These are the adventures of our heroine Anna as she leaves her majestic homeland of Montana and crosses the United States. Her mission: To make music that rocks. Her motto: GO BIG OR GO HOME!
Go to his site. Buy an album. This guy is unbelievable. He stopped in Nashville on his way to a convention, and my friend Sarah and I were lucky enough to catch him when we popped in for New Faces Night at The Basement.
I have seen many people play. This is the only person I have ever seen that really blew me away, using just their voice and a guitar. When he first took the stage, my thought was "Look at that little guitar - is that a kid's guitar? It doesn't look like he knows what he's doing." Boy was I wrong. Danny writes and performs with such cleverness and profoundness that the entire venue was silently enraptured for the duration of his performance. It may have been the best performance I've ever seen in my life, and since you can't compare this to The Rolling Stones (because it's a different presentation), I'm going to go ahead and say it was. Danny's songs liken to the American tradition of storytelling that I grew up with in Clarksville, Tennessee. He puts his own modern twist to the tradition of folk music, and lovers of any genre of music can find themselves relating to the words and melodies he pieces together. Truly fantastic, A++, five-star, two-thumbs up rating from me. I bought his latest album "Little Grey Sheep" I will definately keep track of this artist. He'll be huge soon, and if he isn't, shame on the world.
This morning I awoke and shuffled bleary-eyed into Uncle Jack's kitchen to find a lone egg staring back at me from the fridge like a vein-less eyeball with no pupil. Little did I know what that single egg's effect on my day would be...
With only one egg to cook, I resolved to make the pilgrimage to Kroger. A trip for eggs turned into a trip for pancake mix and sausage, and after adding 2 impulse buys to my escapade, the third was simply an afterthought. I tossed the Sunday Paper, The Tennessean, into my black basket and headed to the checkout, where I discovered that in Tennessee, on a Sunday, one cannot purchase a 40 of Olde English before noon, even if its consumption is intended for afternoon or evening thereafter. So much for my President's Day party. I drove up the secluded driveway and toted the goods inside. The sausage was surprisingly flavorless, but the pancakes made up for it. Hungry Jack mmmmm! I was so full after pancakes and pork that I only ate one egg. I laughed out loud at that, since I had originally gone to Kroger with the intention of eating more than one for breakfast.
After filling myself, I grabbed the Tennessean and headed up to the loft to read the paper with music. I found a Robert Plant special that had been taped from Palladia and settled in. Most of the news centered around Obama's bailout plan, and those who are either for or against it firing off about it. The title of the story that would, however, involve the latter part of my day read, "Jazz Fans Fight to Save MTSU Radio Station." Now, jazz music is not my primary genre, but I fully understand and appreciate its influence on the world of music. Many, if not all, of my favorite artists were influenced by jazz, from Mike Einziger of Incubus and John Mayer to Queen, Led Zeppelin, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and even Jay-Z. Any artist who uses improvisation or syncopation, or a blue note has influence from jazz. It's a mish-mash of African and European Music. It came from America, and I felt a sudden call to duty to help defend the core of Nashville's jazz scene in a town where it has just recently had success in re-blooming alongside Broadway's honkeytonks and country bars. And what else was I going to do on a Sunday?
So it was off to Limelight, the club hosting the benefit show for 89.5 FM, aka WMOT. Wow. This was a great show! An amazing show! It started at 3:00 and Jack and I stood at the bar until about 6:00. I met a few people from Nashville, one woman who works as a Music Therapist, and another couple that was on vacation from Virginia. There were so many great performers, and each of the bands were tightly rehearsed. The two performers that impressed me the most were Rod McGaha on Trumpet and Victor Wooten on Bass. I hope Mr. McGaha is some distant relative of mine, because I want to unleash what he's got. Such a dynamic player. Wow. And he made some really crazy sound effects with his horn every now and then that kept me interested. And Victor Wooten, oh, Victor Wooten. Where to begin. I have been meaning to see the Wooten Brothers at 3rd and Lindsley where they play every Wednesday Night, but haven't made it down yet. I have already reserved a five dollar bill to see what kind of ruckus this man might produce with his kin on Wednesday. What I saw today was hands down the best bass playing I've ever seen in my life. He played solo for about seven minutes before joining the band, and I was truly amazed at some of the sounds that he made. He seamlessly blended purcussive playing techniques with melodic progressions that I didn't even know existed. It was a lucky day for me today. I hope the fifteen dollars I donated makes a difference, because if this radio station means so much to musicians with this much talent and rapport with the community, then it deserves a Lincoln and a Hamilton from my wallet. We'll just have to wait and see what the fate of WMOT shall be.
So that's the beauty of what can begin with something as simple as an egg. I'll have to be careful in this town...there's so much great music to see that I may forget to make my own!
My Dream Band just needs a drummer after this guitar player! Wow she is amazing. How have I not heard of her before? She did 2 world tours with Jeff Beck and 3 with Michael Jackson. Jeff Beck gets all the awesome chick musicians - does he have a drummer too? I'll get back to you on that. But someday, I'll have an awesome all chick band that rocks your socks off! There has yet to be a BAND to harness the energy of a pack of women and put it to rock music. It just hasn't been done yet. Or maybe it HAS been done and I just don't know about it. Let me know if it has been done. If all of my best girl friends played instruments, you'd better believe we'd be in a band, and it would be crazy. But they don't so I'll just have to find other girls that play and make them my new friends. In the meantime, feast your eyes and ears on this:
Yes, that is the correct pronunciation if you're a local. Well, it's been a busy couple o' days since I got here. I found an apartment after a couple days, and get to move in next week...I'm glad to get that over with...now I'll have to *wince* get a job. Which means first completing the Professional Bartender's Training Manual...hopefully that will buy me a ticket into the Nashville scene of musicians, writers, and (dare I hope) producers, publishers, and entertainment lawyers and such? A girl's got to get in somehow, right?
Friday night, Uncle Jack and I went downtown to Tootsie's and Robert's Western Wear to take in some Country music. I have to admit, the band at Tootsie's really rocked - I never thought I'd have that much fun listening to country music - maybe it was because they did a few classic rock covers...yes...that was it.
Found a perfect little upstairs apartment today, watched Ladykillers - an excellent display of the genius film-making talents of the Cohen brothers Joel and Ethan, and later tonight went down to the Gold Rush Bar in Nashville's Rock Block District. Had a beer and some chicken noodle soup that was awesome. Jack got a Reuben that was delicious and some onion rings - yum yum! I want to go back and play pool there for sure.
WELL - tomorrow, is Super Bowl XLIII (which is 43 for those of you who may be numerically challenged with digits of the Roman kind) and I'm rooting for the Cardinals because they are my boyfriend's favorite team, and otherwise I have no preference. Also their color is red, which is my favorite color, and also Cardinals are badass - have you seen the birds? I used to sit and look at them out the window back in Clarksville when I was about 5 years old. They are rowdy and beautiful, so if the football team with their name upholds to the character of the bird, then they can't be less than fantastic. SO - GO CARDINALS! Let's eat, drink, and waste the day away screaming!
I'm one of those people who's stubborn enough that they might actually succeed. If you look at the number of people who actually make it in the music business, the chances are slim. But then again, I'm not most people.
I have seen many people play. This is the only person I have ever seen that really blew me away, using just their voice and a guitar. When he first took the stage, my thought was "Look at that little guitar - is that a kid's guitar? It doesn't look like he knows what he's doing." Boy was I wrong. Danny writes and performs with such cleverness and profoundness that the entire venue was silently enraptured for the duration of his performance. It may have been the best performance I've ever seen in my life, and since you can't compare this to The Rolling Stones (because it's a different presentation), I'm going to go ahead and say it was. Danny's songs liken to the American tradition of storytelling that I grew up with in Clarksville, Tennessee. He puts his own modern twist to the tradition of folk music, and lovers of any genre of music can find themselves relating to the words and melodies he pieces together. Truly fantastic, A++, five-star, two-thumbs up rating from me. I bought his latest album "Little Grey Sheep" I will definately keep track of this artist. He'll be huge soon, and if he isn't, shame on the world.
