Every fall, The Americana Music Association gathers members, artists and music fans together in Nashville for its annual conference. Starting with the Americana Music Awards and continuing through several days of showcases and panel discussions, it is a tremendous celebration of Americana music. Here are but a few of my favorite performers and performances from this year’s conference.
The best thing I saw all week was Kimbrough’s emotional solo set on Friday afternoon. He stepped to the stage and shared that it was his first public show since the passing of his long-time friend and collaborator Jimmy Buffett. “When you start playing gigs, it hits you harder,” he said fellow Buffett friend and musician Mac MacAnally warned him. He then played their newly released collaboration “Bubbles Up”. If there was a dry eye in the house, I didn’t see one… The set continued with plenty of stories amidst a handful of songs.
I saw Kimbrough the next night with his electric trio – “I’ll be playing electric guitar and not talking so much,” he said while promoting the show the previous afternoon. They rocked a great set but nothing could top the intensity of Kimbrough’s acoustic performance.
West Virginia’s Matheny is a relatively new discovery for me and I’m especially enjoying That Grand, Old Feeling, his recently released album. So much so that I caught him twice – once solo and once with his band. Both sets highlighted the rootsy rock charm of his songwriting and his guitar-playing prowess.
Talk about a trifecta, although in this case all three artists were winners. I’d seen AHI and Clark before so I knew what I was going to get – artists who command attention with their songs and performance. Denitia was a new and welcome discovery, a charming presence with equally compelling songs.
Morrow was a man about town, making five appearances over the week. Aside from his suitably rockin’ afternoon set at the Twangville co-sponsored Mule Kick Records/Devious Planet day party, I particularly enjoyed his two song appearance at Ben Chapman’s Peach Jam event on Wednesday afternoon. Four guitars(!) plus pedal steel and keys jamming Little Feat’s “Dixie Chicken” in a parking lot behind noted South Nashville club The Basement? Hard to go wrong with that…
And speaking of Peach Jam, Lainey Wilson fired up the crowd with an electrifying take on Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll”.
William Prince kicked off his Saturday afternoon appearance at the Country Music Hall of Fame by making up a song both heartfelt and funny. “No one told me it was being filmed, wish I wasn’t wearing this shirt right now,” was a lyric in the latter category. From there, Prince steered more to the former, telling the stories behind – and then performing – some of his most powerful songs.
Fruition are one of the most vibrant live artists that I’ve seen in the past few years. They benefit from having three singer-songwriters, each with a wonderfully distinctive musical personality, who bring tremendous musicianship and harmonies to their music. Their Wednesday late night set was all about new songs being considered for a new album. All keepers.
Jason Hawk Harris has mostly been quiet over the past few years but is about to emerge with a brand new album. The two sets that I saw – one on a sunny downtown rooftop – leaned heavily on the forthcoming release, his crack band breathing impressive life into his intellectual brand of Americana.
There are few musicians more intense with an acoustic guitar than Branan. Couple that with his sharp songwriting and you’re guaranteed a powerful and memorable performance. And that’s exactly what we got on Saturday night. Even if he didn’t play my request… (more on that in the forthcoming Say What post)
I kicked off my week with a rooftop set courtesy of Arkansas singer-songwriter Clayton. He and his band were ready to rock – so much so that they blew out the microphones on a stellar cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Gimme One Reason”.
About the author: Mild-mannered corporate executive by day, excitable Twangville denizen by night.