The Blue Room Leaves Us Anything But Blue

Oh Boy Records presents Mick Flannery, Emily Scott Robinson and Arlo McKinley

It’s Friday night and we all wait patiently outside The Blue Room, which is adjacent to Third Man Records, which is former White Stripes front man Jack White’s project. I know I’m super stoked for this show, as there are three musicians on this bill that I’ve never seen before and that always excites me.  A chance for new music is a wonderful experience because you never get to do it again.

As I shuffle in, I notice that the venue is almost fish bowled on the right side. The wall curves down near the bottom, in an arched fashion.  It’s certainly different and it’s totally skateable.  Our feet are then met with large area rugs that are slightly faded and frayed from the shuffling feet that have clearly danced in and out of this place. The enclosure is decorated with large animal heads throughout. There is possibly an elk on one side? Maybe a gazelle? Or an ibex? But there’s clearly an elephant off in the corner which matches my hand stamp.  Somebody was literally addressing the elephant in the room when designing the space.  The stage is lit with blue canned lights pointed at the stage and now it’s understood, “The Blue Room”. There rests a singular guitar on stage, and a singular microphone, prompted on a singular mic stand, awaiting that singular voice.  It’s beautiful here and I am happy to be part of a singular moment.

This particular show is brought to us by Oh Boy Records. Oh Boy Records is an independent record label located in Nashville, and was founded in 1981 by multiple-Grammy Award winner, singer-songwriter, John Prine, and his manager and business partner, Al Bunetta. The label is now run by the Prine family and is the second oldest artist managed independent label in the United States. According to their website, “The label continues to expand its catalog with a dedication to authentic voices, giving songwriters a platform to create art while speaking their truth.” This night is a celebration of the singer-songwriter. It’s an acoustic showcase of Americana and folk and here’s how it went.

Our first artist of the evening appears stage left its Mick Flannery. I’ve heard so much about this artist from my friend Andrea and I’m excited to see what he has in store for us tonight.  He walks over to his guitar, picks it up and fumbles with the cable to plug it in creating a buzz in the room that wasn’t supposed to be there.  He looks up and smiles back to the tech and then in an Irish accent he says, “I hope I didn’t break anything “, and the crowd chuckles. He has already won us over.  Mick Flannery is indeed from Ireland.  Mick has been selling out shows all over the Emerald Isle and now he is Oh Boy Records first international signing.

Mick is absolutely lovely. His voice echos through the room with a message. He regales stories of his grandfather throughout the night. He tells an anecdote of his grandfather being age 3 and setting a small ball of hay on fire. It eventually blew into the hay shed and set the whole thing ablaze. His mother came running back from the market and was terrified by the fire but happy to find her son underneath the bed in the main house. According to the story, the boy looked up and said “I’m sorry mom. I started the small fire but I don’t know who started that big one”.

He then tells the crowd, “I’m not sure how much of that is true. It was a different time”. He snickers and we giggle, again. He turns his grandfather’s quote into a lyric and plays a beautiful tune. All through the night he tells us little narratives of his grandfather and his upbringing and they are funny and heartwarming and we are all 100% engaged. He acts almost uncomfortable on stage and I’m not sure whether it was legitimate, or an act, but it is wonderfully endearing. He is softly spoken but his music hits all the feels, and hard.  At one point he tells the audience, “This song next one is supposed to be hopeful, but I don’t feel hopeful and it’s kind of sad”.  We understand and he bounces into another gem.  He finishes out his night with us.  Mick Flannery has given us everything and of course we want more but it’s time to move on.

The next angel to approach the stage in this tri-billed adventure is Emily Scott Robinson.  Emily hails from Colorado and right off the bat she lets the audience know that she’s dealing with allergies. She tells us “Blame the blooming dogwoods”.  Even her explanation of her hypersensitivity to spring is poetic. It could be a song title or a whole concept album.  Emily has this joyful exasperation lined with positivity and hope and she absolutely radiates under the blue lights.  She’s a powerful singer-songwriter and in her words she romanticizes our mundane and sometimes heartbreaking everyday.  She eventually gets to a song called “Things You Learned The Hard Way”, and even in a melody about divorce and pain, she makes it about being positive and understanding.  I peer around the room and see some tears in the audience’s eyes. Mine included.

She has us all captivated and  her voice gently washes over us and it feels like a familiar childhood blanket has been laid over us,  keeping us warm and safe throughout the night. Emily sings with such reverence between the sniffles that she’s been battling.  She’s a warrior  tonight.  I feel she is that way in life, and it shows in her music. She has a Joni Mitchell and Linda Ronstadt like spirit that does not go unnoticed.

She then gets into a cover of John Prine’s “Paradise”.  This is one of my favorite songs, one of our favorite songs. I recently lost my uncle Ron to cancer.  Fuck cancer.  He was a huge John Prine fan. So, for me to be at this show, at this moment in time, to see this person sing my uncle’s favorite song… I knew that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. It’s a gorgeous song and she stops in the middle of it and says, “If this is your introduction to John Prine, I’m jealous of you.  You have so many amazing songs to listen to”.  She’s right.

She then tells the story of how John Prine came to name Oh Boy Records.  When things were going well he would excitingly exclaim “Oh Boy, oh boy, oh boy!”, but when they weren’t so good it was a more somber “Oooh boy”.  She finishes up the song which concludes the set.  She left the crowd at peace.

 Our last performer of the occassion is Arlo McKinley and he was joined by another on stage whose name I didn’t quite catch unfortunately. Arlo signed with Oh Boy Records in 2019. I had a chance to meet Arlo before the show and shake his hand. I almost took a selfie with him, but he had taken about four or five selfies with other people before me and it was clear he was very uncomfortable doing this.  It seemed as if he is quite the introvert off stage.  He was noticeably not there for the fame or recognition.  He was there to share his passion with us and to share in the music. His fan base was certainly strong that night.

Most in the crowd knew most of the words to most of his songs.  I learned that he had started singing with his dad at the Baptist Church when he was a small child.  You could hear that soul and that sense of community upbringing in his voice.  Then I learned from reading his bio that he figured out some power chords by replicating every song on Social Distortions “Mommy’s Little Monster” (their debut album) and I knew I had a brother in music.  That album is one of my favorites of all time.

Arlo can absolutely play, and oh boy (pun intended) can he sing and write, and I quickly understood the appeal of his popularity.  He had the crowd figuratively locked arm and arm and attempting to harmonize every word and hum.  Eyes and hearts were engaged with his every strum and belted expression. He often pulled down on the brim of the Montreal Expos baseball cap he was wearing between chords. I think maybe trying to hide for a moment, but there is no shelter for his intent. His tunes are forcing you to listen.

He’s about to embark on a European tour and is currently promoting his newest album “This Mess We’re In”.  When asked what he hopes listeners will get from “This Mess We’re In” he writes on his website,  “I hope they can identify with things they’re too ashamed to talk about or feel. There’s just such a stigma that goes along with things like addiction and mental health. I just want them to know that I go through all that stuff too. I would just like to make them feel a little less alone. At least for the 47 minutes of the album, you can remove yourself from the world and just let everything disappear for a bit”.

As I left the venue that night, I once again felt great about ditching my initial feelings of just going home after a long work week. That would’ve been my bad decision and a regret after seeing what I just saw.  Music is certainly good for the soul and my soul was delighted and full thanks to these three very special people.

Thank you to The Blue Room and Oh Boy Records for creating this show and helping to shape our lives through music.