04.12.07

Bad news, good news and this week’s name dropping

Posted in cory branan, cricket spazzes, hot live action, lucero, random, stephen simmons - April 12th, 2007 at 9:14 am by Cricket

I was just watching Walk the Line two days ago and wondering to myself if it would be too stalkery to go drive by Johnny Cash’s house in Hendersonville. And then I woke up yesterday morning to find that it had burned down. I feel ridiculously saddened by this! I mean Mr. Cash was such an icon and an amazing man and I’ve always had the sense that that house meant a lot to him and his family. I know many other people have recorded and stayed there. It really is a piece of history lost. Then again, the property had been sold, so perhaps the universe just didn’t want Barry Gibbs living in Johnny Cash’s home? [That would be a good guess.--Mimi]

In happier news we have an exclusive Cory Branan video for you, thanks to CaseyMagic over at Last Chance Diner. It’s live at the Evening Muse in Charlotte, NC, filmed on March 15th, 2007. The song is “Sour Mash” which hopefully you will enjoy as much as we have.

I have “official” confirmation of recordings for the previously mentioned Lucero Tribute Album, but at this point that’s all there is to say. Keep hope in your hearts that you will, someday, sooner rather than later, be able to get your hot little hands on a copy. [Heh. In the meantime, you can go get the One Tree Hill soundtrack. Which, shamefully, I will probably end up doing.—Daisy]

This past week we’ve spent an unusual amount of time at The Basement in Nashville, a place that’s usually hipper than the honky-tonks we prefer. But the schedule this month was calling our names! First there was a John Prine tribute show, which included Daniel Tashian, a few members of Ballhog, Amy Loftus and the incomparable Will Kimbrough. There was someone else who played, but I can’t remember his name. Maybe Mimi wrote it down in the back of the comic book she was reading at the show? [Ok, to be fair, I only took the comic with me in case the show sucked, but I didn’t end up reading it!--Mimi] Tashian was a pleasure to watch perform, but since then I’ve been even more amused by his blog, in which he talks a lot about coffee. Ballhog is a band I’m definitely going to have check out in the future. Just a short set of covers from them was really impressive. Amy Loftus you will most certainly be hearing more about in future HCT posts since she was amazing. Seeing Will Kimbrough sing John Prine was treat I can’t even explain. Like ice cream unexpectedly brought to you on a hot summer day.

Speaking of unexpected and Will, the very next night, after the Basement show, I found myself once again beautifully entertained by the man himself, when Will joined Paul Burch on stage at the Family Wash. He even played a new song or two. Will’s touring the southeast now, so I suggest you all get tickets, so you can hear the songs I did!

One Basement show a month usually does it for us, but who should pop up next? Stephen Simmons, Jennifer Niceley and RB Morris.

We’ve gone on endlessly about Stephen and still can’t say enough good things about him. We took a friend with us who was unfamiliar with Stephen’s music, and he came away a full-blown fan. On this occasion, Stephen was playing with several good friends of his who have backed him up on his albums and at other shows. It was not only a rockin’ good performance, but it had a joyful vibe (despite some of the grimmer lyrics). Seeing real friends who clearly love playing together is always amazing; it’s especially great when the songs are as good as Stephen’s. Mr. Simmons is also touring the southeast and Europe (!) so get out and show him some love, make a fan out of yourself, alrighty?

Jennifer Niceley’s voice always blows me away and I am very much looking forward to seeing her play again here in town later this month. I confess we didn’t stay for RB Morris. The lure of late night call to Sonic was too huge to resist (and I realize that sounds like we were stoned, but really we weren’t). [And we ended up with Krystals instead of Sonic.--Mimi] However, Stephen Simmons vetted RB Morris, so I assume he’s genuinely good and we’ll be catching him the very next chance we get.

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