It seems a bit redundant to announce the announcement date, but it’s also still at least a little exciting. By way of a YouTube video featuring Weird Al Yankovic, Bonnaroo has announced February 19th as the date to save if you’ve been holding your breath for the announcement that will put all the rumors to rest. The whole ordeal, shortened to simply "B.L.A.M." (Bonnaroo Lineup Announcement Megathon), begins at 11 am Nashville time over on the Bonnaroo365 YouTube channel.
From the sound of things, this is going to be a marathon event, featuring classic Bonnaroo performances from The White Stripes, Bon Iver, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and more. For the full rundown and a dose of Weird Al, hit play below and prepare yourself for February 19th.
If you’re all dressed up with no place to go this weekend, we’ve got some suggestions for you…
Friday…
Tonight, the Exit/In is hosting a sweaty roots rock show, highlighting two local acts and one out-of-towner. The Blackfoot Gypsies kick things off with a solid dose of rock swagger and are followed up by fellow Nashvillian, Joshua Black Wilkins and his gritty brand of whiskey folk. Headliner American Aquarium is set to take the stage around 11 pm. You can find the details for this one here.
If you’d like your Friday night activities to be a little more laid-back and bank account-friendly, the free show at the Basement is your jam. Further exemplifying that Nashville is a goldmine of musical talent, TORRES will be hosting her record release show. Sharing the stage with her is the erotically-named, immensely-talented BF/GF Sex and former Floridian, surf rock band Catfish. Get all the info on this show over this way.
Saturday…
Keeping the album release theme going, Sol Cat are heading to the Stone Fox to unveil their self-titled debut. After what felt like an eternity of teases and video premieres, the band are finally unveiling their LP. Joining them for the event are The Weeks and Junior Astronomers. Getcher tickets here.
If you plan to head to the Mercy Lounge on Saturday night, act fast. The venue is sure to fill up with Kopecky Family Band, RayLand Baxter, and indie rock Texans, The Eastern Sea, taking the stage together. All three acts spent 2012 catching a decent amount of heat and hype, so get your tickets early and expect an explosive and fun show.
Sunday…
Typically a quiet day for venues, Butterfly Boucher keeps the party going for one more night over at 3rd & Lindsley. Joe Pug joins her on the bill and, according to the Facebook event, the show will air live on Lightning 100.
Clear your calendar for March 2nd because you just made plans! Elevent Productions, Third Shift Amber Lager, and our friends over at East Nashville Underground and No Country for New Nashville have just announced a stacked bill for their South By Southwest send off show. The event will take up two of the three venues at 1 Cannery Row, taking place at Mercy Lounge and The High Watt. The Mercy Lounge stage will highlight some of Nashville’s best and brightest on the road to Austin’s renowned music conference, and in addition to the fantastic lineup, Third Shift will be providing a free beer tasting.
The festivities start at 8 pm. The Mercy Lounge stage will host The Protomen, Wild Cub, Patrick Sweany, Luella and the Sun, and The Howling Brothers. Over at the High Watt, you’ve got Alanna Royale, Magnolia Sons, Jacob Jones, Los Colognes, and The Jag.
Though you may have heard of The Wild Feathers only recently, the four piece is not new to the music business. In addition to hitting stages with the likes of Paul Simon, Delta Spirit, and Surfer Blood, the band has been signed to Interscope, dropped from Interscope, and signed again with Warner Bros. Records. And they haven’t even released their debut record yet.
Forming with the sole intention of starting a new band, the evolution of The Wild Feathers was fortunate but it was not accidental, and their backstory is as organic as their sound. Hailing from disparate corners of the South as well as eclectic backgrounds in music, Joel King, Ricky Young, Taylor Burns, and Preston Wimberly came together in Austin in 2010. "I wish we had, like, some breakthrough story. We’re not a new band, but everybody’s kind of been around for a little bit and knows how to work it so it’s helped out," says King. Having paid their dues in various musical outfits throughout the years, to the untrained eye, it seems that The Wild Feathers have been granted permission to jump the line, but in reality, they’ve simply learned to navigate it.
Overlapping the grit of rock n’ roll with an Americana twang, it makes sense that The Wild Feathers have found a home in Nashville. Embraced immediately by new and old friends within the community, you’re as likely to find King and his bandmates supporting their fellow musicians at a show as you are to find them in the studio, recording background vocals for Butch Walker‘s new album. "It makes your band better when you’re around other people who are real progressive and doin’ it up. It makes you want to step it up."
Wednesday night, The Wild Feathers will kick off their month-long residency over at The High Watt. Billed as "Feathers and Friends," the band will take the stage with a revolving door of guests each Wednesday throughout the month of February. And, to keep things interesting, the band has a few surprises up their sleeve.
The release of the band’s eponymous debut album is set tentatively for June, but you can hear the songs tomorrow night at The High Watt, starting at 8 pm. For more details on the event, click here. –Brianne Turner
Fresh off their win in the alleged game against Seoul that we suspect may or may not have actually ever happened, the Nashville Pioneers are holding their post-game pep rally at the Stone Fox for a night of dancing and DJ sets from the likes of Wild Cub, DJ La Force, and Jeremy Todd.
Though we introduced you to the team back in December, this your first opportunity to get out and party with the Pioneers, so put on your dancing gear and head down to the Stone Fox. The party starts at 9 pm.
Proceeds from the event go to the Oasis Center. For more details about the pep rally, go here.
We have a Twitter account! You can follow us at @deli_nashville for updates about the Nashville music scene, opportunities to win concert tickets, and general tomfoolery.
The feed is bare for now, but we promise to use it to keep you in the know. There will also opportunities to win a round of whatever we’re drinking if you’re at the shows we’re covering, so follow us closely because the rewards are irrefutable.
On Friday night, the Basement housed the sold-out EP release show for Alanna Royale, also featuring Daniel Ellsworth & the Great Lakes, Golden Spurs, and Maureen Murphy. We told you to head down there, but even we had no way of anticipating of what was in store.
Maureen Murphy can sing. Holding long and powerful notes like a 2013 Whitney Houston (truly, though), the strength behind Murphy’s voice will take you to church, regardless of whether or not you want to go there. The Massachusetts-born singer/songwriter opened the show to a packed house and made some new fans in the process, as exemplified by the boy behind me who couldn’t contain himself and kept screaming "I fuckin’ love you!" (It was well-deserved praise.)
Continuing the Massachusetts theme, Golden Spurs brought their garage-style rock vibe to the stage, adding an additional layer of sweat to every member of the packed and dancing audience. The only surprising thing about the rock trio’s talent is that more people aren’t aware of it. But the band is still relatively new to Nashville, so there’s no doubt we’ll all be on board soon.
We first wrote about Daniel Ellsworth & the Great Lakes back in April of last year and they were fantastic then. But the four piece has sharpened their sound and their live show so effectively that they are currently winning our year-end poll (to your right) and accomplishing everything every independent band sets out to accomplish. After returning from their recent U.S. tour, the band hasn’t stopped, giving everyone little choice but to become a fan of their eclectic blues pop-rock. Essentially, Daniel Ellsworth & the Great Lakes are blowing up– and no one is surprised. Their set at the Basement was a testament to how far they’ve come.
Alanna Quinn-Broadus is a powerhouse, both vocally and in personality. Unrivaled when it comes to stage presence, it makes sense that the refreshingly sassy frontwoman is balanced at the front of the stage by the six male band members behind her. From making their radio debut earlier this month to selling out the Basement just a few weeks later, it’s difficult to deny that Alanna Royale are onto something. Playing a set consisting of the songs from their Bless Her Heart EP and a cover of Nirvana’s "Heart-Shaped Box," Quinn-Broadus announced the end of the show and responded to the subsequent groans in the crowd with, "We don’t have any more fuckin’ songs!" Though it seems we’ve all become rabid superfans before Alanna Royale was ready for us, the recently-formed band seems to be handling our new-found obsession like seasoned veterans. And I cannot wait until they give us some more fuckin’ songs. –Brianne Turner
If you follow any number of local and emerging artists on your social media stream, then prepare to see your feed blow up with Road To Bonnaroo announcements over the course of the next few weeks. Announced this morning, the first round of Road To Bonnaroo contestants is stacked deep. The lineup boasts a few acts featured in our year-end poll to your right but all eight artists are worth a listen.
The first round of acts will hit the Mercy Lounge stage on February 25th to compete for your vote to send them to Bonnaroo 2k13. The following two sets of bands are as yet unannounced, but you may as well mark your calendars now for March 25th and April 15th to watch Road To Bonnaroo, rounds two and three, also over at Mercy Lounge.
In the meantime, get to know the first eight of your 24 Road To Bonnaroo contestants:
This weekend stands to be fairly quiet here in Music City, but if you’d like to hang with us, we’ve found perhaps the two best parties in town, hosted at one venue, for your convenience.
Tonight, the Alanna RoyaleBless Her Heart EP release show is happening at The Basement. Along with Golden Spurs, Maureen Murphy, and one of our favorites, the always incredible Daniel Ellsworth & the Great Lakes, the Nasvhille-united seven piece will bring their fantastic and self-described "dirty pop/raunchy soul" to the stage to officially unveil their heavily-anticipated EP. Alanna Royale has been getting the full hype treatment from the Nashville music community lately and the buzz is well-deserved. Alanna’s voice establishes the line between "sweet" and "strong" and dances all over it effortlessly. You can spend the day learning every word to the Bless Her Heart EP over at Bandcamp and then come dance and sweat with us to this fantastic lineup at The Basement.
Details for the event can be found here.
On Saturday night, we’re back at the Basement for our first Photo Ops experience. The solo project of Terry Price, Photo Ops’ prismatic and mesmerizing February release, How To Say Goodbye, makes showing up for this one a no-brainer. Price manned each of the instruments on the record, but for this set, he’ll be backed by a full band. Joining Photo Ops on the bill will be Westbound Rangers and Fox Bear Snake.
Details for this one can be found here.
Pick one or both nights to come out to The Basement and say hi and watch some fantastic music with us!
Yesterday, word began to leak out that an employee of Rocketown had been fired over his decision to wear a Hostage Calm band t-shirt supporting marriage equality. In less than 24 hours, the story hit Twitter, Reddit, and found some space over on the The Tennesseean blog. In response to his termination from the venue whose mission statement reads "Offering hope to the next generation through Christ’s love," Wes Breedwell took to his Instagram account, posting the photo above and stating:
Got fired from Rocketown today. Social media is what did it. So here is a picture to show my support for equality and free speech including social media. Cheers to my friends for having my back through all of this. #sevenyears
In response to the termination, Hostage Calm released the following (incredibly eloquent) statement via email and on their website:
Today, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a longtime supporter of Hostage Calm and marriage equality was fired from his job at the Nashville music venue, Rocketown, for wearing his “I Support Same-Sex Marriage” shirt to work. A friend from Nashville contacted me about the situation and told me of Wes Breedwell, this seven-year employee of Rocketown who now finds himself the victim of discrimination. We called this brave man to hear his story, demonstrate our support, and figure out how we can help.
What I heard from him was a long pattern of discrimination against him for not being Christian and for supporting marriage equality. Rocketown is a Christian-owned non-profit community center and venue: not a church. And yet, over the seven years he has worked there, he’s been denied opportunities for advancement and salary based on his non-Christian beliefs. Today, Rocketown fired him for wearing this shirt commemorating equality (along with his non-Christian activity on social media pages). Wes emphasized that employees routinely wear band shirts at Rocketown. So why did this shirt cause such a problem?
It’s important to note that they didn’t fire him for wearing A SHIRT. They fired him because of what that shirt stands for. For what that shirt threatens.
This shirt represents an idea that all people have the right to live their lives without being told who to love and whose love is more valuable. It represents equality under the law. It represents the freedom to choose.
So how could a youth center not support such a vital, foundational understanding of human freedom and equality as part of their social mission? Hostage Calm has played Rocketown multiple times. In my prior visits, I was under the impression that Rocketown was a positive force in this Nashville community: they had a music venue, skatepark, and other outlets for Nashville youth. But a youth center and music venue cannot be a positive force in the community if it degrades and belittles the value of some of our people based on sexual orientation or gender identity. That is the force that tears communities apart, not that enriches them.
I originally planned to make a post today about Dr. King, the status of his Dream, and how we can all work together to realize equality in modern America. This unfortunate event demonstrates that Dr. King’s Dream is still under threat, and that the struggle of the LGBT community for equal standing under the law is a Civil Rights issue of our time.
Hostage Calm promises to do everything in its power to raise awareness and challenge this injustice in Nashville. We will certainly never play Rocketown again. We’ll continue to post more information as Wes and H.C. take further action. For now, you can help by reposting his story to shine a light on this injustice, and by boycotting the venue. Most of all, please send all your support to Wes Breedwell and his fight for justice.
May Love Prevail,
Cmar, Hostage Calm
Though this story is gaining a lot of steam, no official statement has been released from Rocketown. For more details and some excellent reporting on the incident, visit No Country for New Nashville. –Brianne Turner
Exemplifying that male/female folk harmonies don’t require suspenders and a mandolin, Grace & Tony skip the ho-heys and the stomp/clap rhythm and opt instead for a punkgrass sound that offers a refreshing take on modern Americana.
In their new video for "November," the duo takes to the streets of Florence, Alabama to tell a humble love story featuring a kick ass OG Cadillac and a lot of romantic eye contact. Directed by Lloyd Aur Norman of Villain Place, "November" highlights the first song from Grace & Tony’s forthcoming album of the same name. No word yet on a release date for November, but you can catch up on Inside A Seven Track Mindhere in the interim. –Brianne Turner
‘Tis the season for video releases and our next clip comes from the guys in Clear Plastic Masks. Formed in 2011 in Brooklyn, the four piece picked up and headed to Music City, where they recorded their full-length right down the road at The Bomb Shelter. The band describes themselves as "rooted in the blue collar analog tradition of work a day rock n roll," making them perfect candidates for one of the next best bands to come out of Nashville, via somewhere else.
Premiered Friday by our friends over at The Scene, "So Real" was directed by Joshua Shoemaker and features live footage of the band playing a few different gigs and one house party that you’d probably get punched in the face at– and we mean that in a good way.
If you missed the Clear Plastic Masks set at the Mercy Lounge’s anniversary party, you can catch them again on January 29th at The End with William Tyler, Promised Land, and Buffalo Clover. –Brianne Turner
