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Nashville’s diverse music scene, you’ve noticed me talking about it a lot on this blog even though I haven’t moved outside of the singer/songwriter & Americana genres…until today.  While spending some time on BandCamp.com I came across an album called the “Bobby Thompson Reels Vol. 1” by the experimental rock group De Novo Dahl. Because I work in the Bluegrass music industry I automatically knew who Bobby Thompson was. For those unfamiliar with him he was one of the greatest session players in Nashville. Playing with the likes of Bill Monroe, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, the list goes on & on. In 2005 Bobby’s nephew, Rob Rickman Jr., came across some old reel to reel tapes from the various sessions Bobby Thompson was a part of. Here is his description on how these tapes were used by De… [Read More]

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Nashville lays claim to the beginnings of a lot of musical styles. Bluegrass music was first heard here, & Country music was made famous here. But there is one style of roots music that Nashville can’t lay claim to & that’s the mixture of Bluegrass & Folk music commonly referred to as “newgrass.” It’s based on the progressive Bluegrass band Newgrass Revival, circa 1972 and Louisville lays claim to them. Since then, bands from all over have been playing “newgrass” while adding their own creativity & stylings. North Carolina has the Avett Brothers, Texas has Cadillac Sky, Boston has Crooked Still & we are lucky here in Nashville to have the Vespers.

The Vespers are a group of siblings, Callie and Phoebe Cryar, and Taylor and Bruno Jones. They didn’t start out as a… [Read More]

Well, I have never tried to write an album review before.  I happen to have found an album which I feel is totally worthy of a review and while it probably deserves better prose than it will receive in my blog post, I will attempt not to insult the artistic value of this album in the following paragraphs.

Almost a month ago I recall being with a great friend heading to lunch when he said to me- “Did you hear the latest Sting album?” Indeed I had not.  While I am most certainly a fan of pretty much anything Sting does, I had no idea how much I would love this album.  You see, Sting has released an album not on a typical mainstream label like you might expect from the former front-man of the Police, but Deutsche Grammophon a label best known for their fine recordings of Lang… [Read More]

Music has a way of cutting deep into a persons soul, so deep that it can bring back memories long thought forgotten. Sometimes it’s good memories, sometimes it’s not but either way it causes us to reevaluate those things & in the end we’re always made better for it. Americana music stirs my soul like no other and with the wealth of great Americana artist coming out of Nashville I don’t see that love dying anytime soon. Andrew Combs is one of those musicians whose music stirs my soul & renews my love for Americana music each time I hear it.

Andrew Combs comes to TN via Texas. Since moving to Nashville Andrew has been working on his songwriting with another great local songwriter Heidi Feek who is also a guest vocalist on his newest album “Tennessee Time”. “Tennessee Time” is… [Read More]

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What do you get when a devastating flood hits Nashville? You get a city standing together more than any other to help their neighbor’s recover & rebuild. The music industry has played a big part in this by raising millions of dollars through various concerts both on a national scale & locally. Artists have also contributed music to help in raising money for various charities in Nashville. One artist in particular, Mike Farris, is releasing a EP later this fall to raise money for the Music Cares Flood Relief Fund. All 6 songs on this EP were recorded in one day at the Downtown Presbyterian Church with some of the best musicians in Nashville! Sam Bush, Kenny Vaughan, Ketch Secor and Gil Landry of Old Crow Medicine Show, The McCrary Sisters,… [Read More]