Favorites from the Americana Music Festival

We had a great time at the recent Americana Music Festival in Nashville. 19 bands in 4 nights. Plus Lynn got a hug from Rodney Crowell!

Here were some of the musical highlights:

• Blue Mountain did a great set on Wednesday night. They have been around a long time, but we had never seen then before. They bring a fat Mississippi groove and are just fun. Nice people. We got to pet their road dog, Elvis, too!
• John Fullbright gave a good show to a packed room on Thursday night, but his album is even better. He comes from the same deep Oklahoma songwriter well as one of Lynn's favorites, Kevin Welch. He's been compared to Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, and Randy Newman. His debut album is really great and has everything from a peppy anthem to tin pan alley inspired piano tunes. Plus it features past Mechanic Street performer Fats Kaplin on a few tracks!
• The Black Lillies were the band we were most excited about seeing and they did not disappoint. Super tight band, great songs, two good singers, fun performers. Hard to describe, so just check out a video. The played one of the longest sets we saw at the Festival and afterwards the audience chanted "One more set!" Their latest CD is super strong, too. They are scheduled to be at the Beachland Tavern on Dec. 2nd. Put it on your calendar now!
• If you like post-modern indie rock, check out Buxton (Friday's highlight). They have a certain odd spark, sort of like Spoon doing country music. There weren't a lot of people in the audience, but 90% of them were musicians.
• Kevin Gordon was Saturday's highlight, which is saying something since earlier we saw Richard Thompson in a 250 seat auditorium and later we heard Americana demi-god Buddy Miller. Kevin combines the most literary lyrics we've heard in a long time with swampy rock. It's like Lynn's piggy figs: something nourishing and sophisticated wrapped in something simple and tasty. He is a hell of a guitarist, too. We highly recommend his latest album, Gloryland.

Hopefully we'll get a chance to share some of these people with you soon. We've been in touch with The Black Lillies' booker for a while now. Kevin Gordon and Blue Mountain sounded interested, too. We're keeping our fingers crossed!