Throwback Thursday Morning Shuffle - Old Broken Bottle Mix

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I have been laying pretty low this week - trying to work on somethings, but I did manage to get out early last night to see the kick off of the Crackerboots residency at The 5 Spot. Luella and Bill DeMain backed by an amazing band delivered some gorgeous jazz-influenced music. Singer-songwriter Cletus Carr opened, and I dug him.  The residency continues every Wednesday through the end of October.

It is Thursday and throw it back to some music from previous decades... enjoy.

Throwback Thursday Morning Shuffle - Salvation and Sin Mix

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Happy Thursday... sending good thoughts to everyone in the path of Hurricane Matthew. And especially thinking about those who have lost life and property in the Caribbean.

Congratulations to WXNA-LP Nashville for finishing second to Lightning 100 in the Nashville Scene Readers Poll for Best Radio Station.  A remarkable achievement for a low power station that has only been on the air for 4 month.  Super proud to play a small part in the station, but props go out to our super hard working and dedicated Board and our fearless leader Heather Lose. This achievement is a testament to the impact the station has already had on the community.

Well, the Buck N Stuff show was the epic throw down that I expected. My favorite moment was the Buck Owens cover that they performed. #BuckNStuff are the absolute best. They announced last night that they will be playing The 5 Spot for New Years Eve.  Make your plans now.  2017 is sure to be the Year of Buck N Stuff.

It is Thursday when we throw things back, and I think we have a really awesome shuffle today... shall we?

Throwback Thursday Morning Shuffle - Big Brass Bed Mix

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For Nashville Events and more - check out our friends at Fighting the Nashville Blues...


Burning the candle at both ends...  so, last night, I went home after work, and I feel asleep (after having not slept much the night before), and I work up just before 7:00.  I looked at the time and immediately jumped up - still groggy and thinking that I had fallen asleep on the couch and slept through the night, and that I was now way far behind getting ready for work.  After a bit, my head started to clear, and although I had to get ready fairly quickly for Stone Cupid at The High Watt, I was not actually too far behind.  Needless to say, I had to punt on all of the other awesome stuff happening last night.  Stone Cupid (the full band!!!!) were incredible.  Julie Christensen is a force of nature, and man they can all play.

Stone Cupid at The High Watt 5/25/2016 

Photo and effects by: Joe Wolfe-Mazeres

Thankfully, I am now well-rested and ready to take on the last day and a half before a three day weekend!

It is Thursday which is when we throw it back... E2TG style...

Throwback Thursday Morning Shuffle - How We Wonder Mix

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Less than two weeks until the E2TG 5 Year Anniversary Extravaganza!

Last night was a great night of music... 

It began with the opening night of the RB Morris residency at The 5 Spot with Jon Byrd opening.  Two super-talented songwriters/singers backed by amazing bands.  Next week, RB Morris' guests will be Lowell Levinger aka "Banana" of The Youngbloods and Tim Lee 3!  The following week 2/3 of Tim Lee 3 (aka BARK) will be part of the Ear to the Ground Anniversary show!

After the early show, I headed to The Country for Drew Kohl's 1 Year Anniversary show for his record, Sweetheart.  You may recall that I reviewed that album last year. The bill also included Kiely Schlesinger and Taylor Alexander.  Seeing all those folks and running into Jon Latham, I was reminded of an epic night in the fall of 2014 when I first heard all of those folks for the first time. 

Now, it is time for Throwback Thursday.  You know, when I started Ear to the Ground, I was struggling to get my hands on new music to feature, and so it was by necessity that I had tons of old songs (classics/rarities/whatever) in my playlist.  Today, I could probably keep a pretty decent sized playlist going with just new releases being sent my way.

So, you may ask, why keep loading old songs into your playlist?  It is pretty simple really. I believe that all music is connected in some way.  By playing both new and old songs, helps me to put new music into context and brings the connections into sharper focus.

Throwback Thursday Morning Shuffle - Boiling Butter Mix

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Fun-filled night at Coverbest at The Beast (The Basement East)... Terry Rickards always does a great job putting those events on... I really dug Matt Haeck doing Tom Waits,  Darrin Bradbury doing Modest Mouse, Sarah Potenza doing Gillian Welch, and Tesla Rossa doing Beck... plus lots of inspiring conversations about music and East Nashville and creativity....

Tonight, Fats Kaplin returns to his Thursday Night residency at The 5 Spot - the penultimate week of this month-long (sans St. Patrick's Day) event...  I missed two weeks ago, and I do not want to miss this one...  It is guaranteed to be some of the best music around and highly entertaining, too.

Later tonight, Chris Scruggs and The Stone Fox Five are playing what I think is their second show since the club that gave them their name closed unexpectedly.  They will be at The Country with The Farmer and Adele opening.  I have heard a lot about The Farmer and Adele, but I have not seen them yet.

I am off work tomorrow.  I may try to do a Featured Friday Shuffle from home, but no promises... stay tuned.

Meanwhile, Thursday - means we throw it back like an undersized fish....

Throwback Thursday Morning Shuffle - The Last Night of the Fair Mix

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We have arrived at Thursday.  For the daily "theme" today, I decided upon the term, "Throwback Thursday"... honestly, I'm surprised no one has come up with this sooner.... I even came up with a hashtag (#tbt) for it.  Clever aren't I?

I think the concept is pretty self-explanatory.  I hope to show that music in the past was extremely diverse and varied - in spite of what "Classic Rock" stations may lead you to believe....

without ado....

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Adventure and Fun Mix

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This crazy time of year... Here I am posting this on a Thursday evening.  Circumstances, blah, blah, blah... Any way, let's get to it...

Last night, I had a blast - another great show at The Basement (the original one).  "Earie" Award winners, Richie Owens and  the Farm Bureau put on another outstanding show that included a version of "Can't Be Satisfied" featuring Richie Owens on the lap steel.  Bassist John Reed and stand-up drummer Brian O'Hanlon were in fine form.  I also got to see Saint Luke's Drifters for the first time.  They called their sound Rockified Country. Songs ranged from high energy rockers that brought to my mind the Scorchers to some very honky-tonkish country songs. Vocal duties were shared and each singer brought something unique to the band's sound.  I really enjoyed myself, and I hope to hear much more.

So, by my rough count, there will be seven more regular E2TG posts before the end of the year - not counting any weekend or holiday bonus posts.  My plan is to hand out "Earies" each of those days with Wednesday December 30, being reserved for the 5th Annual Ear to the Ground Artist of the Year. Which I will for the first time dub, the "Golden Earier" Award.

But, I am getting ahead of myself.  We have some "Earies" to give away today.

Prologue:  I have been having a really good time handing out these awards.  Even though the categories are sometimes a bit silly, the sentiment behind them is very real.  I really want to write about and honor artists who have made a big impression on my in 2015 (and before in some cases). I could have just made a list or handed out awards without giving them names, but really, this is more fun isn't it?  I say all this to preface the fact that I have struggled a bit with what to call this next award.  Flippantly, I thought about the Six Degrees Award - as my having met these remarkable people has moved me up a few degrees of separation from some of the my all-time favorite artists (and some of the most famous in the world). But, really that name would only serve to diminish the extraordinary artists they are in their own right.

So - I hereby name this award the "Legends in Their Own Right" Award.  And I am going to just get to it before I overthink it and decide to change the name again....

1.  Reckless Johnny Wales -  The first time I encountered Reckless Johnny, I did not know who he was, but I suspected (correctly it turns out), that I was in the presence of someone remarkable. The next time, and when I finally got to meet him, I was standing on what can only be called Hallowed Ground - namely the Cash Cabin recording studios... if those walls could talk... and even though I did not hear the walls talk that night (although it would not surprise me if some who have been there have heard stranger things than that), I did get to hear some of Reckless Johnny's stories about meeting Johnny Cash and many others.  More importantly, as a result of that meeting, I received a copy of Reckless Johnny Wales' American Heart, and any doubts that I might have had (I didn't really) were tossed out the window.  The music on that album demonstrates that the remarkable storied life (lives?) can and were translated into some memorable music.  I have a full review in my plans for early 2016, so I will stop here for now.

2.  Bebe Buell - Speaking of a life filled with stories...  As perhaps one of the world's most famous groupies, Bebe Buell experienced first hand some of the defining moments of the rock and roll era. I will leave it to you to read more about her remarkable life, but for me the most important thing is happening now.  Throughout all of those interactions with rock and roll royalty, Bebe Buell was paying attention.  Having relocated to Nashville a few years ago, Buell is now focused on her own music pursuits. I first saw her performing Tom Petty songs with the amazing Long Players, and then I saw her own show at 3rd and Lindsay, and I was impressed by her music and her stage presence. That night and again at the end of October, I also saw that she is still the ultimate rock and roll fan - which is obviously when she talks about and dances to the music of the Blackfoot Gypsies.

3.  Julie Christensen (Stone Cupid) - Julie Christensen is another fairly recent transplant to our fair city.  Christensen's musical career includes being a part of one of the pioneering Country/Punk bands, The Divine Horsemen with her husband at the time, Chris Desjardins founder of the legendary Flesheaters - a band whose membership history reads like a role call of the very best of Los Angeles music of the late 70s to early 80s.   Later, Christensen spent several years as a featured background singer with Leonard Cohen.  She reunited Cohen for the now legendary I'm Your Man concert film and album.  Upon, relocating to Nashville (and even before), Julie Christensen began working with some of the finest writers and musicians this town has to offer.  Her band, now called Stone Cupid, features an incredible line-up.  Sergio Webb and Chris Tench are two of the finest guitar players in a city that has a few... and the rhythm section features Steve Latanation (Agent Orange) and Bones Hillman who was member of Midnight Oil throughout there was most successful years. (UPDATE: There is reason I do not usually post late, I totally forgot to mention Stone Cupid's new album The Cardinal which will officially be out early in 2016.  And I wanted to mention, that Stone Cupid played during the final week of the original Family Wash, and that show was one my favorite live shows of the year.)

On a personal note, having met them all, I am I find myself more interested in the people they are and the music they are making now than I am in their remarkable past.  But, to be honest, I will not walk away from a great story about some of the most important musical giants of our time...

To the shuffle (before it is Friday): (a regular shuffle - we'll hop back into the season music next week).

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - Just Can't Win Mix

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After today, there are only nine work days left in 2015.  Which means no more than nine more days of the "Earies"  (unless I hit panic mode and start posting on weekends which is not out of the question).

So the next award...

I call this one the "Far From East Nashville" Award.

The premise:  I had a funny moment a while back when I was introduced as someone who writes an East Nashville music blog.  It was meant as a compliment, and I took it as such, but it did give me pause. When I started writing Ear to the Ground (on a lark and with no experience writing about music) back in May of 2011, some interesting things began to happen.  For whatever reason, when I wrote about Nashville bands and artists, I was generally ignored, but when I wrote about band's from elsewhere, it seemed more likely that my posts would be acknowledged, appreciated, and shared. This is not a criticism of Nashville musicians. My take was, honestly, that the folks in Nashville knew that I wasn't one of the "big players" when it came to music writing in Nashville. Meanwhile, folks from other places maybe didn't know that and so they gave me a chance.  I am forever grateful for the music and wonderful people I discovered and met during that period of Ear to the Ground, and my ear continues to be open to great music from any locale. But, in a very unintentional way, I have been able to meet and hear some of the amazing talents this town has to offer. Over the past year, in particular, I have noticed and maybe you have, too, that more and more Nashville artists (East or not) have been showing up in my posts. However, as I said, I still keep my ears open to wherever I am lead, and so this award goes out to International Artists who have been a big part of E2TG.

The Awards Go To:

1.  Start closest to home:  Brock Zeman has been on my radar for a while, but in 2015 he released, Pulling Your Sword from the Devil's Back.  I also was fortunate enough to see him three times this year. Once in an amazing round at The Bluebird Café, and later on subsequent nights at The Family Wash and The 5 Spot.  Shoot, I almost consider Brock and his musical partner Blair Hogan to be honorary Nashvillians.  Nevertheless, they are from Canada.

2.  Also from our neighbor to the north: Velodrones/Bosveld. Again, Velodrones which is Stopmo Turt Darren has been on our radar for a while.  In 2015, his project Bosveld released Veldbrand a very beautiful and unique collection of songs that combine several different and divergent music styles and wonderfully original way.

3.  From a bit further away, Jeremy Gluck.  You may recall back in the Spring or so, I think we had a Jeremy Gluck song in the shuffle for what seemed like weeks.  We were spinning tunes from Memory Deluxe: I Knew Buffalo Bill 2 which was actually release in 2014.  The album was a follow up to his 1987 album, I Knew Buffalo Bill - an album that featured Jeffery Lee Pierce of The Gun Club, Nikki Sudden, Epic Soundtracks, and others.   Gluck was in the band The Barracudas, and more recently has been working on a project called Plasticon (and some other projects). 

4.  Getting further away:  Artur U and  The New City Limits. From Helsinki, Finland.  Artur U and the New City Limits released their full length debut, Holiday from Eternity early this year. I fell in love with the high energy grooves. They are very closely connected to some of our friends at True Groove in Brooklyn.

5.  The farthest from East Nashville award:  The Transcendents.   From Christchurch, NZ.  I first connected with this band via their self-titled debut which was released late in 2014.  In 2015, they released two EPs, Lay Where You Collapse and Common Ground.  I really love the way this band creates unique and challenging soundscapes that still remain rooted in the kind of awesome pop music that I grew up listening to.

Congrats to the winners:

To the shuffle (I'm low on time!)

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - Baby Out of Jail Mix

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Well, here we are.  Another late posting.  Tomorrow likely will be, too.  Let's jump to it. Plus by stupid bluetooth earphones have bitten the dust.  Replacements are on their way.

We've been doing the "Earies" for about a week now.  I hope everyone is enjoying themselves.  I am coming up with winners faster than I am coming up with Award names.... but it's all good.  I just hope I don't forget anyone, but I probably will...

Today's award is the "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" Award.

The premise:  I have known for some time that Nashville is the home to some amazing blues players and music, but that fact came into sharp focus for me this year.  The other thing that came into sharp focus for me is that "The Blues" is not a narrow genre of music and it is very much alive and well in this middle year of the second decade of the new millennium.  This award is meant to recognize some of the best of the blues and it so happens both of this years winners come from Nashville, and they both bring their own unique twist to the genre.

The Award goes to Ted Drozdowski's Scissormen  and Eight O'Five Jive.

Ted Drozdowski is a journalist and scholar of the Blues and an amazing guitar player.  With his trio, he brings Mississippi to Nashville and rolls into a sweet psychedelic coating while telling stories and blowing minds.  Love and Life was one of the best albums of the year and one of the best albums Ted Drozdowski has made.  An electrifying live act (no stage can contain Ted and no utensils or glassware are safe from being used as a guitar slide.


Eight O'Five Jive play upbeat, swinging jump blues that evokes an earlier era while remaining firmly rooted in the present.  Their album, Too Many Men, was smart and sexy and a whole lot of fun.  They won a couple of awards at this years Nashville Independent Music Awards including Best Blues Artist, and now they can add an "Earie" to their award cabinet,






On to the shuffle:

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - Cosmo and Seventeen Mix

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PRESENTING THE  1st Annual E2TG Awards - "The Earies"  (The Earies - it sounds kind of strange, but not really). 

Well, it is December, and as I promised, we will begin our month long celebration of all things E2TG.  Welcome to the first annual E2TG awards.  Our red carpet welcome had to be cancelled due to rain in the Nashville area, plus we don't have a red carpet, and someone forgot to book the Ryman.  So, this will be an on-line awards show this year... 

I thought long and hard about how to begin this award month, but finally it seemed fitting and proper to begin the 2015 awards with the artist who closed out 2014 by being named the Artist of the Year.

Presenting the first award for 2015 is ..... me...   Thanks, Joe.  The first award to be presented is the Flattery Will Get You Everywhere Award.  It recognizes the artist or artists who have realized that the blog host is basically a big ball of insecurities and self-doubt and that a little bit of flattery (even somewhat dubious flattery) goes a long way.

This artist not only routinely dedicates one of his signature songs to me, but he also included my likeness on the album cover of his most recent release.  I think "Bob" is a pretty handsome guy, even if I would not say that he is short or tall.     The 1st ever "Earie" goes to Darrin Bradbury.  Darrin is currently on tour out West, so I will accept the award on his behalf.  Also, we don't have actual
statues.  Maybe next year.  



Stay tuned all month for more awards....

On to the shuffle: