriusXM satellite radio program “Buddy and Jim,” hosted by Buddy Miller and Lauderdale.
Steve Poltz has a new video taken from his current album Shine On and it’s unsurprisingly goofy. Best of all, he recreates the incident that inspired the song, a tale he shared in his Americana One podcast interview.