Saturday September 21
It’s not often that you get a call from the head of a record company at 8:30 am on a Saturday morning but that’s what happened when David Macias from Thirty Tigers rang me. We had been trying to organise an interview and David said that he was heading to the Gospel brunch early and he could meet me at 9:30 am. So, I quickly got ready, booked an Uber and arrived there right on time. I was led backstage where I met David and, after he checked that everything was on schedule, we sat down for the interview.
Macias certainly has an interesting story to tell about the history of Thirty Tigers. He used to work for a major label but when he was ‘let go’ decided to found his own label and try to put much of the control back into the hands of the artists. In the coming weeks I’ll air the interview and I’ll no doubt have a feature in Rhythms magazine or on the website.
We also had an interesting discussion about streaming and David is not as opposed to it as you might think . He suggested that streaming gives his artists a profile and at least they’re getting some money from it, whereas otherwise they might not get any. He encouraged me to put a Spotify playlist on the Rhythms website and I think I’m going do that as soon as I can.
The City Winery doors opened at 10am as we finished our interview, I got a strategic spot at a table near the front and grabbed some fried chicken and waffles. Myles and Gordo turned up to share in the feast, though soon after Gordo disappeared to go downtown and buy some cowboy boots.
The music started with a new artist called Blessing, who had echoes of Tracy Chapman and continued with veteran soul singer Swamp Dogg who was terrific.
In the meantime, Brian Taranto (BT) of Love Police arrived and by 1.00pm was ready to leave and offered me a lift to The Vinyl Tap where Anne McCue & The Cubists were playing. It turned out the lift just happened to be in a vintage Cadillac loaned to BT by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. Myles calls BT ‘The Mayor of Nashville’ and he is not far wrong. Everyone seems to know him and as far as touring Americana acts to Australia he is the king. The fact is that when it comes to Americana he has not only got his finger on the pulse he is sampling the DNA. I don’t think I have ever mentioned an act to him that he hasn’t heard of but he has mentioned plenty that are new to me. I joked to Myles that BT spots great new acts before they have even recorded! I think he spots them as soon as they start playing. I don’t know if there are any other promoters who are as deeply immersed in the music. Not only that, BT has been incredibly supportive of Rhythms, which is worth mentioning here.
The Vinyl Tap in East Nashville is part record store, part bar, part venue and it was one of Anne’s two gig during Americana. I thought she was outstanding in a short 35 minute set and her new songs are excellent. Now we just have to convince Anne to release her new album as quickly as possible.
At 2.00pm it was an Uber to The Five Spot for the Aussie BBQ, which ran out of sausages before I arrived which possibly saved me. Put on by Sounds Australia the Aussie BBQ is a chance for artists to showcase their talents in 25-30 minute sets from 11.45am to 6.45pm. This year the line-up consisted of Jenny Mitchell (NZ), Mike Elrington, Matt Joe Gow, Ella Hooper, Wesley Dean, The Weeping Willows, Nigel Wearne & The Spectres, The Pleasures, Imogen Clark, Jordie Lane, Emily Barker and the Freight Train Foxes. Some of the acts also have their own separate showcases. There was a rumour that Paul Kelly might turn up here because he was supposed to be in town playing at the Ryman with Ken Mo’ and Shawn Colvin; however, Ken got sick and the tour was postponed.
At the very least the Aussie BBQ offers the chance for the artists to catch up and mingle with their fellow countrymen including Australian tourists and others who have moved here. I don’t know if any of them ever get signed as a result of it but it certainly creates a profile during the festival. This year seemed to be one of the strongest line-ups and I caught at least 6 of the acts. Imogen Clark has recently moved here and writes songs that might definitely be picked up by some major artists here. Nigel Wearne offers something a bit left field. The Pleasures were outstanding, as was Jordie Lane whose new album was recently No.1 on the ARIA Country Chart, which he mentioned because, as he said, it might never happen to him again. Emily Barker has also moved to Nashville and it will be interesting to see how she goes.
Anne wanted to go and see Christina Vain at the Exit/In because her bass player was also in Christina’s band. So, we headed off across town at 7.30pm. Christina was pretty impressive with some strong original rock ‘n’ roll songs.
While Anne was off to another gig I got an Uber and headed back to the Koala Motel to pack and get some sleep before an early trip to the airport.
It has been a fairly satisfying Americana Festival. I didn’t get to see as much as I would have liked due to my injury but I still packed it in. Plus I produced and presented a radio show!
What blew me away? T Bone Burnett‘s gig at the Analog. Waxahatchee‘s appearance at the Americana Honors & Awards with MJ Lenderman, who is simply sensational, on guitar. Maybe best of all were the two nights at the City Winery with Emmylou Harris featuring Aoife O’Donovan and Ricky Skaggs & The Whites. That was hard to beat.
Onto Austin tomorrow!