Tag: Nashville

LISTEN: Joshua Rilko, “New Way to Fly”

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Artist: Joshua Rilko
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “New Way to Fly”
Album: Lost Soul / Rock & Roll
Release Date: December 2021

In Their Words: “I needed another song for the bluegrass side of the album, and this trad-sounding chorus was floating around in my head shortly before the recording session. The verses are new takes on old bluegrass themes with a nod to the John Hartford song, ‘Learning to Smile.’ This track is the most straight-ahead bluegrass song of the bunch, with a few minor chords in there to keep it interesting. Jed Clark provided the relentlessly driving rhythm guitar and tenor vocals, Geoff Saunders laid down bass, George Guthrie dug the ditch with the five-string and sang baritone, and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes glued it all together on the fiddle.” — Joshua Rilko

Photo Credit: Scott Simontacchi

BGS 5+5: Zachary Williams

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Artist: Zachary Williams
Hometown: Acworth, Georgia
Latest Album: Dirty Camaro
Personal Nickname: Ray ray

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

The first time I stepped onto an open mic stage and completely bombed. It was addicting.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

I like to take a nice long walk by myself without my phone or anything just to clear my head. I’m in the woods a good bit. There is something about walking through a forest knowing that every tree is connected somehow. It makes you feel very small which is a very good feeling to me.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

“Losing You” on this album has been with me for 12 years. I’ve worked on it for that long and it has got to be the hardest one for sure.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

This is lame, but before I started The Lone Bellow, I was invited to have breakfast in the Upper West Side of Manhattan with Bono. I remember I was a nervous wreck. I mean. It’s Bono. They shut down the whole place so we could sit down together over some eggs. At the end of our meal we stood up and I asked him if he had any advice for a young buck like me. He said, “Set yourself on fire every night.” I hear those words before every single show.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

Great question. For several records I never did and then a couple years ago I started flirting with the idea of trying to write someone else’s story. Trying to put myself in someone else’s shoes. On this record, it’s “Her Picture.” Everything else is me.

Photo Credit: Eric Ryan Anderson

With the “Modern Woman” Music Video, Erin Rae Lifts Up Her Own Community

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Erin Rae’s compelling new music video for “Modern Woman” is a wake-up call that not only addresses the dated norms and expectations women are subjected to, but also celebrates the array of creative pursuits, career paths, and artistic journeys of women in her Nashville community. Shuffling back and forth from Rae miming a performance of her song to images of business owners, artists, and creatives, the song’s message is reinforced as the concept comes to life. Like the eyebrow-raising way in which you realize a co-worker is being rude but won’t get a clue, Erin Rae delivers “Modern Woman” with an irritated niceness that shows how silly it is to think that a person’s gender alone defines their individuality or their roles in society. The new track comes from her upcoming album, Lighten Up, out on February 4.

“‘Modern Woman’ from the start is meant to be a little cheeky, coming from me, a white femme-presenting woman, but it just sort of spilled out one day in the kitchen during the pandemic,” she has said. “It’s been so incredibly powerful to witness the discussion and evolution of gender norms through my peers and friends, as well as the representation of all bodies breaking more and more into mainstream media. The song is basically a speech to a figurative person who is uncomfortable with the disintegration of a tired definition of what it means to be a woman. With the video, Joshua Shoemaker and I wanted to celebrate and represent our friends in the community who relate to the term ‘woman’ in different capacities, and basically brag on the diverse community of small business owners Nashville holds, and the work they are all doing to push Nashville forward, often against its will, into this new world of inclusivity.”

Look for the new album, Lighten Up, on February 4 via Thirty Tigers.

Photo Credit: Bridgette Aikens

WATCH: Brandy Zdan, “Protector”

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Artist: Brandy Zdan
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Protector”
Album: Falcon
Release Date: October 29, 2021

In Their Words: “‘Protector’ was a late addition to the record. I had this song lumped in with a batch of material that was needed for rock ‘n’ roll production. When I realized I needed one more song for the record I tried to look at this song a different way. I decided to go full JJ Cale with it and lean into the chill blues feel that it had. I also happened to have an Ace Tone beat machine hanging around that I had yet to use on an album. This song is all about calling off that side of yourself that protects you from really going there and feeling all the things you need to feel. We are all afraid of not being fully seen and not being loved when we are our true selves. This is all about taking the masks off which was my whole approach to making Falcon.” — Brandy Zdan

Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen

LISTEN: Carley Arrowood, “Letting Go Now”

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Artist: Carley Arrowood
Hometown: From Union Mills, North Carolina, and currently living in Newton, North Carolina
Song: “Letting Go Now”
Release Date: November 5, 2021
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “‘Letting Go Now’ is a bittersweet love song, co-written with my lovely friend, Becky Buller! It’s a lighthearted tune about how sometimes we can just be desperate to hang on to someone we’re sure is the right one, regardless of red flags. We try to silence all the warning signs, but they wind up speaking volumes, and we realize they aren’t as devoted as we are, and it’s hurting us worse if we don’t let go. I love how Becky added a ray of hope to the poor heart in the song, though: ‘There’s a greater picture, a plan that I can’t see…’ refers to God’s awesome plans for our lives, regardless of how we think they should go. I really enjoyed writing this with Becky. I’m so thankful for her friendship and look forward to sharing more co-writing experiences with her in the future!” — Carley Arrowood

Crossroads Label Group · Letting Go Now – Carley Arrowood

Photo courtesy of Carley Arrowood

WATCH: John Scott Sherrill, “Five Generations of Rock County Wilsons”

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Artist: John Scott Sherrill
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Five Generations of Rock County Wilsons”
Album: Copper Tears
Release Date: October 15, 2021
Label: Lobo Libre

In Their Words: “People often ask me how long it takes me to write a song, and some songs I can write in a couple of hours. But ‘Five Generations of Rock County Wilsons’ took 17 years to write. I got the inspiration when I was taking a bus back in my college years to Illinois from New Hampshire. It took seven days, so I was sleeping as we drove, and waking up at all hours of the day, not knowing where I was. I woke up one morning, looked out the window of the bus, and saw all these men standing around, trying to hold their maps in the wind. I thought they must have plans to do something with that cornfield. I made a note in my notebook and left it until years later, when I found the notebook in my mother’s attic. I opened it up and saw my notations and thought that idea was worth writing about.” — John Scott Sherrill

Photo credit: Rich Guglielmo

LISTEN: Waylon Payne, “Sunday”

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Artist: Waylon Payne
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Song: “Sunday”
Album: Blue Eyes, The Harlot, The Queer, The Pusher & Me: The Lost Act

In Their Words: “Back in 2003, my mom [country singer Sammi Smith] went through a divorce and moved back to Austin, Texas. She was really sick with lung cancer and was actively dying, but she reached out to her friends that lived in Austin hoping to get a little work. I was, at the time, right in the middle of both a terrible relationship and drug problem, and I wasn’t much help. I would come into town often though, as we finally were able to live in a house together again after a lifetime of trying. None of her friends would call her back, and she frustratingly looked at me one day and said, ‘We ought to write a song called “Nobody’s Home on a Sunday.”’ Being high at the time, and shamefully, I blew her off. A couple of years later she was dead, but had written some thoughts to be read at her funeral by her stepsister. ‘Waylon, the one thing I want for you is to get yourself off of speed.’ It killed me to hear those words. After I cleaned up and had a few years under my belt, I moved back to Nashville to pick up with my music career. I moved into my first home by myself in ten years at Thanksgiving. As I sat in my new place, alone with my thoughts, I clearly heard my momma say again, ‘We ought to write a song called “Nobody’s Home on a Sunday.”’ So, I did. I love the fact that my momma and I did something together, even if it was after she died. I love you momma, and I did what you asked. I hope you all enjoy this song as much as I do.” — Waylon Payne

Photo credit: Pooneh Ghana

WATCH: Katie Cole, “Short Story Long”

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Artist: Katie Cole
Hometown: Melbourne, Australia, and lives in Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Short Story Long”
Release Date: October 15, 2021

In Their Words: “I wrote this song hoping to channel some old school Aretha and Otis, but applying a little more rootsy instrumentation. Honestly, it’s the first song I’ve penned where I take back my power in a relationship and call a spade a spade. I’ve had my share of relationships where I have tolerated too much for too long. So being familiar with the phrase of making a long story short, where you cut to the chase, I started thinking, ‘What if I could flip that to a short story long?’ where things get dragged out. Right then I knew this would have to be a fun and sassy song that really contrasts with my more acoustic and sparse songs. Luckily when my producer Howard Willing and I started tracking, he managed to bring in Cheap Trick’s bass player Tom Petersson to play on this song. I am really proud of this one!” — Katie Cole

Photo credit: Dire Image

BGS 5+5: Noel McKay

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Artist: Noel McKay
Hometown: My hometown is really the little Central Texas Hill Country community of Pipe Creek. I currently live in Nashville, Tennessee.
Latest album: Blue, Blue, Blue
Personal Nicknames: I think that in the US, Noel is a sufficiently unusual name that I never really got a nickname. It’s a fairly common name in the UK, as it turns out.

Which artist has influenced you the most… and how?

The artist that influenced me the most is Guy Clark. Guy took a shine to one of my songs when I was a young songwriter. He did a lot of nice things for me and I won’t ever forget it. As I began to dig into his catalog, I realized the depth of his work. Of course, I will never live up to the expectations that come from being spoken about favorably by such an amazing writer but, every day, I try to anyway.

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

With the pairing of food and music in mind, I would love to sit and eat Cajun food with Lucinda Williams somewhere in the Atchafalaya Basin. So much of her work has had a huge impact on me.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

The moment I knew I wanted to be a performing songwriter was when I was 11 or 12 and hearing Randy Newman’s records Sail Away and Good Old Boys. The very sharp expressions of his worldview really appealed to me and made me feel like it was possible to sing about something besides hedonism. Up to that point, the TV show WKRP in Cincinnati had been showing me a sort of cartoonish example what musicians were supposed to be like.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

I have a few rituals in the recording studio. When cutting basics, I find that it’s best to avoid caffeine for the purposes of keeping a relaxed vibe. When singing, I do lots of breathing and drink tons of water. When in mixing, I like to have books with lots of pictures, i.e., vintage guitars, famous painters’ works, sculpture, archaeology, things that allow me to be partially distracted so that my ear remains engaged, but I don’t micromanage or obsess over a small part of the bigger song picture.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

If there’s a mission statement for my career, it is this: “You Do It Or You Don’t.” I’ve tried both.

Photo credit: Aisha Golliher

LISTEN: Lilly Hiatt, “Simple”

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Artist: Lilly Hiatt
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Simple”
Album: Lately
Release Date: October 15, 2021
Label: New West Records

In Their Words: “The love that exists in our universe is infinite. My family is a big part of that realization for me, and they all appear in this song. I wanted this to begin the album as if to say hello with a smile.” — Lilly Hiatt

Photo credit: Dylan Reyes