Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - No, All! Mix



Back in the shuffle business after an absolutely incredible weekend at the 2nd Annual Safety Harbor SongFest.  Expect more detailed and official reports once I have fully recovered, but for now, let me just say I had a blast at this well-organized, artistically uplifting event and enjoyed some gorgeous weather.  Despite my peeling nose and flight delay coming home, I can strongly recommend fans and musicians alike check out this still relatively new festival.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Among the Lost and Found Mix



As I alluded to yesterday, I am heading out, and so I leave you with a shuffle and a related Video Playlist (with the songs or other songs by the same artist if the exact song could not be found on You Tube)....  Enjoy.... see you next week!

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Losing Luster Mix



The week is rolling on...

A few notes: 

1. Sad to report yet another incident of touring band having their gear stolen... this time it hit Two Cow Garage.  They are an awesome band.  If you want to help them out.  A GoFundMe account has been set up.

2.  I will be heading out around midday tomorrow for sunny Florida for the Safety Harbor Song Festival. Expect a bare bones shuffle tomorrow morning if everything goes as planned.  And keep an eye out for my reports from the front lines... 

3.  Found out my good friends, Young America have their new EP featured on the front page of Noisetrade in the New and Notable section. Well deserved, and if you haven't, grab that EP and show some love.


Let's jump into the shuffle....

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - This is Definitely Not Offensive Mix



Some pretty remarkable things have been happening in regards to me music writing.  I can honestly say that I see completely overwhelmed sometimes (in the best possible way), and that I truly feel humbled. In the last day or so, I have seen words that I wrote showing up on Facebook posts and websites and other places, posted by people I respect a whole bunch. I am continuing to find my place in the crazy mixed up circus that is the Nashville/East Nashville music world.  I just recently got invited down to Safety Harbor Songfest this weekend in Florida to hang out with awesome people and hopefully write some words.  Gratitude is a overused, underappreciated emotion, but one that I am feeling in abundance today.  I am not going to name names simply because I will leave people out, but I know for a fact that none of this would be possible but for some of the people who read this blog in the early days and connected with me so that I knew I was not writing into an abyss (or to the disproportionate number of site visitors from Russia in those early days). Nor, would I have continued with the encouragement and concern expressed by some when I had to take an unexpected break from blogging. Nor would any of these good things be happening with the friendship and support of those who helped me through one of the roughest patches of my life. 

To think this whole vast empire (sarcasm intended) was built on the foundation of a random shuffling of songs...   Let's shuffle, shall we...

Monday, March 23, 2015

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - Just Another Story Mix



#CXCW15 wrapped up this weekend....  Day 6, 7, 8 featured tons of great music... I feel like I am certain to leave some out, so please consider this a partial recap...  visit couchbycouchwest.com to experience or re-experience the whole thing. Anyway, some of the highlights of the last three days included: Nikki Sue and the Bad News, Young America, Modern Day Poets (which includes members of the now defunct band Cupla), Joe Nolan, Darrin Bradbury, Two Cow Garage with Todd Farrell, and a second video of Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray doing a Superchunk cover.

Way more great music than I could keep up with, but the good news I can go back and try to see what I missed, and so can you...  apologies to any FOE2TG (friends of ear 2 the ground) that I missed in my recaps...

Friday, March 20, 2015

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Stand in Line to Die Mix



Greetings... I am in a much better place than yesterday.  Still a little rushed, but I can get through this shuffle...   

First up my recap of CXCW15 Day 5:  I am way behind on my couchin', but there was an awesome Irish showcase that featured the legendary Glen Hansard.  Plus videos from my friend Eli Rhodes who plays with Todd Farrell and the Dirty Birds  and also writes some amazing songs of his own.  Look for a solo record soon.  #E2TG favorites Tim Lee 3 return to the couch with another great video, and the closing video of the day came from Nashville's own Will Kimbrough playing a song he wrote with Sam Baylor from Will's legendary band Will and the Bushmen.  Sam passed away this week.  Life is short, ya'll...

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Save a Few for Left, Too Mix



When you are having a stressful day, sometimes a Townes Van Zandt song is all you need to turn things around.  Other days, you need two Townes songs...  well today, for me, it is definitely a 3 TVZ kind of day... Fortunately, the shuffle obliged....

For the same reason I needed three Townes Van Zandt songs, I cannot add any commentary.  I apologize for that, but enjoy the music and if you are interested in any of the artists, look them up and support what they do...

BTW, Day 4 of Couch by Couchwest included some Nashville heavy weights like David Olney, Tommy Womack, Amy Speace, Wild Ponies, and #E2TG favorite Mark Robinson channeling the Possum on his lawn mower....

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle - Swallowing the Ocean Mix



#CXCW15 rolls on... Day 3 brought tons more videos including some of E2TG's all-time favorites... Among the many great clips were some from old friends like Sci-Fi Romance, MAKAR, and Imperial Rooster.  Plus an explosive clip from relatively new friends Two Mule Blues.  Head to the couch and visit couchbycouchwest.com  to get in on the fun.  By the way, they are still accepting submissions so get to videoing and get it done!

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - Gypsy Now Mix



Lot's to cover...

Couch by Couchwest 2015 rolls on, and I am getting further behind on all the great music, but it's a marathon not a sprint... or something like that... actually, I think it is against the rule to use a running analogy when talking about CXCW...  Day 2 included appearances by #E2TG favorites Batkhi Dahn and Matt Prater, and the day ending video featured East Nashville's own Tim Easton playing Ray Wylie Hubbard's guitar from the Netherlands or something like that.  I hope I didn't miss anyone, but I feel like I did.  If so, I will make it up - as I plan to do a mid-week recap as well as a end of festival summary... UPDATE: I remember who I forgot - Tipi Valley - how could I?

Went out last night to see some friends play music...  Kiely Schlesinger was stunning as always, Lindsay Ellyn sounded fantastic, and Taylor Alexander from Young America (who released an EP yesterday and who was joined by Lindsay Ellyn) was awesome and the imagining of a Cher as a traditional country singer was brilliant.

In the opening mic that followed, I enjoyed seeing Fendrick and Peck, Eddie Crummer, Darrin Bradbury, and Zachariah Red.

Now, we have a shuffle to put on....

Monday, March 16, 2015

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - Bad Boys and Transference Mix



Well... Couch by Couchwest 2015 kicked off yesterday...  So far, I have seen videos from Science! who has been featured recently on E2TG, plus my friend Drew Kohl of Young America (who coincidently are releasing a 3 song EP today), The Foresters, Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray, and I have a bunch I need to catch up on eventually.  Keep on couchin'!  And if you haven't submitted a video, there is still time!

Friday, March 13, 2015

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Orange Windbreaker and a Beard Mix



We've reached the end of another week.  Today's shuffle is a pretty interesting mixed bag with a couple of artists making their E2TG debut, plus a few old favorites, and some of my heroes...  I'm short on time, so this will be haphazard.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Maybe Longer Mix



Last night I got to see an artist I featured here on Ear to the Ground a couple of years ago, Callaghan, kick off her album preview tour at 3rd and Lindsley.  If you want to know what I thought about it, you can check it out at No Depression.

We have a pretty nifty shuffle for you....

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - Sixty Two at Twenty Three Mix



Welcome to Tuesday....   so, at some point in the past (for reasons which may have made since at the time), I signed up to get e-mail updates from one of the local television channels. I don't always read them, but today, I did... and there was a story about a music video addressing East Nashville gentrification.  I had heard about this, so I actually clicked on the link and watch the video, and there was Ear to the Ground Artist of the Year and my friend, Darrin Bradbury lip-synching and acting like a champ... Here is a link to the article.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - Mother Knows Best Mix



I had the great opportunity to hear some tracks from two of my most anticipated albums of the year, and man oh man are they going to be good... keep your ear to the ground or stay tuned to Ear to the Ground for new albums from Jon Latham and Darrin Bradbury in the future.

In other news, CXCW is rapidly approaching.  Get those videos made and submitted...

Now to the shuffle... as I have written on more than one occasion, I love short songs, but long songs make writing the blog easier...  we have a bevy of longer songs and thus we have only six in the shuffle today...

Friday, March 6, 2015

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Barefoot on the Dancefloor Mix



Traversed snow and ice and cold to witness the birth of a new East Nashville musical happening at the Mad Donna's Loft... a super-serious, super-cool songwriting thing (the name is still being bandied about), but who needs a name when you have Joe Fletcher, Brian Wright, and Darrin Bradbury playing their awesome songs to a small but dedicated audience of super-serious music fans (including some other great musicians).  Here's to many more of these happenings and much better weather for them.  Hats off to the awesome Terry Rickards for making this thing happen...

Since I traversed the snow last night, I kind of had to do it this morning... guilty conscience if I said I couldn't make it to work... but I had an awesome sound track for this slippery and frigid journey...

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Snow Day Live Mix



Off work today -  I thought I would semi-live blog today's shuffle....

Numerologists will note that before today's shuffle, my active playlist stands at six hundred sixty six.  Make of that what you will, but beside any other connotations, the playlist is a large as it has ever been, and I hope it generates an interesting mix of music.  I don't know if it will, but I have high hopes because I know the songs that make up the playlist.  I just don't yet know the order they will come out... so without further ado...  let's get ready to shuffle...


Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle - R-E-A-C-T Mix



"There's a splinter in your eye..."    Todays shuffle has it all (or it has a bunch of it, or at least some of it....):  Old and new friends of E2TG, heroes, legends! Crossing stylistic boundaries without any hesitation! Crossing decades of music like we have a freaking time machine!  This is what we do at Ear to the Ground!     Look, my viral infection is lingering, yesterday's 60 degree high is in free-fall, it is a sucky rainy day that is supposed to give way to all kinds of frozen junk which this Southern city is ill equipped to handle, and so I am just trying to maintain the kind of enthusiasm this eclectic and fine mix of music deserves.  Sorry for any unnecessary hyperbole or manic-ness of the above introduction....

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - Like Charlie Sheen Mix



Sorry there was no Shuffle yesterday, I got bit by a nasty late winter bug... I'm still not 100% but I am fighting through it...

To make up for not having a shuffle - please enjoy this video playlist tribute to the late Leonard Nimoy...