"Fast Cars and Loud Guitars. Local Bars and goin' to far." - Tim Lee 3.
So - I headed out Friday night to a well known East Nashville hot spot to meet and see my favorite Knoxville rockers, Tim Lee 3. I had an awesome night, met some cool folks, and saw some incredible music...
I was so glad to finally get to meet Tim and Susan Bauer Lee in person. First up, the audience was treated to a 20 minute preview of Tom Weber's incredible film (10+ years in the making) called Troubadour Blues. It's about the modern purveyors of the folk tradition of the travelling musicians who get paid to drive from town to town and get rewarded with the chance to perform for an hour or two. The film features the likes of Peter Case, Dave Alvin, Mary Gauthier and many, many more.
The live music began with RB Morris of Knoxville. I was shamefully not familiar with Mr. Morris' music, but that deficiency is in the process of being corrected. He is a top-notch singer songwriter and a poet - gratefully, we treated us to a couple of poems from his latest book.
Next up was Nancy Apple from Memphis. The undisputed Queen of Memphis Country, Folk, Blues what have you. Her song about finding out that Johnny Cash had died struck a chord with me. I got to talk to Nancy and share a couple of my Memphis stories.
Next a couple of locals were invited to join in on the show. The thing is, when you are in Nashville (and East Nashville in particular), the caliber of locals is pretty darn amazing. Julie Christensen was the first local - a fairly recent arrival. If the name doesn't ring a bell, try this: she was a founding member of the legendary Divine Horsemen and an integral part of the L.A. Scene which helped bridge gap between punk rock and what would eventually become Americana music. Oh, and she also spent many years singing with the one and only Leonard Cohen. Beyond that incredible history, she is a breath-taking singer and songwriter. She performed a song by Memphis song writer Dan Montgomery which has me scrambling to find out all I can about him.
Next was the second local, Amelia White - who we first saw perform last year at the Five Spot. She was every bit as amazing as we remembered.
Next up was the Tim Lee 3. Now, regular readers should already be all over Tim Lee 3, but for the uninitiated, they are a tight three piece rock combo from Knoxville featuring Tim Lee (The Windbreakers) and his wife Susan. They rocked the house thoroughly playing a couple of songs from their latest album, Devil's Rope, one from their previous double album Raucous Americanus, and a hand full of new songs which bode well for the next Tim Lee 3 album.
The night ended with RB Morris joining Tim Lee 3 for a few more of RB's songs including one of his which had been recorded by Marianne Faithful and John Hiatt.
What a night!
Today's Shuffle is up next:
Okay y'all. Monday morning's are just freaking hard sometimes. Fortunately, the old Shuffle monster fired up some hard rocking tunes to lead off today's shuffle and jump start my week. Here we go:
"Fiasco" by Cloud Gavin (from Posture - Cloud Gavin are from Danville, Illinois and came to our attention via a Twitter follow - I think. I've been listening to this record quite a bit, and I'm glad it finally came up on the shuffle. An excellent way to begin the morning drive.)
"Sleep" by Traams (from Grin - This one came via Amazon's monthly Rising Artist playlist. Another Rocking tune. They came from Chichester, England which is also the home of False-Heads another band we've featured recently. Hmm.. I'll have to find out more about that place.)
"Like What They Like" by Goodman (off of the Mama Coco's Funky Kitchen compilation. Goodman is the brain-child of Michael Goodman of New York. I don't know very much about him, but between this and the previous two songs, I was suddenly fully awake and alert. Rock on!)
"Troubled Waltz" by The Howlin' Brothers (another from The Sun Studio Session. A nice change of pace - with a waltz from this unique Nashville band which was recorded in the studio that helped give birth to this crazy thing we call Rock and Roll.)
"Mumblin' Guitar" by Bo Diddley (from The Chess Box (Disc One) - You just cannot go wrong with Bo Diddley. Nope. Can't go wrong!)
"The New Twenty" by Puppet Rebellion (from Chemical Friends EP - another recent Twitter "discovery". Puppet Rebellion are from Manchester - a place with a storied musical history of its own. I really dig this - my first taste of Puppet Rebellion and can't wait to hear more)
"Out of Time" by Mr. Kind and Tektite (from Mr. Kind and... - from Mr. Kind's collaborative covers EP - this time taking on the Blur song and joined by Oakland Extraterrestrial Hip Hop band Tektite. Mr. Kind was formed by Brian Bergeron who was one of the early featured artists at E2TG.)
"The World's Not Waiting" by Penicillin Baby (from Jams: Volume III - what better way to close out a set that began with three hard rocking songs than with a hard rocking jam from this Nashville band. Supposedly, I am allergic to penicillin, but I'm just fine with Penicillin Baby.)
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