Nashville

“I had the greatest thing in the world that could ever happen to me happen.  Elton John somehow came across my new record and called me up and asked if he could play piano on my next record,” Aaron Lee Tasjan tells me, laughing, after asking him if he’s...

This coming Wednesday, September 29th, the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection will finally see the re-opening of our favorite listening room(s), World Café Live.  And while the official “Re-Opening Party” will be in The Lounge with SnackTime and Deborah Bond, I would argue that the best party...

“I’m in service to the songs.  And what I mean when I say that is songs kind of have a life of their own.  There’s an energy when creating a song where I want the song to do what the song wants to do and not necessarily what I...

*Update: Sadly, Colter Wall’s entire fall tour (including all of his dates with Riddy Arman) are postponed until next year. “I started writing music as a form of meditation and therapy, without realizing it at the time.  That’s what I was using music and songwriting for.  So, my music...

“I think I’ve learned a lot and grown a lot.  I’ve never gotten so personal, and maybe blunt.  I’ve never allowed things to feel this raw and vulnerable,” says Nashville-based singer/songwriter Madi Diaz of her forthcoming album, History of a Feeling, out August 27th on ANTI-.  The LP, which...

*Update: Sadly, and very much at the last minute, Bella White’s show 8/26 at MilkBoy has been cancelled due to health concerns at the venue. “All of Joni Mitchell’s earliest albums are my favorite of her stuff.  She got more honest as she progressed, but a lot of emotional...

“It’s vulnerability at its finest,” says Nashville-based Americana singer/songwriter Leah Blevins of her debut album, First Time Feeling (She’s chatting with me via phone from her Florida vacation.)  The album is out August 6th on Thirty Tigers, although Blevins has been on the scene and making music for quite...

“I’m really real in my music.  I’m very honest and I just love to share stories.  That’s the great thing about country.  We’re not sugar-coating anything.  We’re into telling real stories and being down to Earth with things.  We’re like, ‘Let’s talk about it! Let’s sing about it!’ That’s...

According to their website, Nashville trio The Dead Deads include, “Failure, Bjork, Led Zeppelin, Blue Oyster Cult, NOFX, Pavement, Pink Floyd, Queen, Weezer, Helmet, Cream, Beck and The Pixies,” amongst their biggest influences… Although that sounds more than a little bit confusing, the actual sounds churned out by Meta...