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About 2/3 of the way through American Aquarium's set at The Basement East last night, I had a thought. I was thinking about all the people (many of them people about my age or older or younger) who say things like "Music these days sucks." or something and then they will usually compare some classic band from an earlier era to some disposable pop star of the moment (as if there have not always been disposable pop stars). My thought, my message to those people, is turn off top 40 radio and go out and see live music. I know I am very spoiled by living in Nashville, but I also know that there is great music (crossing all genres and styles) being made every night and every day all around world. Cordovas opened for American Aquarium, and as I have come to expect from that band, they totally destroyed. Seriously, Cordovas are a band I will never get tired of seeing live.
American Aquarium leader B.J. Barham has gone through some major changes in the last two and half years (which is about the time I first really got into the band). Among those changes was the departure of his entire band. He has a newly formed band, and they were incredible last night. Most of the band comes from Texas (Barham is a North Carolina native) and also includes Nashville's own Adam Kurtz (Buck n Stuff) on pedal steel. I may be bias, being a big Buck n Stuff fan, but I think Kurtz was one of the stars of the night. As of Barham, he seemed energized and he seemed to be enjoying himself - bouncing around the stage and engaging with the band and the audience. He speaks hard truths with love, and explores his own life with honesty.
This show came after taking in the early show at The 5 Spot - which local Sarah Clanton and a band that included the bass player from The Barefoot Movement. Clanton plays the cello and I had just recently been turned on to her by my DJ partner Sue. After Clanton's set, Heather Mae from D.C. took the stage. She injected some much needed positive energy into my soul. I am a fan, now. Turns out she knows my friends in FuzzQueen - proving just how small the music world is, Tom Goss closed that early show, and I dug his music, too.
I hate that I missed Benchmarks at The 5 Spot - as it turned out, I probably could have seen most of their set.... also last night E2TG 2015 Artist of the Year Jon Latham made his debut on Music City Roots with his killer band. I am looking forward to catching the video of this.
Anyway, from my point of view, the state of music is just fine - the business/money side of it may be a different story, but that is a topic for another time.
Today, we jump back into our exploration of E2TG history. E2TG began in May 2011. A vast majority of my posts are the monring shuffles like this one. The basic premise is, "Hey, I heard some cool music this morning on my way to work, let me tell you about." So, let me....
