Nashville Tennessee Y'All
In hopes of 1. Escaping January in Chicago and 2. Making some progress/connections with the "real" music business (i.e., non-tribute band stuff), I made a pilgrimage to Nashville this month. So far, the hopes for decent weather have been bitterly empty - it's COLD AS HELL down here, and the 4 inches of snow they got a couple of days ago pretty much paralyzed the whole town (they don't have much in the way of snow trucks).All that aside, I must say there's some flat-out great music & musicians here - that perception about Nashville is dead-on. Although the Chicago cats have nothing to apologize for to anyone, they seem to be a little "slicker" around here; faster, more chops, more finesse and (frustratingly), more of that bible-belt exterior that prevents most of them from saying what's really on their minds. Chicago is WAY better in that regard.
One highlight for me since being here: I went to a house party/jam hosted by Wendy Newcomer last week, and had a blast. Among all the amazing players (standup bass, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, gypsy-style guitar, regular guitar), she was the standout for me. And yet... she seems to be another puzzling example of an artist who looks & sounds to me to be as good (or better) as anyone out there, looks good, funny, nice, and yet... no big label deal, no big fame, working a day job, etc.
Maybe she's one more talented example of something every artist needs: "Star" perception, marketing and/or connections who have that happening. Or V I D E O, people! Show 'em who you are on camera!
Wendy absolutely tore up a Patsy Cline tune called "Get It Over." FYI, there was a fiddler there who says he used to play for Patsy Cline. He said she had a real appetite for lots of men ("I had my chance," he said, "but I wasn't interested. To me, she kind of looked like a man - she looked like Bob Hope.") Wendy gave me her CD, and she's a good writer with her own stuff, but she also knows good material: She recorded a pre-Robert Plant/Alison Kraus version of a hauntingly sardonic/sad tune called "Killing The Blues" that I think is better than anyone else's, including the writer, or even Shawn Colvin.
Hi,
I have a Johnny Cash tribute band, so if you have any connections in the "fake" music business, I sure would appreciate it!
Posted by
Bennie Wheels |
9:44 PM