Nashville Byline

2013-11-07-balkopull.jpgThere are sardonic artists in Nashville and, alternately, singer/songwriters who treat the stage like a confessional. But House manages to pull off both wry and sincere at once. He then he sets it all to viscid melodies that stick in your ear like a warm hunk of taffy.
When trying to think of a way to describe Matthew Perryman Jones' voice, I keep thinking of the German word gemütlich. It's a state of warmth and comfortableness -- think an amaretto, a fire, and a lazy dog when there's a whiteout outside and ice on the windows.
"I just don't like killin'," John Hiatt says. "I mean, if somebody's about to harm your family, sure. You do you what you have to do. But to plan out the killing a guy who could just as easily be locked up."
There may be no one alive who has crossed paths with more bold names than Manuel Cuevas. The Nashville designer, known for his exquisite embroidery and use of rhinestones and sequins, has dressed five American presidents.
2011-11-11-radleyeee.jpgThe very first lick of The Cold Stares is gonna' turn your head. It's a muscular riff, the sort you might have heard barking out of the analog Alpine speakers in a '78 Trans Am.
Nashville has become a hub of Americana, the amorphous category recently called "the coolest music scene today." At this past weekend's Americana Music Festival, more than 100 acts converged to demonstrate the sound's broad range of styles and influences.
I plan to use this blog to interview the people who make Nashville Nashville, to explore the city's history and culture, and to generally take in as much as I can -- and then to write about it all.