Music City Roots

It's a rewind show featuring four singular songwriters - Nashville artists doing what Nashville does best. We launch the show with our own in-house master, the country/Americana/bluegrass song decathlete Jim Lauderdale from 2017. And we close by throwing way back to 2011 with the serene and sophisticated Matraca Berg. In a similar vein, Berg's close friend and colleague Gretchen Peters plays songs from her album Blackbirds in 2015. From that same year, Louisiana native and bayou roots poet Kevin Gordon. Masters of the craft on Music City Roots. 

A Rewind show we're calling Where Were They Then? Five artists who've become stars of Americana playing the MCR stage on their way up. The explosive New South soul of St Paul and the Broken Bones, in their first show outside of their AL home from 2012. Margo Price leads the Price Tags and talks about her transition from rock and roll to country, from 2014. And from 2013, an up and comer named Sturgill Simpson. Also Los Angeles dynamo Sam Outlaw, just before he released his debut and a band we're rooting for, Dustbowl Revival. Looking back to learn about the latest and greatest.

The show returns to the road. Not a very long road though. We're back in downtown Nashville at the City Winery with a lineup split in two chapters. In the first half, it's Americana rock and soul with Nora Jane Struthers, offering material off her acclaimed album Champion, and newcomer Emma Hern with a sultry and exceptional voice. Then it's bluegrass, traditional form with Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers and in the more exotic, adventuresome form with the Travellin' McCourys. And father Del joins for a couple of songs as well.

We rewind, all the way back to Nov. 21, 2012. It was an historic occasion too, celebrating the release of a long awaited album, one of the consensus best of that year, and it involved our fantastic musical host with his longtime friend and partner, but it was the first time they'd recorded a full project as a duo. Jim Lauderdale and Buddy Miller. Also on this epic bill, The Church Sisters with breezy bluegrass, pure country by the master of song Shawn Camp, the roots and groove of Nashville's all star 18 South and the fire and brimstone gospel rock of Mike Farris. A classic, recorded on the night before Thanksgiving at the Loveless Barn. 

The show is live and back on the road to yet another treasured venue, the Nashville Palace, a big old honky tonk near the Grand Ole Opry. And it's an Opry worthy evening as we pay tribute to Little Jimmy Dickens and the musical legacy of West Virginia. We hear sets from Country Music Hall of Famer Connie Smith, bluegrass icon Tim O'Brien and the divine folk and country star Kathy Mattea. Also on the bill, West Virginia Hall of Famer John Ellison who wrote the song 'Some Kind of Wonderful' plus songwriter Todd Burge and 30-year state favorites The Carpenter Ants. It was almost heaven.

An absolutely classic MCR from July of 2015. This memorable night featured Nashville's deepest electric blues and one of the nation's most important new acoustic folk duos. The former is legendary guitarist and songwriter - icon of the Bluebird Cafe - Mike Henderson, with new music. The latter is the Woodstock NY power couple Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams. Also on the bill, we'll hear head turning juke joint funk from his and her duo Smooth Hound Smith. Plus the remarkable voice and complex torch songs of breakout artist Emily West. Peter Cooper's the guest host.

It's a Roots Rewind show where we mine our tape vaults for standout performances by women who killed and thrilled between 2013 and last year. We'll hear Memphis bass player and torchy songwriter Amy LaVere, the sublime and uncategorizable Kristina Train, humanistic humorist Susan Werner and a closing set of songs in Spanish and English from Austin's remarkable Carrie Rodriguez. We hear as well from mountain modernist folk artist Dori Freeman from VA and Leah Blevins from KY. They're voice you know and voices on their way up.

We rewind our way through the years of great performances by the best guitarists from and passing through Music City. It's a tribute to the instrument that made Nashville possible, drawing on electric and acoustic masters. Featured are bluegrass rising star Molly Tuttle, the jazz ease of Pat Bergeson, country twang from Kenny Vaughan, plus all around mastery of Jim Oblon and the always in-demand Guthrie Trapp. The show closes with a full set by the fiery young Englishman reviving 1970s blues rock tradition, Davy Knowles. Guitar geeks will love it but all are invited.

MCR is back on the Road with an all new show from that famous Nashville crossroads and musical watering hole known as 3rd & Lindsley. It's a night heavy on traditional rock and roll, with a sweaty but poetic opening set by Louisiana raised, Nashville based Kevin Gordon. And the night closes out with Will Kimbrough, Tommy Womack and the other mega talents who make up Daddy. In between, two incredibly talented young women each on their way in their own way. Katie Pruitt is a newly signed songwriter with a canon of a voice and self-investigative songs. Lillie Mae is a star on Third Man records making deeply original country music.

It's a decades old relationship, not without it's marital squabbles, but who can deny that Nashville has been made all the richer by the two way highway between Music City and the Lone Star State. This show offers a wide range of sounds and styles, starting with the surprising soul of Austin's Greyhounds. And we close with contemporary country in a classic vein by Sunny Sweeney. In between, short sets from folk master Ruthie Foster and icons Asleep At The Wheel. Plus an early set from 2011 by the amazing Band of Heathens.

An archival Rewind show where the string is the thing. String bands on our stage between 2011 and 2017, featuring a wide range of what modern day musicians are doing with the bedrock beneath traditional country music and bluegrass. We'll open with The Wilders, that late great band from Kansas City. And we close with the sophisticated but earthy sounds of an all star band led by mandolinist Andy Statman. In between, the satisfying intensity of Portland Oregon's Foghorn String Band. And down home Nashville sound, with great songwriting, by the Howlin Brothers. Fiddles, banjos and mandos rule this week.

This new Roots Rewind show features the best in newgrass and jamgrass, from founding fathers to favorite sons. Sam Bush and John Cowan were in New Grass Revival together in the 70s and 80s. We'll hear from their respective bands, Cowan in 2012, Bush just last year. Leftover Salmon shows how far other bands took the newgrass idea in Colorado. And we close the show with second generation superstars the Travelin' McCourys.

Check out our first live show of 2018 and the first from our Roots on the Road series, as we stage Roots at leading venues all around Nashville TN. This one comes from the City Winery with a lineup that's loaded and very Music City. We open with new music from smooth rocking country soul man Derek Hoke. And we close with a celebration of the new album Arkansas by rock and roll hall of famer John Oates. In between, fresh bluegrass as the harmony focused Ms Adventure plays its debut show in their Nashville home town. And the ghost of Hank Williams is clearly communicating with the legendary Greg Garing, who brings a fiery hillbilly band to the stage. It was a grand sold out night, and there was wine.

With Music City Roots on limited run this winter and spring as we work toward moving into a new venue, we're offering up Roots Rewind shows pulled from the audio vaults of the show's 8+ years on the air. This episode took place August 24, 2011 at the Loveless Barn and featured a night curated by songwriter, roots rocker and raconteur Marshall Chapman. She had just published 'They Came To Nashville' featuring interviews with major artists and writers about their arrival stories in Music City. This is a show heavy on great songs and stories, with Rodney Crowell, Bobby Bare, Mary Gauthier and Don Henry. 

It's a year-end feast of sound and celebration as Roots closes a four year run at the Factory, with a gorgeous and wide ranging lineup. Modernist songwriter Anthony DaCosta pairs his spectral guitar and keening voice with the fiddle of Kimber Ludiker to open the show. And we close the night with another gorgeous voice - heck maybe the most gorgeous voice in roots music - the hit-making and heartwarming suzy Bogguss. In between, the elegant and talented Dawn Landes with music she's been working on in the studio with the legendary Fred Foster. (He produced Roy Orbison, don't you know) Also And the Whiskey Gentry play songs from their stellar 2017 album Dead Ringer.

Nashville, Muscle Shoals and Memphis are all represented on a Tennessee Wednesday night. From Music City we'll hear the sweet trio harmony of country music new comers Maybe April. And From Memphis, the first son of rockabilly music. He's got a new album reviving his extensive song catalog and a new book documenting his amazing life in rock and roll. He's Billy Burnette. Also on the bill, Hannah Aldridge is a daughter of the Muscle Shoals studio world, though she's found her voice in dark and rough edged country rock. While Mike Younger mixes music with activism.

Hard core country music is finally back on the radar of at least some of the major labels on Music Row, and we'll open this week's show with discovery and Big Machine Records artist Alex Williams. We'll close the show with decidedly indie, Grateful Dead inspired country rock by Nashville's much admired Cordovas. In between, the rough hewn, sardonic and evocative songs of Cafe Rooster recording artist Darrin Bradbury plus the refined, stage-honed sound of some Music City veterans - husband and wife duo Lost Hollow.

This week on MCR our cup runs over with stories and soul as the mood turns to the holidays and an attitude of gratitude. We open with the sincerity and show stopping voice of country star John Berry who offers an acoustic band set. The show closes with a songwriting legend from Texas who's a newly minted author of a short story collection. It's a dual release book and album by Radney Foster. In between, two volcanic vocalists with deep roots in southern music and an impeccable way with a song. Ashley Cleveland conjures a spirit and an atmosphere of grace in her gospel rock. Jimmy Hall, of Wet Willie fame and collaborator with Jeff Beck, takes his harmonica and blows the roof off the place.

This week on MCR, sets that swing from the refined to the rustic and back again. The show opens with a remarkable flight of imagination by Last Train Home founder Eric Brace. He's teamed up with master Nashville multi-instrumentalist Rory Hoffman to make Cartes Postales, an album of French songs from the obscure to the classic. And we end the night with new music from the rocking country song poet from Swoope, VA we know and love as Scott Miller. In between, the craggy and truthful songs of North Carolina's David Childers and then graceful words and stunning singing from Canadian folk star Rose Cousins.

This week on MCR, a West Virginia songwriter steps up on the big stage with chops in songwriting, singing and stagecraft that are rare for anyone , let alone a 22 year old. His sophomore album Red Arrow is making waves at Americana radio and he has mainstream appeal too. He's Christian Lopez. Also on the show, folk singer and comedian Greg Hall keeps the crowd off balance and in stitches. Newcomer Lauren Alexander shows off flair for folk with a pop sensibility. And the bewitching indie pop meets hard country sound of Sandy Hook KY native Leah Blevins.

This week on MCR, songs in brown and black, from bluegrass to southern soul. The night starts with IBMA songwriter of the year and charming vocalist Donna Ulisse. And we close with new songs that sound like standards from an ever- evolving Amy Black. She's got a new album made in, and titled, Memphis. In between, the feel good and tuneful songs of Nashville's Guthrie Brown. And we dip into the show's archives for a set by the inimitable Texas songwriting legend James McMurtry. Peter Cooper hosts this week. Interviews too.

This week on MCR, three from Nashville and a one man British invasion. The celebrated band Blank Range demonstrates exquisite song craft and harmony vocals in a shaggy indie rock style. Hugh Masterson, a recent transplant from Wisconsin, delivers straight up country rock and well told stories. And from a literal isle in the British Isles, emerging blues star Davy Knowles.  Also on the bill, a return visit from hard country phenomenon Emi Sunshine. She played Roots when she was ten years old adn she was darn good. Now she's 13 and the growth has been exponential. 

This week on Music City Roots, string bands and songwriters who show off the range and depth of Americana music. Mike Barnett proves why he's the most acclaimed young fiddler in bluegrass with a band of Nashville All-Stars. And we close with two veteran traditionalist who only recently discovered that maybe they should've been making music a long time ago. Mike Compton and Joe Newberry. Also on the bill, the stunning voice and songs of Los Angeles-based Suzanne Santo, taking a break from her duo HoneyHoney to place her work on brighter display as a solo artist. And we hear from tough yet velvet country rocker Jason Eady.

This week on MCR, two wildly different takes on bluegrass from two sides of the world. The show opens with The Blue Side of Lonesome, a quintet from Japan that's become a shining example of that country's love affair with sound birthed by Bill Monroe. They're really good. And we close with a long running group from Muscle Shoals that's made its name and living giving the bluegrass treatment to favorite rock and roll songs and albums. Iron Horse. Also on the bill, Charley Crockett brings us a magnificent hybrid of classic honky tonk and swamp pop from Texas. While guest host Peter Cooper's latest musical excursion is a trio with Eric Brace and Thomm Jutz, featuring great songs and sweet harmony.

This week on MCR, guys who get cuts. Songwriting cuts. You may not have heard of Travis Meadows but his songs have been all over the radio by the likes of Dierks Bentley and Eric Church. His own renderings are taught, emotional, edgy and intense. And the show closes out with a Nashville legend who's ridden the line between country and R&B over a long career, Gary Nicholson. Also on the bill exciting new roots rock from East Nashville with Jon Latham and an archival set of dreamy new folk by the divine Erin Rae and her band The Meanwhiles.

This week on MCR, two takes on Texas, one of them from Australia. Do you know the all female vocal quartet from Sydney called All our Exes Live In Texas? You will after this episode from Liberty Hall. They're a lot of fun. And we take in the very soul of Texas roadhouse blues, country and R&B with the great Lee Roy Parnell. He's got his first new album in 11 years and we'll hear songs from that. Also on the bill a surprising take on acoustic newgrass by red-headed Irish folk singer Danny Burns and a master-level Nashville based band. And David Luning who launched a folk career after being inspired by John Prine. We get it. 

This week on MCR, our 2017 AmericanaFest showcase from a one-time only pop up venue in the heart of downtown Nashville. It's a five ring circus under our own big top with a sampling of what's going on in the Americana field today, closing out with the fiery, funny and fatalistic songs of Ray Wylie Hubbard. The bill kicks off with newcomer and Rounder Recording artist Pony Bradshaw from Georgia. Angaleena Presley brings unbridled, insightful songs from her acclaimed Wrangled album. The Cactus Blossoms reinvent the classic brother duo form for a new age. And we hear John Paul White, refreshed from some time off in his Muscle Shoals home wiht stunning songs that brought a rowdy crowd to a standstill. It's big tent music under an actual big tent.

This week on MCR, it's Mando Mania as we assemble a multi-generational gathering of some of the finest mandolin pickers on Earth. Nashville native Casey Campbell, who grew up at and around the GOO and the elite of bluegrass curates an evening of mando solos, duos and full band performances. With Tim O'Brien, Sam Bush, Mike Compton and the man who brought us Rocky Top, Bobby Osborne. Also an extraordinary ensemble set on a rare visit to Nashville by the one and only mandolin stylist Andy Statman. It's a small instrument that punches above its weight. Join us for a season closing special edition of MCR.

Before Nashville, I’d never lived in a place where part of the regular conversation and social/cultural goings on was to figure out the essence of that place and to take active steps to get closer to its heart and soul. There was never a big emphasis on what does it mean to be from Chicago or Washington DC or Durham, NC, three of my other home bases. There is such a conversation about New Orleans and Austin. Music cities are like this. But I wonder if there’s any place more probative of its place-ness than Nashville. What I know is that it’s a healthy conversation to have and one that we are good at cultivating. When we partner with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum as we did this Wednesday, our city’s essence comes into tighter focus. We’re elevated in our attention and admiration. We heard a distillation of what it means to be a Nashville Cat. Can you sing? Write? Play? Cooperate? We know this when we hear it. We’re cat people and we’re into cat power.

This week on MCR, smooth grooves, flying fingers and some country comedy gold at Liberty Hall. We open with the incomparable roots soul of Seth Walker, who brings touches of all his music city bases to bear - Austin, Nashville and New Orleans. The laughs come from The Cleverlys, who bring string band and top 40 pop together in unholy alliance. And we close the show with the mind boggling skill and showmanship of Australian/Nashvillian acoustic guitar star Tommy Emmanuel. Also on the show, emerging Nashville songwriter and Music City Roots family member Ele Ivory, playing down to earth piano pop. It was a sold out night at the Factory, but there's always room for you right here on MCR.  

Family ties are part of the fabric of American roots music. How often have we read (and for Pete’s sake how often have I written) that Artist X “came from a musical family”? The connection among siblings and the passing of ideas across generations might be the central reason this music sustains, and that in turn sustains us. Wednesday night offered up heart lifting performances by a first son of bluegrass and a first brother of Americana soul, plus a delightful country newcomer and a set by our own soul brother Jim Lauderdale.

There was a festival atmosphere in Liberty Hall on Wednesday night and not just because the crowd was large and loud (though that helped). There was also that ineffable flow and unspoken dialogue among the four bands, softly conveying the spirit of roots music in all its complimentary forms. The timeless but mysteriously innovative folk/gospel flavor of Birds of Chicago gave way to the pure mountain-tinged songwriting of Jill Andrews. The bluegrass second half paired young and hungry Billy Strings with one of his heroes, the sixtysomething but unaware of it Jerry Douglas. His band came with a jazz/grass/rock fusion mode that tickled my every musical nerve ending. Keep on the grass? Good luck with that.

Like a meal in four courses that compliment but don’t overlap, Wednesday’s Roots delivered exquisite versions of four stages of country music evolution. From the sturdy and often elegant string band sound of Tim O’Brien we hyped things up a bit to a (drumless) electric honky tonk vibe with Greg Garing. Chelle Rose, East Tennessee’s answer to Townes Van Zandt, delivered literate, narrative-heavy songs with drums and measures of grungy power. And while less twangy or bluesy than the rest of the flight, Allen Thompson showed us the chemistry that results from a band of friends singing well-crafted songs that march along in classic Americana fashion. It was the first show of a blazing July, but it was a wry heat.

This season closing show brought together all the vibes and individual craft that makes Music City Roots go, with a new folk discovery, a heartfelt bluegrass tribute and two true icons of American roots music. We start with the moody beauty of Bay Area folk group Quiles & Cloud. An all-star gathering of Nashville pickers pay tribute to Mac Wiseman, including Sierra Hull, Shawn Camp, Justin Moses, Thomm Jutz and Peter Cooper. Next, Danny Barnes performs solo on the banjo, showing what a unique genius he is. And the show wraps with the fire and thunder of Texas master Delbert McClinton. 

Our crew and a nice large crowd assembled for a progression from vintage sounding folk through contemporary songwriting and on to two flavors of the blues. I found this evening of live music revelatory for a few reasons. I'd never seen Walter Wolfman Washington before and he's quite something. The New Orleans icon supplements his solid and timeless blues guitar with layers of jazz sophistication. His band laid down grooves as syncopated nad funky as anything we've heard this year. He's our veteran playing in the night's final set.    Up here opening the show in a moment is Nashville married couple Adrian and Meredith. They played Roots a couple of years ago when Adrian Krygowski was a solo artist. This duo now channels his punky fire through a more old world folk vein, with hard swing and gypsy overtones.    Our second set was quite heart stopping. Rounder Recording artist Sean McConnell launched his music career in Atlanta and then moved to Music City where he found success as a Music Row songwriter. Like Lori McKenna, he's able to have cuts and hits recorded by others and pursue a very deep and meaningful career as an artist. He's solo acoustic but no less spellbinding.    And we've got a set by a true local working class blues man - a gentleman who never thought he'd be a singing songwriting frontman. But his pursuit of the guitar led him in this direction and our music scene is better for it. he's Mark Robinson and he'll be up in the third segment.

Nashville is en fuego. The city’s filling up for the CMA Music Festival. The airport and highways are busily channeling music freaks out to Manchester for Bonnaroo. And everybody is flipping out about the Nashville Predators who will play for the Stanley Cup on Sunday night at home on Lower Broadway. It’s bigger, wilder, louder and richer than I ever imagined the city would be when I moved here twenty years ago. And it’s amazing. There’s just a glow and a wonder for most people, and if you want to avoid the whooping bridal parties on pedal taverns, there are plenty of places to hang out with good folks and good music that have nothing to do with that noise. Such as Music City Roots. On this week’s show, quite a few people found their way to the Factory for a bracing night of mostly solid country and bluegrass, with a stellar bluegrass-inspired musician from another country.

Wednesday night’s gathering of the Roots clan will be an opportunity to reflect on the life and legacy of Cowboy Jack Clement, the kindly and eccentric genius songwriter and producer who passed away in 2013. One of our guests, the songwriting entrepreneur Matt Urmy, was a great friend and protégé of Jack and arrives with an album Jack produced before his studio burned up in a bad fire. For a while, we explored the idea of a night formally paying tribute to Cowboy Jack but the right mix didn’t come together. That said, looking at this week’s lineup, with its variety and individuality, I feel sure Cowboy would have loved this week’s show. And I’m sure you will too. Featured: Matt Urmy Mipso John Nemeth Will Kimbrough & Brigitte DeMeyer

As far as I know there’s only one figure in the contemporary roots music community who can pick “Blackberry Blossom” like a boss and also do a tumbling run that ends in a cheerleader split (not at the same time, but I wouldn’t put it past him). If David Mayfield came into your mind just now then you get an Americana cookie, because that’s who I was thinking about! It’s been too long since we saw and heard from the bearded weirdo, but he brings his always explosive sense of entertainment to the Factory this week along with a great roots rock band, a mod folky couple and a quintet from Colorado that split the bluegrass atom.

We know a classic when we see one, hear one, feel one. Forgive me for sounding like a Cadillac ad voice over or something, but seriously, sometimes there’s just an ineffable sense that something beautiful and meaningful is unfolding. And while we can’t pull that off every single week, we try to put the pieces in place for a chemical reaction. And this week it happened. There was combustion and satisfaction. We ranged across the country and across roots music terrain with acoustic grand master Tony Furtado from Portland, OR, Texas-raised songwriter Curtis McMurtry, Colorado polyethnic joyride Gipsy Moon and veteran John Jorgenson’s remarkable bluegrass band.

So did y’all catch that news about the Fyre Festival? As good people, we try not to indulge in schadenfreude, but sometimes man, wow, it’s hard. In short, a rap celebrity and a dudebro with a track record of over-selling and under-delivering promised a glamour-packed, celebrity-stoked par-TAY on a remote island and promoted it by paying other celebrities to post on Instagram about it. It was a fiasco, not because the whole premise was culturally bankrupt and morally suspect (which it was), but because they didn’t PLAN. You have to plan, folks. For example, on the same weekend, two other festivals – much bigger ones – came off without a hitch. Merlefest in North Carolina and JazzFest in New Orleans actually served up authentic music, genuine community, good food and good times for fans who don’t need to feel like they’re winning on a reality show and who aren’t measuring their lives in bikini access and Twitter followers. So for this week anyway, it’s Real Culture: 2. Celebri-crap Culture: 0. Well done, roots music. MCR had to do a bit of extra planning and demonstrate resilience in the face of challenges as we had more late-breaking lineup shifts this week than maybe ever before. Here’s the superb final tally: Rising Virginia-based folk star Dori Freeman makes a long-sought MCR debut. John Carter Cash brings a family music legacy that’s second to none. Colter Wall is our deep voice of hard country. And we welcome the return of one of the most fluent, flexible roots rock bands in the good old USA.

It’s not as easy to go to Merlefest as it used to be in my footloose, sleeping-on-the-ground-is-fine days. So it’s wonderful to annually have a mini-Merlefest of our own at Music City Roots. The sampling of Merle-bound artists always refreshes and always seems to spotlight the very best of progressive traditional music. This week’s heavily attended show was no exception.

Historians can and do debate the circumstances under which rock and roll was born, but there’s no debating the fact that modern-day rockers who capture the excitement of that initial blast are rootsy as all get-out, nor that said beginning was propelled by a mix that included plenty of blues and hillbilly progenitors. This week’s show covered a couple of bases with Sunny Sweeney’s nothing-but brand of country and Bella Hardy’s evocative British folk, then took a turn into the front porch blues shouting of Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band before landing in Blackfoot Gypsies’ primal rock and roll. Lineages notwithstanding, it was roots everywhere you looked.

A special charismatic energy always attends the arrival of La Terza Classe, the old time string band quintet from Naples Italy. I’ve rarely seen people who seem so glad to be alive, on the road, playing music. And they were just part of a gathering tribe of visitors on a rapturously gorgeous spring evening this week. Beloved Nashville bass player Dave Roe and drummer Rick Lonow were on hand. Friendly Mike Webb was in the green room too. My good Tulsa-based friend Jared Tyler was in town to play and sing with Malcolm Holcombe. And I even had my own family on hand to supplement my Roots family, with my wife and daughter accompanying relatives from Texas. So the stage was set for a warm and sunny show at the end of a warm and sunny day. In order: Ana Cristina Cash La Terza Classe Kenny & Amanda Smith Malcolm Holcombe

It’s a big country, this America, and Americana music is concomitantly enriched by its host nation’s geography and diversity. That was on display Wednesday night as Roots hosted artists from New York, Texas, Massachusetts and Washington. Strings were stretched, along with rules and genre boundaries. There’s no point in reaching for a fancy way to say it. This one was a delight and the crowd seemed to agree, what with all the frequent standing and applauding.

There’s a new eatery in The Factory at Franklin that’s offering what is, for Williamson County, a slightly exotic new pre-show dinner option. Funk Seoul Brother has a hip hop esthetic and a Korean/Japanese menu with poke (PO-kay), the rice bowl featuring raw fish. My tuna and seaweed this week was zesty and contrasty and a tiny offering to the gods of global cultural exchange. With the right taking illiberal positions against pluralism and the left taking illiberal positions against what it calls “cultural appropriation,” I’m up for anything that affirms the values of dialogue and, well, cultural appropriation, because without that, we’d not have the grand American music legacy. Melting pots make a lot of sound, and we aim to be there with microphones. Which brings me to 7 pm on Wednesday night.

Spring springs eternal, and it was renewing to return to the Factory with the recent freeze behind us and new sprouts sprouting for some of our kind of living roots. It was a night that left some of our regulars buzzing with the sweet feeling of trust and vindication. I mean they may not have known most of the artists on the bill, but they gave of themselves and met these artists halfway and found charm, grit and beauty over two and a half efficient hours.  I got to speak at length with Guy Davis in the afternoon and he was just full of soul and humanity and enthusiasm. But even his bright personality was a hard match for harmonica man Fabrizio Poggi, who whooped and dug into his arsenal of harps on material largely drawn from the repertoire of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee. This made a high-energy acoustic pairing to close the night. More: http://musiccityroots.com/blog/jumped-spring-3-22-17/    

I don’t often lead these reports with our Nashville Jam, but sometimes our show-closing, all-hands feature goes exceptionally well. And this week it felt like some cathartic starburst that brought together all of the energies and chemistries of the nights four acts. And that is exactly what it’s supposed to do under ideal circumstances. The song was “Why You Been Gone So Long?” from the pen of Mickey Newbury. A lot of us bluegrass heads glommed on to the song as recorded by Tony Rice. But my research says it was first recorded by the long forgotten Johnny Darrell in 1969 with a dank electric guitar twang and a twisty beat. And that’s the beat that Jim Lauderdale (who was back after a few weeks of being gone so long – why?) set up as Nikki Lane, Michaela Anne, Paul McDonald and Parker Gispert brought their distinctive voices to the verses. The choruses were huge and tight and joyful. Sometimes we really nail it. But it had been a special night all around by that point anyway.

Some artists who write instrumental tunes claim that naming them is difficult. I don’t know. I’m always coming up with weird phrases that seem to have no other purpose on Earth other than to be a jazz or fiddle tune, some of which are named with surreal panache. Consider two of the tunes April Verch played in her show-opening set of Canada-inspired traditional music: “Spider Bit The Baby” and “Joke On The Puppy.” One has to wonder what circumstances way back wherever in time led somebody to affix those words to those churning bundles of notes and rhythms. In my mystery lies stories of our own making. That’s what’s fun about instrumental music in general; we can bring a lot of ourselves to a tune’s meaning when the singer isn’t telling us what to think. Even so, on this balmy March 1 night as we closed our winter 2017 season, the singers and songwriters gave us plenty to think about as well. It was a well-rounded, head bobbing kind of an evening that started in Canada and ended up in South Carolina.

Even with all of the cool country music fashion we’ve seen over the years, Jim Lauderdale’s Manuel suits included, nobody has ever made me drop my jaw and exclaim out loud like Ward Hayden’s Tex-Mex suit of flowers and jewels on Wednesday night. It was black with tightly embroidered vines and blooms and just covered like a mirror ball with rhinestones. He wore it well and led Girls Guns and Glory in a set that easily justified the audacious accouterments. It was one quarter of a night that delivered half bluegrass and half rocking country and 100% well written songs.

Later this month (2/23), the series SUN Records premieres on CMT, with music supervision by friend of the show and friend of hillbilly music Chuck Mead. We’ve been thrilled to follow Chuck’s journey on this unexpectedly large gig. Years ago he was hired to keep the music real in the then off-Broadway production of Million Dollar Quartet. It grew into a global award winning phenomenon. This week we got to hear Chuck perform his own music again for the first time in a while, and he was part of our own quartet of Nashville artists. Worth a million? Who’s to say. What’s fair to notice, I think, is that for ten bucks, it was a very good deal.

We at Roots probably have you conditioned by now so that when we say “bluegrass” you know we mean the whole range, from roots to branches. Our all-bluegrass shows generally include a Greensky or a Sam Bush Band, because one of the greatest things about the field is its freedom. It’s one of the ultimate artist-driven, innovation-friendly genres and we’ll always celebrate that. But this week was different – a turn toward bluegrass fundamentalism if you will. It was all trad. No rad. And boy was it excellent. Lineup in order: The Lonesome River Band Foghorn String Band Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers The Isaacs