A Wednesday at The Station Inn with Will Kimbrough, Marshall Chapman and Mary Gauthier

Harry first introduced me to The Station Inn many years ago. As I recall I had already moved to Tennessee from Alabama, but still had many Nashville experiences ahead of me. I remember a smaller, much more quaint neighborhood than the current landscape of high rise apartments and downtown living. I'm so glad The Station Inn itself retains the same comfortableness of my first visit. I really wish I could remember who performed that night. I do remember digging it, though.

Last Wednesday evening we listened to Will Kimbrough, Marshall Chapman and Mary Gauthier offer up their art with melodies and words that dance perfectly together and always leave me smiling... even the sad songs...

Will started with "Piece of Work" that he said was written from the bathroom of the neonatal unit of Baptist Hospital... you can take a listen if that piques your interest... and it should...

Marshall shared a bit about her childhood in South Carolina, saying she didn't know she was white until she was old enough to jump up and see herself in the mirror.

She saw Elvis at age 7 from the 'colored' balcony of the Carolina Theater, taken there by the family's cook. She recalled that she was often asked, "Why can't you be like other girls?"

"They didn't even bother to ask me that shit." Mary replied.

Mary led her set with "I Drink".

I have much love for Mary Gauthier and her writing. She has some great videos of live performances and interviews on her site. You should get to know her...

Will rounded out his set with "Love to Spare"; "Champion of the World"*; "Say that You'll be Mine" (performed with Brigitte DeMeyer); "Nobody from Nowhere"* that included Will's infamous guitar picking, a version of which Harry taped during a live performance at Grimey's in 2009; "Philadelphia, MS" "...she never felt at home until she ran away..." (love that line); ending his set with "A Couple Hundred Miracles" "...every step's a miracle, every breath's a gift, so I wear a smile and grateful prayer upon my lips. Tomorrow's just a mystery; I believe I'll take a couple hundred miracles a day..."

As I said at the beginning, smile inducing craft...

Marshall's performance included "I Love Everybody, I Love Everything" "...I got no agenda, I just wanna dance and sing..."; a newly written song with a Bo Didley rhythm, "Sexogenarian", "... loving you's like loving the wind, can't hold you in my hand, loving you's like loving the stars, how I wonder where you are..."; "Leaving Loachapoka", inspired by a musician from Loachapoka, Alabama that played with her in Road Scholars. "Loachapoka is such a fun word to say; I had to write a song about it."

Marshall also read an expert from her book, They Came to Nashville, about the first time she met Billy Jo Shaver. Listen to the same reading from The Station Inn during AMA last year. You really should read the book...

Next was "Tim Revisited", ending her set with another new tune, my notes of which I can not read, but thoroughly enjoyed nonetheless...

Mary's second song, "Your Sister Cried", featured Tania Elizabeth providing harmony and fiddle.

Mary shared that her recently received award for "Gay Country Songwriter of the Year" was something of a 'give-me' category since she was about the only one it seemed. "I was kind of worried the first time I played at the home of bluegrass in Nashville; I thought I might be getting in a situation to get myself killed, but I have been welcomed and it sure does feel good." This opened her "Drag Queens in Limousines" with "... sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do and pray that those that love you will catch up with you..." Next came "The Last of the Hobo Kings" inspired by the obituary of Steamboat Maury.

Mary's next song was "Prayer for the Souls Departed"*. She recounted that the monies from that song allowed her to purchase a good car for the first time in her life. "It just didn't seem right to put Jimmy Buffett money in an IRA. It made much more sense to buy something good and enjoy it, so I did."

Mary ended the evening's performance with the beautiful song, "Mercy Now", some of my most favorite lyrics ever...

Tania Elizabeth accompanied Mary on each of her songs, providing beautiful harmony and fantastic fiddle playing. Having been trained in classical music, Tania wowed the already enamoured crowd with "Le Reel Du Pendu" also known as "Hangman's Reel", delivered perfectly.

I love my town...

Smiles and music,

Karan

* also recorded by Jimmy Buffett

MUMFORD AND SONS

Mumford and Sons played to a sold out house at TPAC's War Memorial Auditorium on 11.01.2010. Mimosa Arts provided exclusive coverage of the event and the full set of images may be viewed at www.mimosaarts.com/tpac/mumfordandsons.

TPAC'S HOUSE CONCERT SERIES

Concert 01
Angel Snow with Viktor Krauss

Our lovely friends and business partners at TPAC opened their House Concert Series on Thursday, August 26th, to a full house anxious to hear Angel Snow with Viktor Krauss. The intimate musical evening, in true TPAC form, seemed effortless, causal and low key; belying the work and coordination required to make an event feel like dessert to the end of a long day.


Craft Studio, owned by Tony and Iris Baker, was the ideal setting for the opening of this House Concert Series. Located at 709 2nd Avenue South in Nashville, Craft Studio is a combination of photography studio and event space.


Tony, a well-known Nashville photographer, and Iris, his equally well-known wife and producer, envisioned just such events taking place in their studio as they were designing the space, which opened in early 2010.

In talking with Iris after the event, Harry and I both could sense her excitement in seeing their hard work realized and the encouragement the success of the evening brought to her. Iris, we look forward to working together and visiting with you and Tony again soon!
Concert guests were offered delicious food selections from Saffire Restaurant, including Beef Tenderloin Biscuits, Cucumber Shrimp Pico de Gallo, Country Ham Profiteroles and Crunchy Crawfish Sushi. Thank you, Jessie Goldstein! Saffire Restaurant is located in Building 11 of The Factory in Franklin, TN. Go there! Tell them we sent you…

Wine for the evening was provided by Liberty School Wines and Lipman Brothers. And grateful acknowledgement to Sarah Norman with Coca Cola for providing colas and water!


Fortunately for all of us, Angel is planning to release a new CD in the near future. She and Viktor have co-written many songs and their live performance is a musical treat.

Angel’s previous release, Fortune Tellers, is available for download via CD Baby and iTunes. You won’t be disappointed if you take a listen and we’re certain you’ll feel the power to help a worthy artist by purchasing the tunes.

Thank you, TPAC, for what promises to be the destination house concert in Nashville...

first monday bluebird

Harry and I have been attending open mic at the Bluebird Cafe on the first Monday of each month for the past few months. We have heard some great songwriters and met some wonderful new friends. It all started the weekend of our Open House when we took my brother and sister-in-law, Michael Bowers and Siobhan Quinn to the Monday Open Mic to perform. We had such a great time taking photographs of the performing artists we decided to go back in September. We offered each performing songwriter two (2) free digital images for their personal and professional web sites. It was so well received by the artists that we went again in October with the same offer. We actually had people remember us from the previous two months, so we have included First Monday Bluebird in our business model!
We will continue to attend Open Mic on the first Monday of every month and offer each performing artist two (2) free digital images. We are so fortunate to live in such a richly talented area and have reaped so much enjoyment from the work of many independent artists. An evening of music in return for a few images seems like a great trade! Of course, Open Mic at the Bluebird usually sees between 35 to 45 performing artists, so there are a few images to process, but within each image lives a memory for us, for the artist and for the audience. It is a worthwhile effort for us.
If you are out and about on the first Monday of any given month, check out Open Mic at the Bluebird! We'll be there!

Peace and music,
Karan
P.S. More event galleries can be found here!