Hirum Hickum Project, Red Tree Coffee, 6/25/10

On a hot night like this, it’s tempting to stay home chillin’ in your air-conditioned home instead of going out. But my instincts were urging me to go out as I planned. I’ve had enough near misses to start paying better attention to my instincts, so I did venture out. This time, I am mighty glad I did.

When I walked into Red Tree Coffee, I found a new group made up of several familiar faces: Louise Mosrie (vocals/guitar), Greg Foresman(guitar/mandolin/dobro/vocals), Julie Grower (percussion/guitar/vocals), Bruce-Jon Brigham (guitar/vocals), and Steve Peffer (keyboards/accordion/strings/vocals). This was the “dress rehearsal” debut for the Hirum Hickum Project. This group of friends have been playing together informally for some time (and in fact, this night was not the first time I’ve seen four of the five play together...Louise, Greg, Julie and Bruce-Jon played a memorable Bluebird Café round in March of 2009). They decided to form a group, and already have a four song EP available. A few songs into their set, I knew I was indeed hearing a “supergroup”. Hirum Hickum shined on the three newer songs from the EP, and the Greg Foresman favorite “Strike Up the Band”. Louise also did a popular song from her “Home” CD, “God Lives In Arkansas”, and the group closed their set with a fine cover of “Bellbottom Blues”.

I’ve said this before...it’s a great feeling to discover new acts and really get excited about them, and to anticipate what’s to come. The Hirum Hickum Project is off to a great start. They’ve got a memorable name and a memorable sound. Can’t wait to hear more.

Back On The Beat...

If anyone had been wondering, no, I haven't quit writing this blog or haven't stopped caring about the local songwriter scene. I just haven't had as much time as in the past to devote to it. Other things have been taking up my time. Since March I've had an extended stretch of temp work which puts me back on the day shift...which also means I can't stay out too late at shows (well, maybe once in a while) because I have to get up early. My sidekick gig on T.J. and Company also demands a chunk of time, because I am also the show blogger and the tech person. A lot of work goes into planning our fun two-hour show. If you haven't yet listened, I hope you will. Finally, I had this three week virus bug which took up residence in my throat (instead of my nose, where these things usually hit),causing violent coughing spasms which fired up big time as soon at nighttime hit. Not an ideal scenario for listening to live music. The remnants are still with me at this point, but thankfully it's much more under control.

OK, enough excuses. Not that I've exactly been a hermit. Admittedly I spend most of my weekends in my "adopted home area" of Pegram/Kingston Springs supporting acts playing at Red Tree Coffee and The Fillin' Station, like Good Gravy, Mohawk Slim Band, Culley and Elliott and a host of others. But I've not abandoned my other regular haunts like the Commodore, where I've been at least a couple of times these past weeks, or Doak Turner's 3rd Sunday gathering. Also, my radio partner T.J. Kirby and I hosted a stage at the Nashville Songwriters Festival, where we were gifted with several songwriters' CDs you'll be hearing a track or two from over the coming weeks. And I do plan to check out many other writers nights and places, but there's always the happy Nashville problem to contend with: too many hot things happening in the same night. What to do, what to do? Can someone please split me in two?

Many events I've been to over the past two weeks have been flood relief benefits. Red Tree and the Fillin' Station each had one which raised a good chunk of money, with music by many first-class special musical guests. Debi Champion also hosted a great one full of hit writers at the Commodore Grill...it raised over $1,000 by the early hours of the evening. Then there was "Rebuilding Our Community" at the Mud Puddle Pottery/Harpeth Art Center, benefiting South Cheatham County flood victims and featuring good eats and fine music by hit songwriters Wood Newton and Ron Hellard, guitarist Verlon Thompson and Culley and Elliott backed by Braided Chord. The local communities continue to pull together and support one another, and the music more than lifts the spirits.

There's one thing I've been very grateful for. Despite my absences and my slacking off from this blog, I am still thankful to be able to walk into places I've mentioned above and still get a round of hugs from writers and artists. Thanks for hanging in with me and not forgetting me. I have not forgotten you and intend to stick with you. Because you know, I do love this town.

After the Flood...

Friday, one week before. We were all jammed into Red Tree Coffee in Kingston Springs at a benefit for musician Jack Kapanka, seriously injured in an auto accident. Kids were stopping by on their way to the prom and we all cheered as they walked in displaying their finery. Several musicians took their turns sharing songs and, as often happens there at Red Tree, the spirit was a special bonding between artists and audience.

Who knew...

Saturday morning. The rain came pouring down. Not being a big fan of driving in rain so hard I can't see well, I nonetheless steeled myself to make my way to my radio show on Radio Free Nashville that afternoon via Old Harding Road to Highway 100. It was getting pretty wet then, I observed. By the time I was on my way to join T.J. and Rene for an after-show bite at Borders, a stretch of Old Harding Road was completely flooded and I had to reroute back to Temple Road and Highway 100.

Who knew...that 24 hours later the road I traveled and the cities of Kingston Springs and Pegram that I'd become so fond of would become the sites of many rescues by boat of people from their flooded homes and unbelieveable devastation. I soon knew how lucky I was...to be able to have gotten back and forth to my destinations on Saturday and that my Bellevue subdivision would be spared the damage of the flood waters.

I tell this story here because it is in these times that music speaks and brings us together. Telethons and benefit concerts and tip jars abound to raise money for flood relief. And indeed, one of the very sites of the calm before the storm, Red Tree Coffee, is a command post for volunteers and was a place of healing last night with the music of the beloved Calico Trail...as always, closing the distance between artist and audience, bringing us all together.

We are Nashville...and Kingston Springs, and Pegram and all the other hard hit places. We'll make it through this together.

Judy Whiting: A Personal Reflection

This is one piece I didn't want to have to write. Not because I didn't want to share some thoughts about a friend. The problem is that sadly, we lost this friend today...those of us who shared her determined optimism that she would make it through this setback were very shocked and saddened.

I first met Judy Whiting virtually, on the Nashville Music Pros networking site, where I learned we had much in common. I met her personally for the first time at the Radio Free Nashville studios. She had accompanied John Heinrich, who was being interviewed by George Adams on "Geo On The Radio", the show that preceded mine at the station at the time. I will always remember when she came out of the studio, hugged me and said, "You're just as pretty as your picture!"

Judy became a friend and encourager to me, as she was to many musicians in Music City. Of course, Nashville at times can seem like one big "small town". At John Heinrich's steel guitar demonstration at the Country Music Hall of Fame, through Judy I met singer/songwriter Garry Jackson, who it turned out had a couple of other friends on Radio Free Nashville who I hadn't yet met at that time. Garry, Steve Haggard and Kimberly King have since become very dear friends to me. We're all connected. Judy was a great connector.

Judy and I shared a couple of fun lunch dates together. Besides a little bit of "girl talk" here and there, the one topic that consistently came up with us--and which we were both in strong agreement on--was when it came to dealing with musicians in the course of the business, the relationships and friendships were much more valuable and important than all the musical politics.

I'm comforted by my pastor's reminder this Sunday to us that "to be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord."

Go rest high, girl. As you always told us, keep the sunshine in your heart.

Recent Roundup

Where have I been? Well, the truth is, winter and I don't get along very well. When I lived in St. Paul and Minneapolis, MN I pretty much hibernated between November and April. There, the winters average about five months. For my first couple of years here in Nashville, winter was, for the most part, just time on the calendar. Snow? If there was a sprinkling of it, it was a big deal. But now, this year's snow frequency and temperatures is almost giving the Twin Cities a run for its money (well, okay, no, so we haven't had the below zero wind chills). Like it did in the Twin Cities, it's gotten old. My snow driving rule has been in effect: ice or snow, the car don't go. (Perhaps the only advantage to being unemployed...I'm not forced to risk my life and my little old car to dangerous driving conditions).

Where I'm going with all the above is to make the point that this year's winter has not been conducive to me doing much of what I came here for and keeping up this blog of late. However, I did venture out now and then.

It had been a while since I'd been to Tunesmithing, regularly hosted each month by Chuck Whiting, out at Edgehill Studios Cafe. February's edition had a very strong lineup. There were some excellent songs and vocal performances by Gary Gulbergh (backed vocally by wife Susan Shann) and Melissa Javors. My friend Randi Perkins did one of his finest sets ever, with his warmth and honest stories, songs and vocals charming the crowd. Closing the evening was noted singer/songwriter/author Lisa Aschmann. I could have listened to her sing all evening. I've been blown away by her acapella singing in past gigs, but this time backed with guitar and percussion, she was just as impressive.

I also got out to see for the first (and sadly, maybe the last) time the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. It was quite a wonderful display of artifacts and memories paying tribute to some of the unsung heroes of the music we love: the session musicians and writers. The biggest highlight for me was the screening of the film about "The Wrecking Crew". There was so much history there, filled with music and interviews with hit making artists and the people who made them sound great. It was hard for me to pull myself away from the screen, but I didn't want to miss the ceremony honoring the 2007 Hall inductees. I'd hoped to have been able to buy a DVD of the film (and resolved to do so if I could have, job or no job!)...but unfortunately, one wasn't available (you can go to the film website to help make that happen).

It was a thrill for me to see some of the noted honorees, such as Harold Bradley, Pig Robbins and many others. It was also great to see so many singer/songwriter friends of mine there (and to meet those for the first time who happened to recognize me!). I'd missed a lot of the networking and camaraderie being so danged cooped up.

I also got back out to Red Tree Coffee in Kingston Springs--hadn't been there since before the first of the year. The house was packed for the increasingly red-hot Calico Trail. Their songs, vocal harmonies and performing skills are first rate. They are currently recording their first CD. Watch these guys...they're going to do something big in town.

Spring is coming...right?

Good Gravy, Fillin' Station, Kingston Springs, TN 1/16/2010

It was a dark and stormy night...rainy, a little hard to see on the roads. My friends told me to stay home. But look, when you really like an act and want to hear them play, what's a little rain, anyhow?

I'd already been a fan of one of the two husband and wife duos who make up the group Good Gravy. "Cool" Ray (guitar, vocals) and Ariel DeSilvis (vocals, percussion) also perform around the area as Those Two. After hearing Ariel's awesome power vocals and great songs, I was sold from the get go (and she's my hero also since I'm an aspiring percussion player who's only gotten as far as playing rhythm egg). The other half of the group is bass player Tom Good and Susan Julian, yet another amazing and powerful singer and one mighty keyboard player. Along with their original songs, whenever this combo takes on just about any cover song they choose to handle, they put their smooth jazz/blues/pop/R & B/rockabilly stamp on it and knock it out of the ballpark. Add in Fillin' Station owner and former War harmonica player Patrick Weickenand sitting in wailin' on the harp for a number or two and you've got icing on the cake.

In my opinion, Ariel and Susan are two of the best female vocalists I've heard in this town. How cool is it to have two equally top-flight singers in one band? A couple of other folks who were there that evening were so impressed with Good Gravy that they pledged to bring a crowd with them at the group's next Fillin' Station gig on the 30th. Some of the group members can also be heard at the weekly Thursday night blues jam at the Fillin' Station.

Me, I'd call it awesome gravy. Taste and hear for yourself.

Musical Christmas Cheer

For me, the best Christmas spirit isn't found in what advertisers and media tell you about how you are supposed to spend your Christmas. It's about what's real, genuine and fun. Two events I went to this week were perfect examples.

WRFN's T.J. Kirby introducing Les Kerr and the Bayou Band

Les Kerr and the Bayou Band Christmas show, 3rd and Lindsley, 12/17/09

It was Christmas on the Bayou with Les Kerr and the Bayou Band. This annual show took a break for a couple of years but returned to its 3rd and Lindsley home this year. Lots of original and well-known tunes served up New Orleans style. Yes of course, those trademark references to food that Les loves so much were mixed in seasonal and non-seasonal songs("Christmas Gumbo", "Camellia Grill"). There were fun songs and touching ones as well, such as a fine cover of John Hartford's "On Christmas Eve", about spending Christmas on a boat on the Mississippi. Les and Caroline Stoker (daughter of bandmate Brent Stoker) did a sweet recitation of "Yes, There Is A Santa Claus".

There was great musicianship throughout the night, with a couple of special band member spotlights. Multi-talent Bryan Cumming celebrated getting a song that he co-wrote played on a soap opera earlier that day. Harmonica player Everett Brown amused folks with his spot-on song about writers nights. Brent Stoker soloed with an Elvis tune...his father Gordon's group the Jordanaires (who also appear on Les' "Christmas on the Coast" CD) are well known for being Elvis' long-time backup vocal group.

Another highlight was the reunion of the "Bayou Babes Chorale" on Robert Earl Keen's "Happy Holidays, Y'all" and the very fun "Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On".

Besides being a great entertainer, Les is one of the true nice guys in town. He is just what you see on stage...warm, genuine, appreciative and a great encourager of others. That's the sort of spirit we need all year long.



Red Tree Coffee Community Christmas Party, 12/18/09

One of the greatest gifts to the Kingston Springs community (and those of us who live within commuting distance) is without a doubt Red Tree Coffee. It was a packed house of love Friday night for the community Christmas party. The offerings included free sweets (the oatmeal raisin cookies were to die for and I overindulged!) and of course, great music. There were guest appearances by several of the regular Red Tree musicians: Those Two, Casey Campbell, E.G. Smith, and Linda McRae each shared a couple of Christmas tunes (and who cared if they didn't know all the chords or the lyrics...we loved them anyway!), along with Chelsea Bills, a singer from Paragould, Arkansas we first heard impressing the crowd at Jon Conley's birthday bash this summer.

We also heard from the Red Tree musical family, with Jon Conley starting off the night and accompanying most everyone (including toddler Polly with a couple of renditions of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" once she got going!). Savannah, Katie and Amy led us all in carols. It was a very sweet moment of warmth and heartfelt emotion from and to the folks who make this little coffeehouse so special.

I couldn't end the night without stopping next door to the Fillin' Station and wishing Merry Christmas to my newer musical friends the Mohawk Slim Band. Mark Willoughby's drum set was decked out in Christmas lights for the occasion and the guys played some smokin' blues as always (with some amazing harmonica licks from Patrick Weickenand...hadn't heard him in quite a while).

You know what, it's been a rough year. But nights like the last two left me filled with a little more hope and optimism that things will be better...at least for now.

I'm taking the rest of the year off. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.