Reviews
-
Stacking the Deck: Joan Armatrading at City Winery
When an audience offers up a standing ovation just for an artist walking onstage, the night is surely going to be a good one, right? Well… yes and no. Stopping in Nashville on her first-ever solo tour and last-ever world tour, legendary singer/songwriter Joan Armatrading was humbled by the greeting she received from the City…
-
Ten Out of Tenn at Ryman Auditorium
It\’s a rare and beautiful thing to see artists support each other so readily and joyfully as the members of Ten Out of Tenn do. The Nashville artists\’ collective founded by singer/songwriter Trent Dabbs and his wife, marketing maven Kristen, is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year — part of which included an encore screening…
-
Allison Moorer: Down to Believing
In listening to Allison Moorer\’s Down to Believing, a Wim Wenders quote comes to mind: “My advice is, don\’t spend your money on therapy. Spend it in a record store.” Here, Moorer puts her own spin on that. Whether or not she spent any time in therapy to get through the dissolution of her marriage…
-
The Bangles Get Back to Their Garage Pop Roots at City Winery
With a “1-2-3-4” click in from drummer Debbi Peterson, the Bangles rocked the pants off City Winery last night in their first Nashville appearance since 1988, and the first of this two-show stand. The group recently released their first EP and a batch of early archive pieces as Ladies and Gentlemen… the Bangles. To match…
-
As Decidedly Country as Country Gets: Lee Ann Womack at City Winery
Reaching all the way back to 1997 to start her show with “Never Again, Again,” Lee Ann Womack set the evening\’s tone with a cut that\’s about as decidedly country as country gets… which is not to say that she didn\’t plan on mixing it up a little. Second song out of the gate and…
-
Lord Huron: Strange Trails
On the new Strange Trails, Lord Huron picks up right where Lonesome Dreams left off… with impossibly catchy melodies, emphatically fanciful lyrics, and intriguingly hazy production. Lord Huron has a very specific, radio-ready sound that emerges somewhere between the crisp acoustic guitars and Ben Schneider\’s layered vocals, and which owes a solid debt to My…
-
Best Round Ever: Brandy Clark, Shane McAnally, and Josh Osborne at Tin Pan South
In Nashville, there are great songwriters and big hitmakers. In the space where those two populations overlap, that\’s where you\’ll find Brandy Clark, Shane McAnally, and Josh Osborne. And what an absolute pleasure it was to spend a Tin Pan South evening with them at 3rd & Lindsley, a show that Clark dubbed Two Gays…
-
Laura Marling: Short Movie
Laura Marling, the British songstress who released four records in five years, returns with her fifth, Short Movie, later this month. After that flurry of activity, Marling spent a couple of years in a self-imposed exile in Los Angeles surrounded by people who made art for art\’s sake and nothing more. The experience recalibrated and renewed her…
-
Matthew Perryman Jones at City Winery
City Winery (in Nashville and elsewhere) is set up and sold as a listening room. And, when the calendar is full of acoustic singer/songwriters and small jazz ensembles, that makes absolute sense. But, sometimes, a more emboldened band or artist makes it to the City Winery stage, only to fall prey to the room\’s low-key…
-
Brandi Carlile: The Firewatcher's Daughter
Sometimes, on a record, individual tracks stand out on the very first listen — for better or worse — but the collection, as a whole, takes a few more spins to really sink in. Even then, it might not fully come together as a cohesive listening experience although it might still be enjoyable when taken…