I got a chance to sit down with Nashville duo Sam and Ruby who performed at the closing party for the Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) on Thursday evening. Two songs from their most recentl album The Here And The Now were featured on the soundtrack of the documentary "Westbound," which premiered at the festival.

"Westbound" tells the story of Adolph Vandertie, "Duke of the Hobos," who led an extraordinary life during the Great Depression as a woodworking/whittling artist. He is remembered for his uniquely beautiful pieces that have served to perpetuate the tramp art culture. Sam and Ruby contributed the songs "Heaven’s My Home" and "What Do I Do Now," which were impressively perfect for the movie. It is somewhat freakish how accurately they tapped into the variety of emotions that seemed to arise as a result of hearing Adolph Vandertie’s story. This is probably because they both related to Adolph and the hobo culture, as well as the shared sentiment of "doing the best we can" regardless of the circumstances, (which was pretty apparent after they had the experience of meeting Adolph, playing the songs for him in the nursing home and seeing the finished product). Now that they have been travelling the country and making music together for the past several years, it is interesting to witness how they’ve come full cirucle and ended up back in Nashville.

It was also cool to hear that they still try to "keep it local" and stay involved in the music community with their work. They mentioned being fans of Andy Davis and Tyler James (of course), but also used a number of other notable Nashville musicians on their soundtrack recordings, including Katie Herzig (who actually co-wrote "Heaven’s My Home" with Ruby), Jeremy Lister, Rachel Lampa, Jamelle Fraley, Michael Inge and even a Fisk Jubilee singer. On the "not-so-local" side of things, they are going to be opening for Delbert McClinton (my hero) for several tour dates in the northeast, so hats off to them for scoring a gig with a badass.

It seems that Sam and Ruby are doing quite well, and will only continue to explore new areas of the music industry and spread their creativity within and beyond Nashville. When asked if anything else has come specifically as a result of being involved with "Westbound," Ruby’s answer was, "…[A]s musicians, you write your songs, but you have to figure out how you want to get them out there, and we really feel the sense of community most in the film world. This has really been kind of a pivotal thing for us. We did Sundance this year for the first time, and now the NaFF, which is like the ‘be all, end all’ for us, and we feel like this is where we want to be. This is how we want to get our music out there." – Erin Manning

Only a few things would have convinced me to skip out on the Naked Without Us happenings, and one of those things was Chris Pureka’s show, which occured at The Basement on Wednesday evening. The night started off with a solid set by Nashville folk/bluegrass, singer/songwriter Jesse Lafser. Backed by another acoustic guitar player and two background singers, Lafser wooed the crowd with her simple and effortless songs, seamlessly moving through her material with her almost spoken/rambling style and breathless moanings. Her passionate singing for the Tennessee hills, lost lovers and the yearning for everything she hasn’t yet found were most effectively communicated through the songs "Tiny Wars," and "The Rose and The Briar."

The excitement behind her performance was admirably obvious, probably because she was opening up for one of her idols and biggest influences – Chris Pureka. (Compare Lafser’s new material to Pureka’s old and you’ll see what I mean.) Lafser is currently promoting her new album The Living Room Sessions. Score a copy of it on her website. You can also catch her playing live again on Friday evening at Music Row Bar at 8 pm. (I’ll also be playing. Hint, hint. Wink, wink).

By the time Lafser finished playing, the crowd had livened up a bit, slammed down some drinks and were ready to begin ogling over Portland, Maine’s folk singer Chris Pureka and her new backing band. They are currently on a national tour to promote her new album How I Learned To See In The Dark, and after listening to the new songs for the first time, I can safely say that Pureka has managed to outdo her fantastic previous works by exploring a new side of folk. With the added percussion and incorporation of dreamy color chords, it was like listening to Gillian Welch and Patty Griffin through a waterfall in an African rainforest. Or watching Tarzan on mute. Her voice seems to have grown into this guttural yet unconstrained whimper that manages to wrap around the words she gasped to the crowd, as we all sat there dumbfounded and transfixed on the four seemingly shy girls on stage.

Use your ears to interpret what I’m trying to say, and listen to her album. Then go chase her on the rest of her tour. – Erin Manning