The first email we received in this new year was a welcome one from Nell Levin of the Shelby Bottom String Band, who sent us a link to the band’s new video for “East Nashville Rag.” Levin and her bandmates – Michael August, Gene Bush, Bob Mason and Holly Tashian – have crafted themselves a fine tribute to the 37206. With its old-time instrumentation, mellow vibe and lyrics focused on the quirky and friendly nature of our favorite part of Music City, we fell in love with the song immediately. And with a video chock-full of shots from the area – including some of our favorite East Nashville businesses and our favorite park in town, the Shelby Bottoms Greenway and Nature Park – we couldn’t resist sharing it with all of you here on the blog.
If you like what you hear you’ll want to check out the Shelby Bottom String Band at Myspace, where they’ve posted several more songs in the same musical vein. We encourage you to listen to their tracks as many times as possible to give their play counts a big boost, and to share the video for “East Nashville Rag” with all your friends. We’re sure they’ll love it as much as we do!
I missed Johnny Flynn at 3rd & Lindsley this past Friday, but the folks at his record label sent a link to this video along and the sheer creative energy on display made all of us at EastNashvilleBlog.com HQ smile. Like my friend Dana Immanuel, who we featured in an earlier installment of A Weekend Treat, Johnny hails from across the pond in London. Enjoy!
Friend of EastNashvilleBlog.com Miranda Herrick shared this perfect-for-the-weekend stomper from Todd Snider and the Eastside Bulldogs on Facebook earlier and we couldn’t figure out exactly how it was we hadn’t already heard of it. The single is on sale at ToddSniderStore.com, with all the proceeds benefiting Hands On Nashville.
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.
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.
Between Jacob Jones‘ CD Release Party at The Basement on Thursday and Record Store Day at The Groove yesterday, we were lucky enough to catch a fair bit of live music over the last few days. We even managed to catch a bit of it on camera, though we won’t be winning the Quick Draw McGraw Award for Catching Full Performances anytime soon.
While we train to become contenders for that coveted prize, you can still enjoy these two videos. Our RSS readers will want to click through on the links to view these on YouTube.
First is Jacob Jones covering The Beatles’ “The Ballad of John and Yoko” with a band of Nashville all-stars at The Basement this past Thursday.
And here’s Emmylou Harris solo at Record Store Day taking about her dog rescue organization, Bonaparte’s Retreat, and playing her song “Big Black Dog.”
I recently got a call from my brother Corey, a drummer in town, telling me he was going to sit in for a song with a band called Kink Ador down at Mercy Lounge. Most, if not all, of Kink Ador call East Nashville home, and I always love checking out the local cheese.
My wife Ginger and I met up with Corey and his wife Jen across the river at the Mercy Lounge. The room was spaciously empty, and since I’m such a rebel, that made me happy. We were there early though, which allowed ample time for the place to fill up just enough to make you feel the energy of other people without having to fight for basic survival resources like oxygen, points of escape and elbow room at the bar.
Another reason the audience had a chance to grow was because the band got started a little late, creating a buzz of annoyance/anticipation that seems to be a prerequisite for any decent show these days.
East Nashville's own Kink Ador (Photo: Ray + Wendy)
Once the sound of the crowd murmuring became a sufficient hum, Kink Ador appeared from backstage. I was surprised to see that they are a trio. I guess I expected a troupe playing keyboards, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, a washtub bass, synthesizers, xylophones, a harmonica, a laptop, their iPhones and whatever other noisemakers people pile onto a stage these days. No, Kink Ador do it simply. They are a drummer, a guitarist and a bassist/singer. The guitarist and the bassist also played trumpets from time to time. Really cool.
Guitarist Andrew Sovine had a few tricks up his sleeve and seemed to play mostly textural riffs and patterns which allowed the guitar to have its own voice, ornamenting the rhythm section rather than sitting all over it and being just another thump in the beat. There were occasional, tastefully done guitar solos which followed melodic themes from the song. He played some beautiful sounding vintage instruments, though I can’t tell you what they are offhand. In addition to the electric guitar, he also played a lap slide. Whatever the instrument, Sovine was adept and capable on his instruments and knew how to translate his skill into emotive playing.
Sharon Koltick on trumpet (Photo: Ray + Wendy)
As far as the vocals go, it was pretty hard for me to hear what vocalist Sharon Koltick was saying. Whether it was due to the house mix, her pronunciation or our position in the room is something I don’t know. From what I could hear, there was a girlish poppiness in the melody, vocal delivery and stage presence. Koltick’s vocals sat in the rhythms well, danced above them when appropriate and supplied a unifying thread for the audience to lock onto. Every so often, Sovine would sing backup. Their voices might have blended well together in other circumstances, but in this case his voice was mixed louder and sounded clearer than hers, creating a feeling of insubordination and imbalance when he chimed in.
Koltick’s duties also included the bass guitar. I am always impressed by that feat – it’s like simultaneously being rain on the roof and a brontosaurus. The bass lines were a punky throb which clung pretty closely to the songs’ chordal triads and orbited the kick drum relatively tightly. There was some more melodic movement present in the riffish licks she threw in here and there.
The solidly pounding tempo, subtle accents and dynamics, and advanced cymbal technique left me impressed with Brad Naylor‘s drumming throughout the set. His beats were designed to make us move and delivered with a restrained, focused intensity that made me wonder half-excitedly and half-fearfully what would happen if he were to let absolutely loose.
One of the benefits of being a trio is there is room to bring in other people for collaboration, and Kink Ador used that to their advantage. They brought up two unique female vocalists for a song each and my brother joined their drummer on the penultimate song to create an explosively percussive piece.
All in all, I would recommend seeing Kink Ador – their music was well played, and the mood was assertive yet fun. Not only will you be showing support for a talented group of Eastsiders, but you also might be pleasantly surprised. They definitely surprised me.
Yesterday was a long Nashville Saturday that included some tennis in the morning, a gorgeous afternoon walking the dogs at Shelby Bottoms, and a few evening hours browsing the local art on display at the galleries participating in ArtEast. That means today will be a much slower day for me and the rest of the EastNashvilleBlog.com crew. If you’re recovering like we are – and I’m sure at least a few of you are in that boat – why not take a few minutes to check out the new video for my friend Dana Immanuel‘s song “Nashville”?
If you listen to her sing or watch her play the guitar or banjo you might be fooled into thinking she’s from around these parts or somewhere close, but singer-songwriter Dana Immanuel actually hails from London, UK. Can somebody do us all the favor of booking her for a few shows here in Music City? Flights to London from Nashville are a bit on the expensive side for lowly bloggers like me.
