The ghost of George Jones was looking over us during our first Americanafest in Nashville. Not only did we get the word out about our latest T-shirts, we devoured some of the South's best biscuits and caught plenty of unforgettable live roots music, country, blues and soul.
Foy Vance invited Keith Urban onstage at the Cannery Ballroom
The long weekend kicked off on Wednesday, September 11th, at the historic Ryman Auditorium for the 18th Annual Americana Honors and Awards where legendary artists like John Prine, Bonnie Raitt and Elvis Costello shared the stage with the incomparable "Artist of the Year" Brandi Carlile and "Emerging Act of the Year" The War and Treaty. Standout performances included Yola singing "Faraway Look" and Ruston Kelly's powerful single "Mockingbird", which sounds like it could be written for his wife, Kacey Musgraves.
But Wednesday night was just the beginning. Other highlights included:
- Brent Cobb & Them invited the ethereal breakout star Jade Bird on stage at the Cannery Ballroom to perform "Feet Off the Ground" on Thursday. The young British songwriter's self-assured vocals mixed and melted perfectly with Cobb's southern twang.
- Later that night at the Basement East, Logan Ledger was all style and substance with a velvet voice reminiscent of Roy Orbison. Definitely check him out if he comes to your town! He was soon followed by guitar guru Buddy Miller and the multi-talented Rhiannon Giddens.
- Back at the Cannery on Friday, the soulful Irishman Foy Vance invited surprise guest Keith Urban to provide some visceral guitar riffs and vocals on the track "Burden". Later we caught up backstage with fellow Ohioan, now East Nashvillian, Aaron Lee Tasjan, after he closed out a packed show that highlighted several tracks from his recent LP, "Karma to Burn". The crowd couldn't get enough!
- We even managed to fit in a visit to our friend Katie's Red Arrow Gallery in East Nashville for a sneak preview of artist Marlos E'van's primal yet colorful exhibit "Slightly Dangerous. Stop by whenever you're in town! https://www.theredarrowgallery.com/
There was way too much music to capture it all here, so we've made a playlist of our favorite acts from the weekend. Hope you enjoy it!