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Electric Western Records

New Year’s Eve in East Nashville (and Beyond!)

If you don’t have your New Year’s Eve plans nailed down just yet, never fear – we’re here with a few East Nashville suggestions to help you avoid being anywhere near a television showing prerecorded footage of Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest.

Roaring 2011 at The 5 Spot

Flappers and speakeasies and cocktails, oh my!

Over here in East Nashville, The 5 Spot is firing up its time machine and sending everybody back 90 years to the Boardwalk Empire era with Roaring 2011. Billed as “A Swingin’ New Year’s Eve Celebration,” this one-of-a-kind party will take you back with elaborate 1920s decor, 1920s dance music from Chubby and The Dots, Prohibition-era cocktails, champagne and more. The crew behind the party is none other than Jacob Jones and Reno Bo of Electric Western Productions, the same pair that keep The 5 Spot hopping every week with Keep On Movin’: The Monday Night Dance Party. You can order discounted tickets for $13 beforehand by clicking here, or get them on New Year’s Eve for $15. Doors open at 7:30pm and the party goes until 3am.

Bobby Bare Jr. and Caitlin Rose at The Basement

East Nashville's own Bobby Bare Jr. takes over The Basement with Caitlin Rose. (Photo: Joshua Black Wilkens)

If you’re looking to catch a live performance from some of your musical East Nashville neighbors on New Year’s Eve, you’re in luck. Bobby Bare Jr. & The Young Criminals Starvation League are playing at The Basement with Caitlin Rose . You probably already know a bit about Mr. Bare Jr., who has recorded with the Silver Jews and Will Oldham and toured with Bob Dylan, Dr. Dog, The Walkmen, The Black Crowes, The Decemberists, Aerosmith, My Morning Jacket, The Drive By Truckers and The Old 97′s and whose projects have inspired a post or two here on the blog. You’ve also probably heard about Caitlin Rose, whose new album Own Side Now is already out in the UK has garnered all sorts of praise on that side of the pond ahead of its US release next March. You can get your tickets in advance for $15 online by going here – probably a good idea since The Basement is on the smaller side. Show starts at 9pm.

18 South at Station Inn

18 South bring their southern roots sound (and collective millenium of stage experience) to Station Inn this New Year's Eve.

Also on the other side of the river, East Nashvillian Jimmy Wallace and his southern roots band 18 South will headline New Year’s Eve at Station Inn. We’ve already told you all about Jimmy’s pedigree. Well, the other five members of the band – Jon Randall Stewart (guitar, vocals), Larry Atamanuik (drums), Mike Bub (bass), Guthrie Trapp (guitar) and Jessi Alexander (vocals) - have resumes to match, having played with Emmylou Harris, Sam Bush, Allison Krauss, Patty Loveless, Vince Gill, The Del McCoury Band and co-written Billboard chart-toppers like Brad Paisley‘s “Whiskey Lullaby”. They’ll be joined for the evening by special guests Shawn Camp and Seth Walker. Tickets are $30 and are available on a first come, first served basis, so you’ll want to be there when the doors open at 7pm. Show begins at 9pm.

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Keep on Movin’: The Monday Night Dance Party

With the beautiful weekends of spring now in full effect, Mondays have become more difficult to endure. Rising temperatures and heavy pollen counts make me think one thing: I have to go out. Thankfully Keep on Movin’: The Monday Night Dance Party has buoyed my spirits on my least favorite day. I recently made the six-block jaunt to The 5 Spot to check up on this East Side tradition.

Monday night is dancing night!

The 5 Spot, with its plethora of local players and East Side staples, makes you feel like you’re in a music town; it can feel like musicians outnumber everyone else. After paying the $3 cover, I was greeted by long wooden bar tables that serve as convenient locations to centralize groups. I headed to the bar where I was pleased to see both Boddingtons and Pabst in the same beer cooler; I always like to have at least one good beer before I travel down Pabst Alley.

Music gear dominates everything at The 5 Spot. The muted light of a drum set chandelier illuminates an old sturdy pool table. Broken cymbals are reborn as curtains. The bar’s many local show posters proudly proclaim, “Yes, this is a music venue.  Please do not request Freebird.” This all sets the scene for a velvet lined stage that supports the most rockin’ DJ rig this side of the Cumberland.

The weekly event is hosted by Electric Western Records co-founder/artist Jacob Jones, who splits DJ duties between himself and other troubadours. He throws down the dance party gauntlet by playing old school favorites like The Four Tops and Sam Cooke. I dare you to be a wallflower after hearing the grooving tunes at the spot. Electric Western has redefined the Monday night barscape by creating a friendly environment that is free of pretense and full of dancing.

Keep on movin'!

I know what you’re saying. “I can’t dance, and I don’t want people to make fun of me.” Stop it! You’re not in high school. When you mix alcohol, good music, and fun-loving people in one space you get magic: a room full of sweaty adults moving around without a care in the world. The floor at The 5 Spot is full of kids trying and failing in their attempts to recreate the twist, all of them having a good time. If that’s not enough, there’s always safety in numbers: the dance floor is empty and intimidating at 10pm, but by 11:30 the whole floor is grooving.  Good things come to those who wait.

Keep On Movin’: The Monday Night Dance Party has become more popular as of late, so don’t be surprised if you only have enough room to shuffle around during the most busy moments.  This influx of our friends from across the river has made it more difficult to get a drink, but it’s all worth it to share some East Side love from our favorite dance party host.  Overall, Electric Western Records has given the East Side a great cure for the Mondays.

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Reno Bo “There’s A Light” Video

Among all the many happenings in town today are a few other things – including the release of Electric Western recording artist (and East Nashville resident) Reno Bo‘s new video for his single, “There’s A Light.” Meticulously crafted from hand-drawn pieces and cutouts by Reno himself, this video is part Beatles, part Python-era Terry Gilliam, and all good.

RSS readers, click through for the Reno Bo – “There’s A Light” video

If you like what you see, go check out www.RenoBo.com for links to purchase his album, Happenings And Other Things, and to get a free copy of the “There’s A Light” single. And if social media is your thing, you can follow Reno on Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace.

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Jacob Jones CD Release Party at The Basement

Earlier this week we had the chance to drop by the East Nashville offices of Electric Western Records and take a little tour of the digs. We’ll have a little more about our visit for you in the near future, but for now we want to tell you about Electric Western co-founder Jacob Jones’ show out at The Basement tonight.


It’s the official CD Release Party for Jacob’s newest album on EW, Bound For Glory, which hit stores on Tuesday. If you don’t already have a copy, you can listen to it for free over at his Bandcamp.com page and guarantee that you’ll be able to sing along with all the songs tonight. You can also buy the album there for $10 in your choice of high-quality digital format; they even do FLAC files, so you can get the most out of those expensive audiophile headphones you somehow managed to justify to your wife a few months back.

Jacob Jones CD release party video

Opening for Jacob Jones tonight at The Basement will be Chicago’s Go Long Mule and Raleigh’s American Aquarium. The show is scheduled for 9pm, so plug that time into your favorite “what time will the show actually start” formula to figure out when you actually need to get there. If you’ll be attending, give us a shout on Twitter – we’ll be heading across the river for this one ourselves.

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