E2TG 4/23/2020 - Magnolia Roads Virtual Festival (more) - Original Sin Mix (Feeling Good Remix)

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Here are the promised details for the Magnolia Roads American Roots Hoedown V Virtual Festival:

HOEDOWN IS ON via Virtual Festival
Noon-ish to 6pm on Virtual Festival and Magnolia Roads pages.
In these fluid, crazy times more details to come.
Stock up on some Founders Brewing Co. brews and get ready for a real good time while staying at home.

Magnolia Roads presents the 5th annual American Roots Hoedown, inspired by the music that grew from the roots of America at honky-tonks and dive bars, juke joints and roadhouses, backyards and campfires. It will 15 feature artists, Magnolia Roads family and friends, who epitomize American Roots music through their blend of Bluegrass, Blues, Country, Folk, Funk, and Rock n Roll, flavored with the deep grooves of the South and Jam Band psychedelic twirls over 12 hours of live music at The 5 Spot.

It's a family reunion of artists, a love fest and a yang dang doodle good time!

Founders Brewing Co. is sponsoring the event and their brews will be available on draft and in cans both nights.
www.foundersbrewing.com

Nashville local biz, Joelton Hardware is also sponsoring.

In association with Rock The Vote, we'll be having voter registration too!

Saturday, April 25
Nachez Tracers Duo
Lauren Aanderson
David Newbould
Jeff Mix
Jenny Van West
No Oil Paintings
Chris Wilson
Renee Wahl
Andrew Sheppard
Triggers & Slips ~ Morgan Snow
Mike Younger
Rich Mahan
The Truehearts
Lady Couch
Sneezy

We'll be rockin', jammin', dancing and make music history! Hope y'all will join us.
Donations/tips, we're a family and share:
PAYPAL: magnoliaroadsmusic@gmail.com
VENMO: @magnoliaroads



Now, I am running a bit short on time, so let's jump right to today's shuffle! (Below)

    Featured Friday Playlist

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle - Looking at Their Phones Mix

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So yesterday, as I worked, I would look out the window and sea picture perfect day while I watched the temperature on my phone rise through the seventies into the low 80s. It was the first day of Spring, and it felt like it.  I hustled home and changed into shorts, grabbed a beer, and sat out on my back deck reveling in the sun and just right temperatures. And the the clouds began to roll in, and in less than a hour it was storming.  I guess that is Spring, too.

You know, like a lot of people, I have been doing a lot of thinking about the state of the world and this country, and our government. Sometimes, as I react to some new revelation, some new affront to decency, some new outrage... I find myself questioning if I am overreacting. Or perhaps more to the point, I find myself wondering if I am reacting to the right things. As I have said before, I NEVER intended, E2TG to be a forum for my political beliefs. I have always and still believe that this country is made great not by a uniformity of opinions and tenets and beliefs, but by the differences. I believe it is possible that not every belief or philosophy of mine is 100 percent correct 100 percent of the time.  Or that the "other side" is 100 percent wrong 100 percent of the time.

So, in the past two months, I have struggled to differentiate the "normal" political issues (some of which are very important) and this new "not normal" world in which we find ourselves. It is a difficult thing to do because the two are often intertwined. The current administration's ties to Russia and white supremacists - their outright lies and attacks on the press... these and more should transcend (D) vs. (R) or virtually any other artificial division.

I don't have a neat wrap up... these are just some things that have been on my mind. ****************************************************************************

On Tuesday - we shuffle up our "New Music" playlist - that is filled with (fairly) recent (including not yet released) music that has come to me by variety of mediums and people. It is today's glimpse at what is "Trending" on E2TG.

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle - Make it Through Mix

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A windy morning here in Nashville...  This evening,  I will be recording a Double Shot show which will air this coming Saturday - the theme: "Play a Train Song"....

After that, it is the first $2.00 Tuesday and Earie Award winners Adrian + Meredith are on the bill.  Lots of other good stuff happening.  Amelia White and Sergio Webb at The Family Wash 8:30-9:00 (which I will try to catch if I can get from Madison soon enough).

We have a Trending Tuesday Shuffle - let's go!

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - All the Lonely Boys Mix

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Another long, awesome night at The 5 Spot last night.  Fats Kaplin and Gang were amazing as always.  Guests were Dominic and Rachael Davis.  There was music and magic and magical music.

The late show was the Collins Family Christmas Extravaganza which was a fund raiser for the Standing Rock protesters. Christmas music and good times that ranged from the sacred to the slightly deranged. My kind of night.

Reminder: Saturday is the Get Behind the Mule Benefit and Tom Waits Tribute at The 5  Spot. I probably screwed up the name, but you know... Tons of cool people and a good time will be had by all - I expect.

By the way, SHEL, who I mentioned are headlining Nashville Sunday Night at
3rd and Lindsley (with Don Gallardo opening) were at The 5 Spot last night for Fats Kaplin.

Earie update:

So here is the rundown.  Before this post, I have awarded 20 Earie Awards in 2017.  Some of the winners show up in this shuffle and we have a couple more to award...  Let's do it...

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - Wild Living Mix

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Greetings from the end of the working week...  Last night, a really great night of music at The Basement East.  Harrison Whitford, who I have been impressed with since the first time I saw him - opened.  His music has really matured (I think that is the word I am looking for) since I first saw him nearly a year and a half ago.  Not that it was immature. Just that he has grown as an artist since then.

Next up, reigning (or about a month more) E2TG Artist of the Year, Jon Latham absolutely destroyed with a full band set that included Andrew Leahey and Sean Quinn on guitar and Raun Schultz on drums. Moving through songs from his debut, Real Bad News and newer songs including songs from his forthcoming album, Lifers.  As he always does, Latham commanded the stage.

And what can I say about Bobby Bare Jr.. Joined by Harrison Whitford on guitar - Bare Jr ripped through an incredible set that included some old favorites plus a new song he wrote for the forthcoming Guided By Voices album, an older GBV song, and he closed with a rip-roaring version of "Cover of the Rolling Stone".

It is Friday and we have a shuffle from our "New Music" playlist.  Let's jump in...

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - What is Not Lost Mix

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I've decided to tell you a bit more about Buck 'N Stuff because, well, Buck 'N Stuff.  First of all, they do not have any recorded music yet, but there is some live performance documentation in the form of videos. Including this one:



About the band:  Members: Bass: Buck 'N Stuff Bass Player - has been known to play a giant fiddle (but not with Buck 'N Stuff) and is alleged to have once overheard two junkies talking through a motel wall in New Orleans.  Drums: Buck 'N Stuff Drummer - is a strict adherent to Maritime Law and is rumored to be a Cat Lover.  Guitar/Vocals: Buck 'N Stuff Guitarist/Singer - when not playing in Buck 'N Stuff usually can be found sitting behind a twangy table (pro-tip: Do not place drinks on the Twangy Table- word has it that Twangy Table players are kind of sensitive about this). Also does instructional videos about how to properly prepare chicken wings.

Tonight - I will be at Tim Carroll Rock 'N Roll Happy Hour at the world famous The 5 Spot, and then heading to The Beast for a tribute show to both Nebraska and Nashville Skyline featuring a whole bunch of really cool people - many of whom have been played on or featured by E2TG.

Tying all of this together as only E2TG can, today is release day for "How We Lost the War" by Zach Schmidt. This is one you really need to check out.  Schmidt made his Music Roots debut on Wednesday. He is one of the folks for which the Buck 'N Stuff Guitarist/Singer sometimes plays Twangy Table.  And, he will be singing at the tribute show tonight.  See how I did that?

It is Friday - we have some featured songs in the shuffle:

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - Wish That I Could Hate You Mix

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My oft repeated phrase is "Music Heals".  I say it because I believe it to be true.  Last night, still feeling sad about the death of my first best friend, I headed down to The Family Wash. There, surrounded by friends, I took one of those once-in-a-lifetime nights of music that seem to happen around  this town on a frequent basis.

Nathan Bell - a singer-songwriter who I first saw earlier this year at The Bluebird Cafe played first.  His songs are soooo good. He was joined by Annie Mosher on several songs and then by legendary Nashville songwriter Don Henry on one song.

After that, the always mind-blowing Sergio Webb made a rare appearance as a front man and an even rarer appearance leading a full-band.  The Cremonatones - a one-off super-group featured Julie Christensen, Dave Coleman, Parker Hawkins, and Fran Breen.  The set opened with a rocking cover of Lou Reed's "New Sensation" - a song I had heard Webb do solo at Bobby's Idle Hour - and continued through a set of songs including several written with John Hadley and David Olney.  It was one of those magical nights of insanely good music and an audience of some of the best musicians in the world.  It was just what I needed.

A ton a great music upcoming.  I wanted to highlight Richie Owens and The Farm Bureau making a rare appearance at my favorite venue - The 5 Spot on Saturday at 6:00pm.

We have a Featured Friday Shuffle...

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle - Quiet Songs Mix

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It's a day early, but tomorrow night, David Olney kicks off his 4 of 5 Wednesday night residency for August at The 5 Spot.  (By the way the 5th week features Scott Miller).  Olney's shows are always incredibly good, and his residency shows tend to be filled with epic moments of poetry, song and surprises.  Late night tomorrow, is another edition of Joanna Barbera's Songs Not Silence showcases benefiting Thistle Farms.  This time around Barbera herself will perform!  Great time, great cause. Also at The 5 Spot.

Tonight: Tommy Womack (who we featured yesterday) will be playing The Family Wash as part of the weekly Short Sets series.  It is also Pint and Pie night. So yeah!

Here we are at Tuesday when we take a look at what the Shuffle says is trending...

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - This One Last Hope Mix

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These are hard times. These are tense times. These are scary times. These are sad times. These are disheartening time.  The issues are systemic and complicated and cannot and should not be reduced to memes. But that is what we do.  This is not a political blog or a social issues blog. This is a music blog, but I am a human being writing this and I notice things.  I do not propose solutions to all of the world's ills. But I do have a modest proposal..

STOP! RIGHT NOW!  Stop treating everything as an either/or, black/white, pro/con issue. My opinion is that very few things in this world work this way.  There is a philosophy that I used to be a proponent of (and sometimes still am) that our choices are either love or fear. In other words, in any given situation we can choose to react out of love or react out of fear. Honestly, I think as a way for me to evaluate my own reactions, it is a good philosophy. The problem is when I start using that to evaluate another persons motives is where I get into trouble. It's where I fall into that either/or trap.

I don't think either side is exempt from falling into this trap and it cuts across just about every issue. Guns, abortion, gay rights, police shootings, terrorism, even silly things like the Beatles vs. the Stones.   This idea that if I concede even a small minor point that I am now an enemy of a cause I consider myself a supporter of... It is how "Gee, maybe we might want to consider looking into how this thing is being done" is interpreted "so, you want to scrap the whole way of doing things?"

Or more pointedly, "There is a systemic problem of how some law officers interact with people of color." is heard as "So, you hate all cops?"

On social media, this attitude just creates fruitless and frustrating flame wars.  In life, it has deadly consequences as we have seen over the last couple of days.  So, I think we all need to STOP.  It is possible to support the good work that law enforcement officers do on a daily basis AND to demand that when one or some of those officers do wrong that they not be given a pass.  And to realize/admit that those bad apples are more than just aberrations (even if they may be in the minority), to realize that there are systemic and societal issues of race that we need to have honest conversations about. But, we cannot have those vital conversations if we approach it from a position of protecting our view of either/or.  Being willing to listen and to try to understand another viewpoint is not the same as agreeing with or giving into that viewpoint. But, it does, I think, demand a willingness to concede small points while standing firm on others.

I have no idea if any of what I have said makes any sense. I am frustrated and sad and scared and disheartened. I just feel like in our discourse we need to find some small point of agreement and build from that.  Sadly, I do not think this happens very often in our world.

But, this is a music blog.  I love music, and I believe that love is ultimately the answer to everything.  Love with hard work, love with compromise, love with actions, love with heart-felt disagreements, love in all of it's complicated versions and varieties.  As I said, I love music - so for today, I will share the love by sharing some music. Some of it you may like, some of it you may not, but I send it all out with love.

Speak powerfully against hate and fear, but speak powerfully out of love. Combat hate and fear with love not with more hate or fear.

So... music!

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - Burdens Mix

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Here we go...

There are obviously many great music venues in Nashville, but consistently, my absolute favorite hang in The 5 Spot.  Last night is a pretty good example of why I feel that way.

It was Week #4 of the June Don Gallardo residency at The 5 Spot.  Jon Byrd played with his full band and it was amazing as expected.  Don Gallardo brought his full-band and I swear he seems to get better every time I see him (degrees of awesome - I would say).

The late show at The 5 Spot kicked off with new Nashville resident Sammy Brue (if you have not heard his songs - do so right away), followed by Joshua Black Wilkins - consistently one of my favorite singer-songwriters, Ron Gallo (who I will come back to), and the last act I saw before exhaustion got the better of me, John and Rob from Deer Tick (and Diamond Rugs). A pretty extraordinary night.

So, I had not heard of Ron Gallo which is  band and the bandleader. They are recent (I think) transplants from Philadelphia.  I (along with the rest of crowd at The 5 Spot) was blown away. The band is a trio (amazing how many of my favorite bands throughout the years are trios).  If you are among the people who think that Rock 'n' Roll is dead, I urge you to check out this band and have your faith restored.  I do not count myself among that particular crowd, but the energetic, loud raucous performance sure did affirm my faith.

Quick note:  There is a ton of things going on this weekend.  I feel like if I begin to name some, I will leave out something unintentionally, however, there are a few things I want to highlight.  Of course, Tim Carroll returns to his weekly home at the aforementioned 5 Spot for his Rock 'n' Roll Happy Hour,  Charleyville is a non-profit agency that provides free or discounted music lessons, instruments etc. There is a three day benefit at the American Legion Post 82 in East Nashville that began last night and continues through Saturday.  Details/Event Page HERE.  Adeem the Artist is playing tomorrow afternoon at Two Old Hippies in the Gulch (right after Double Shot with Joe and Sue).  A couple of years ago, I saw a singer-songwriter named Kyle Adem at a New Faces night at The Basement.  I enjoyed his set.  Adeem the Artist's lastest album is called Kyle Adem is Dead - which reflects the fact that sometimes there is much behind a change of name.  I mentioned Daphne Willis at Nashville Pride. If you are making it out to the festival - make sure you check out her set and all of the great music.  I previously mentioned Mark Robinson at the brand new Radio Cafe.  And a ton more Saturday night. Get out and see some music.

Friday - it is time for Featured Friday....

Wild Wednesday Morning Shuffle - Down in the Mine Mix

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For a lot of reasons, I do love the city that I have called home for the last quarter of a century. We have our problems to be sure - rapid growth without the appropriate infrastructure improvements for one and the schlock that passes for country music being churned out like fake margarine from glitzy offices on music row for another and disregarding the culture of the city in pursuit of supporting the "it" city status for yet another.  But I digress...

I do love Nashville because in spite of all of that, there are people who care about music and art and words.

Last night, my evening began at a coffee shop on Fatherland Street in East Nashville called The Post East for the 85th edition of East Side Storytellin' - a series which matches a poet or prose writer with a songwriter.  The poet last night was named Joshua Moore, and I absolutely loved his work and his delivery. Powerful words.  Words have power.  The songwriter was a guy that readers of E2TG should know. Jon Latham's profile is on the rise, and he demonstrated the reasons for that well in his short set of songs.

After that, I headed to The Basement East for a night of music with Jon Latham hot on my heels. In no time, he was doing a quick sound check - he backed up Voice alumnus Peyton Parker on her opening set of songs. A great opening for was would turn out to be an extraordinary night.   Carl Anderson followed with (truly) witty stage banter and wonderful songs.

Next, Darrin Bradbury hit the stage backed by Tim Carroll on guitar, Cameron Carrus on bass, and Matty Alger on drums.  What followed was nothing short of transcendent. There were people dancing!  No... I mean really, there were people dancing at a Darrin Bradbury show!  The band rocked - I mean really rocked. Darrin's (and Tim's) punk roots were in full view and they even did a cover of The Misfits' "Where Eagles Dare" at the end of Darrin's song, "Joey" which references the song.   I have no idea how many times I have seen Darrin perform - in various combinations - but last night was one for the ages.

Adrian + Meredith (who you may recall closed the E2TG Anniversary show) had the unenviable task of closing the show and following Darrin and his band, and they rose to the occasion with a rollicking fun set.

A truly awesome night of music in Music City (East Nashville to be more specific).

Now - it is Wednesday and we call it Wild Wednesday because we shuffle up a playlist that features songs from all of the other playlists plus a few that do not really fit the other playlists at all.