The Sotted, Sentimental Swagger of Shane MacGowan and the Pogues
The list of cultural seats for the Irish-American diaspora usually starts and ends with New York or Boston. Chicago maybe. But Tulsa? Not...
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John Carpenter
Feb 54 min read
The Milk Carton Kids Were Made for the Ryman Auditorium
You know you’re going to hear beautiful music at a Milk Carton Kids show. But there is trepidation when they are the headliner. A small...
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John Carpenter
Jan 305 min read
Elvis Costello Still Knows How to Piss People Off
Okay, maybe not piss off exactly. It takes an artist of a certain stature and temperament to make 2,300 fans wait through two-plus hours...
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John Carpenter
Jan 275 min read
Old Friends and Rising Stars at Florida's 30A Songwriter's Fest
I generally think of music festivals as minimally clad young people writhing in blazing heat taking duck-lip selfies amid a greater...
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John Carpenter
Jan 22 min read
Foot Stomping Ryman New Year's Eve with Old Crow Medicine Show
Always good to start the year with a 2,300-person sing-along. (And I’m not talking about “Auld Lang Syne,” a song I never really...
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John Carpenter
Nov 29, 20235 min read
Liz Phair, 'Guyville,' and Happy, Hazy Memories of Early '90s Chicago
The shifting ground between youth and adulthood in my post-college years was an awesome time, at least as far as I can remember. It was a...
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John Carpenter
Nov 22, 20235 min read
"The Last Waltz" Plays On In Nashville Thanksgiving Tradition
Thanksgiving is upon us, and that means Last Waltz season for fans of the greatest concert movie ever made. (Sorry/not sorry to fans of...
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John Carpenter
Nov 10, 20233 min read
A Lively Musical Conversation - Rachael Davis, Valerie June, Yasmin Williams, and Thao
As we walked in the door of the CMA Theatre in downtown Nashville, we could hear the crowds screaming about a block away. The big stars...
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John Carpenter
Nov 9, 20232 min read
Here Come the Mummies! And They Brought the Funk
One thing we’ve learned about the Nashville music scene is to be on the look-out for any show that suggests the presence of “session...
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John Carpenter
Oct 26, 20234 min read
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: Another Ryman Tour de Force
“Let’s see if we can turn a Sunday night into a Saturday night,” Jason Isbell told his band. Then they did. What a pleasure to catch a...
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John Carpenter
Sep 19, 20234 min read
Rhiannon Giddens at the Ryman: Reclaiming American Music One Song at a Time
Rhiannon Giddens and her band served up a lot of powerful music at the Ryman Auditorium this weekend. But it was a salty,...
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John Carpenter
Jun 7, 20234 min read
Another Nashville Evening: Folded Lawn Chairs and Number One Songs
The “in the round” show is a staple of Nashville entertainment. Sometimes called a guitar pull, and often performed in a row rather than...
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John Carpenter
May 2, 20234 min read
Avett Brothers Shake the Trees in Backwoods Tennessee
Not long ago a live-music-loving friend told me that the Avett Brothers were the one band he would still see over and over again. Now...
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John Carpenter
Apr 18, 20234 min read
Aoife O'Donovan and Friends Offer Fresh Take on Springsteen's Nebraska
Any night you find yourself standing 15 feet from a harmony-singing Emmylou Harris is a good night. The show was Aoife O’Donovan at the...
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John Carpenter
Feb 20, 20234 min read
Marty Stuart: Bluegrass Meets Rock-a-billy in White-Hot Set
At some point during the pandemic, as we were savoring the 16-hour binge that is Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary, Mary and I became...
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John Carpenter
Jan 31, 20234 min read
Night Train to Nashville Showcases Music City R&B Roots
It was the mid-1950s and, for better or worse, the “Nashville Sound” was taking shape. It didn’t seem to matter whether they were love...
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John Carpenter
Dec 31, 20228 min read
Killing the Covid Blues in Clarksdale, Mississippi
I might as well have driven down to Mississippi a hundred years ago. But it was March of 2020. Peering back through the lockdown haze, I...
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John Carpenter
Nov 3, 20222 min read
A lucky musical find in Dublin: The Magpies
Our goal was simple. We were looking for some traditional Irish music and a pub that wasn’t packed to the gills – a trickier ask than one...
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John Carpenter
Oct 11, 20225 min read
A Ryman Love Letter to the Late Great John Prine
I don’t know how John Prine would have felt about Monday night’s Covid-delayed celebration of his life. He probably would have cracked a...
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John Carpenter
Oct 7, 20222 min read
Father John Misty Blesses Nashville's Mother Church
Our expectations were somewhat low for Father John Misty. We were only going because good friends are big fans and built a Nashville...
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