Music City Roots

Now friends, you may think that your Roots correspondent was wishing that Game 7 of this epic World Series hadn’t fallen on a show day. But I’m not so sure. A charming and exciting lineup made this historic night even more beautiful and memorable. It was a fusion of two of my favorite things – music and baseball – and as I followed the action on my phone, our talented artists calmed my trembling nerves.  

Ben DeBerry, the guitar-slinging dude half of The Danberrys, brought his old and loved copy of String Wizards to the show so that John McEuen, the man who made it in 1991, could sign it. Not only did Ben get that autograph backstage at this week’s MCR, he got a spontaneous invitation to join John on stage for a blues jam during his set. That’s how it goes in Roots world, where as I mentioned in my preview for this week, acolytes become teachers and pass it on, whether by way of stories from the road, instrumental tips or performance opportunities. It’s the Americana way. There were plenty of string wizards on hand on Wednesday night, but John also has an album called Acoustic Traveller and that felt like an appropriate take on the show as well, as it featured no drums or electric instruments at all. But travelers for sure.

It must be October. A day after the Chicago Cubs pulled off a four-run ninth-inning comeback against the Giants to secure their Division title (rock!), this week’s Roots featured: a band called the WPA Ball Club, Aly Sutton dressed like a cast member in A League of Their Own and four basses (we pun out of love). They were all acoustic upright basses belonging to four very different and thoroughly wonderful bands. Then we capped the night off with a solo performance which I can in no way force into my baseball metaphor. Except to say that we won. Our seventh birthday show looked really good on paper and it sounded amazing in actuality.

I just finished my friend Tamara Saviano’s heartfelt and fascinating new biography of Guy Clark, the lion of literate Texas/Nashville songwriting of the past 50 years. We’re still grieving the passing of Guy, who died in May. He was remembered and honored at a gala show at the Ryman in August. And he came up at this week’s Roots show. Noel McKay of High Plains Jamboree spoke in our interview about the life-changing impact of knowing and writing with Guy, whom he met after opening a show for him and Townes Van Zandt in the 1990s. It struck me during Zach Schmidt’s set that we had an entire lineup of songwriters who would have sounded great opening for Guy Clark. There’s always passion for the song in Americana music, but this roster brought a special focus to the art and the craft.

The easiest way to describe the Sept. 28 Music City Roots was Ladies Night – our four acts were all led by women. But outside of their creators’ XX chromosomes, those four sets of music had virtually nothing in common. It was an unusual night in more ways than that. With host Jim Lauderdale and “interview guy” Craig Havighurst at the IBMA’s annual gathering in Raleigh, Sam Bush and I were called in. Fortunately, golden-throated MCR announcer Keith Bilbrey was minding the store and maintaining standards. Sam and his trademark mandolin, “Hoss,” appropriately opened the evening with a well-known musical female, Bob Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country.” Although it’s not on his fine new CD, Storyman, it captured that album’s singer-songwriter approach while showing off his mandolin mastery, setting the song to a bluesy, Allman-style riff. Pound for pound, there is no better, more dynamic mandolin picker on earth. Angel Snow, fresh from her weekend performance at Franklin’s Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival

AmericanaFest 2016 may be wrapping up, but more than ever, we took this year’s gathering as a battery-charger and an inspiring star map for what lies ahead. Hearing kind words about our new Roots Radio initiative on WMOT 89.5 FM certainly helped rev our enthusiasm from high to higher for the prospects of sharing and spreading the music and the stories of its makers. I had an interesting but sobering experience on the weekend teaching a seminar about the origins and legacy of Music City to a group of 50 adult learners enrolled at Bethel University. These were folks from outside our industry/music nerd circles, but I was surprised to survey them and learn that ZERO of them had heard of the concept of “Americana” music. Yet this is music for everyone. It’s our shared, connecting heritage in a divisive time, so I took this as a personal challenge. Due to the unique time crunch of AMA week, I offer my annual condensed survey of last week’s action and this week’s show, which looks just splendid with an MCR debut by

That radio countdown never sounded so sweet. Not since our first night on WSM in October 2009 did the top of the show – with its shot of Rob Ickes dobro and our emcee’s stentorian voice proclaiming us on the air from the Edge of Music City – have so much electricity for me. Yes, I know we send a video feed of MCR out over the internet across much greater distances than the footprint of an FM signal. But in my opinion, radio will always be the most refined and exciting and substantial medium – the one that matches technology and content in the most timeless and spiritual way. I mean, think about it. The voices and instrumental sounds of Nashville’s finest musician and distinguished visiting talent went into microphones on stage, imprinting their nuances and truth onto a current of electricity. That signal went to a mixing board and then over an internet line to a studio in Murfreesboro where it was processed for broadcast and then sent a few more miles to a tower west of Percy Priest Lake where it was sent rip

Tuesday’s show was bound to sell out because Berklee forces arrived with a couple hundred students, faculty and alumni and because their very distinguished alums Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings asked if their performance and award presentation could be nested in a special Roots show. That means a lot to us, and both parties pulled out the stops to create one of the finest and most meaningful shows we’ve ever put on. Liz Longley has a song with a chorus that starts “You’ve got that way…” and wow, so does she. Armed with an acoustic guitar and her cool, smoky and nimble voice, she took the stage for our first set. The songs have become hits for me from repeated listening to her debut album. “Memphis” and “Bad Habit” are new soul folk standards. “Skin And Bones” has a darker Appalachian edge. Then it was on to a very different voice in Sierra Hull, with her musically entwined new string trio and songs from her fascinating new Weighted Mind album. After the title track we heard the baroque and intricate composed

Peter Cooper - Opening Day   Kacy & Clayton Strange Country https://youtu.be/r1yFxTh6DN8 If You Ask How I’m Keeping The Rio Grande Wood View Nottaman Town   Rebecca Roubion Don’t Know Who I Am https://youtu.be/8jK8v922EA0 I’ll Be Alright Love Me Now Vacherie Girl Sometimes Anywhere I Go   Lindi Ortega Demons Don’t Get Me Down Cigarettes & Truckstops Ashes Faded Glory Run Amuck https://youtu.be/MyDGpeesCug   Alanna Royale I Know https://youtu.be/lYfEmarN89Y Animal Cop Show Big Time Me I Used To Dream Giving It All Away Nashville Jam - Ain’t Too Proud To Beg https://youtu.be/EBsGufz7Fno

Jim Lauderdale - It Hurts   Victoria Canal - City Shoes https://youtu.be/2KP1BVjlJho   Badi Assad Pega No Coco https://youtu.be/YWdQVKBli7A Voce Nao Entendeu Nada Little Lion Man Sedated Stranger Vocal Improv   Jonny Fritz Goodbye Summer Are You Thirsty Humidifier https://youtu.be/HNnntMMyCGQ I Love Leaving Happy In Hindsight Stadium Inn Seventh Song?!?! WHO IS DOING THIS JOB?!>! “Central Virginia?”   I Draw Slow Valentine https://youtu.be/XEONV643Wj8 My Portion Carolina Goldmine Twin Sisters Little Switzerland   Luke Bulla Temperance Reel Cruel Moon Midnight & Lonesome https://youtu.be/ICPZ7j-Moh0 Tie Me Down & Set Me Free Who Loves You Better Somebody’s Got To Pay Nashville Jam - Rocky Road Blues https://youtu.be/n37G6xqVNpw

Jim Lauderdale - Can We Find Forgiveness   Lee Harvey Osmond How Does It Feel Blue Moon Drive Come and Go (Dreams) Oh The Gods https://youtu.be/GH1khPuwsgQ Freedom   HONEYHONEY Watcha Gonna Do Now Yours to Bear https://youtu.be/jR4mwafD6S0 Big Man Burned Me Out Back To You   Eric Brace & Peter Cooper Band C&O Canal https://youtu.be/kWffQ_gME7M Boulder to Birmingham Blue Ridge If That’s the Way You Feel Wait a Minute   Michael Martin Murphey High Stakes Campfire on The Road Emilia Farewell Wildfire https://youtu.be/5rTwVXt10zw Geronimo’s Cadillac https://youtu.be/MkVv0XvQ5Lg   Nashville Jam - Workin on a Building https://youtu.be/hKfPn6eEnDg

Jim Lauderdale - Honky Tonk Mood Again   J.P. Harris & Chance McCoy Stewball Sugar Babe https://youtu.be/0U6_NGNrt3Y Walk On By https://youtu.be/fdggC7SJmhg Hogeye Man Poor Robin Train That Carried My Girl From Town   Della Mae Boston Town https://youtu.be/MEN1MYZU33k Rude Awakening Good Blood https://youtu.be/je4XO71yU_s High Away Gone Carter County   The Secret Sisters The One I Love Is Gone River Jordan Till It’s Over https://youtu.be/rwHBGb0r7-4 Tennessee River Runs Low https://youtu.be/28MYP2x7jL8 Lonely Island Bad Habit   The Americans Last Chance I’ll Be Yours Harbor Lane The Right Stuff Stowaway https://youtu.be/4vlAB9sB_H8 In the Shadow Of the Pines https://youtu.be/0okf41sJA18   Nashville Jam - Man of Constant Sorrow https://youtu.be/kGiWCDN7LeU

 Jim Lauderdale Taarka, The Ransom Notes, Parker Millsap, The SteelDrivers

Jim Lauderdale - Lazy Boy https://youtu.be/8EFBYHyQXYc   John McEuen (Segment 1) Cannonball Rag https://youtu.be/S_mF9YiJ35w I am a Pilgrim Dooley* (w/Les Thompson) https://youtu.be/KvwK2N7qDvI Blue Ridge Flower (You Are) Ring of Fire* (w/John Carter Cash) https://youtu.be/2PdWjx36ewE   John McEuen (Segment 2) Little Girl Of Mine In Tennessee* (w/Mike Bub) https://youtu.be/2zrYkVEqY2A Christmas Times a Comin’* (w/Roland White) https://youtu.be/RImOnLC9yIY Way Downtown Standing On The Mountain* (w/Jesse McReynolds) https://youtu.be/KSXHZ8mTtmI Dixie Hoedown   John McEuen (Segment 3) Shelly’s Blues* (w/Matt Cartsonis) https://youtu.be/4d7LtZO48p4 Mr. Bojangles* (w/Jeff Hanna) https://youtu.be/mUEmP52srAY Dismal Swamp* https://youtu.be/ZyyN7aw7Kno Away In a Manger* (w/Rhonda Vincent & Josh Williams) https://youtu.be/ByfuxyeKnWE Jingle Bells* (w/Rhonda Vincent & Josh Williams) https://youtu.be/Y3V8AamreXA Earl’s Breakdown   John McEuen (Segment 4) Acoustic Traveler* https://youtu.be/_bGMufHWUrI Wild Ride*

Jim Lauderdale - The Star   Jamie Kent Prince of Pain Still A Dream           Rosalita Look Up Bonfire https://youtu.be/YSCu5qwzwgg   Jon Stickley Trio Point to Point Blackburn Brothers Rice Dream Darth Radar Echolocation https://youtu.be/bK35-zTvnIU Blackberry Blossom   Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn Fisherman’s Song Yu Zhou Chang Wan https://youtu.be/GAIiioJnziA Julien Johnson/Cindy’s Little Hand Ho Hey/Chuck Old Hen Banjo Guzheng Pickin’ Girl https://youtu.be/w5GyM3rI3VA   Band Of Ruhks Here Comes The Broken Heart Again Devil And The Deep Good Time Mountain Man Lost Highway Bootleg John https://youtu.be/5RtZxF5662U   Nashville Jam - Nine Pound Hammer https://youtu.be/0wTvLS37FNY

  Setlist 11/18/2015 - Jim Lauderdale -  Let's Have A Good Thing Together   Moe Bandy Bandy The Rodeo Clown https://youtu.be/qPEdlrklqsI Picture In A Frame It’s A Cheating Situation Till I’m Too Old To Die Young Americana   Christian Lopez Band Between Us Man I Was Before Leaving It Out https://youtu.be/1ji4_CRouGk Will I See You Again Take You Away     Tim O'Brien I Gotta Move Whatever Happened To Me I’m A Mess For You Pompadour https://youtu.be/eJUlQxUQZRY The Water Is Wise   North Mississippi Allstars Up Over Yonder https://youtu.be/jonlayXYmj4 Mean Ol’ Wind Died Down https://youtu.be/z6Oippvcejo Never In All My Days Roll N Tumble Ho Down   Jim Lauderdale You Were Here Black Widow Spider Way Out There’s A Storm Out There - not played Sad Bell https://youtu.be/Wl28VmPOrzA Worth The Wait https://youtu.be/0OoW7BzjpxM Mysterious Nashville Jam - Down By The Riverside https://youtu.be/tMT0sDFHosQ

Setlist 11/11/2015 - Jim Lauderdale - Honky Tonk Haze   John Conlee Common Man Miss Emily’s Picture* Backside Of Thirty Bread & Water Rose Colored Glasses* Amazing Grace   Peter Case Pelican Bay Water From A Stove House Rent Party All Dressed Up So Glad You’re Mine Ain’t Gonna Worry No More   Horseshoes & Hand Grenades Gator Tracks For A River Old Man & Me Rattlin’ Bog* Whiskey*   The Infamous Stringdusters Let It Go Highwayman* Summer Camp Peace Of Mind Rivers Run Cold Colorado* Nashville Jam - Sitting On The Top Of The World