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December 3, 2025 Jason Shrum

New Music from Cam Gallagher & The Tasty Soul

My newest medicine has arrived in the form of Cam Callagher. Music journalists often scribe about young artists having “old souls”, and if I had a better descriptor, I would write it differently, but I do not, so I’ll leave Cam’s elucidation there. Glenn Miller comes to mind when I think of Cam and what he brings to Nashville’s music scene and what he brings to the industry as a whole. He is not only an exquisite saxophone player, but he is a producer, songwriter, arranger, and band leader.

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November 22, 2025 Jason Shrum

The Criticals Return Home to Nashville

The Criticals at this show consisted of Christian Kaplan (drums), Cole Shugart (lead guitar), Augustus Carroll (rhythm guitar), Henry Henson (baritone guitar, keys), Michael Meadows (bass) and Parker Forbes (lead vocals). The band is listed as a duo of Forbes and Shugart but implements an array of these players that appear both on the album and on tour. The six-piece ensemble came out to face the overjoyed audience with gleaming smiles of their own. Happy to be home? Excited that the long tour was finally over? Feeling gratitude to be surrounded by not only their fans, but also their friends and family? It seems that all these things were in play and that they were more than ready to give a brilliant performance. Which they most certainly did.

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November 3, 2025 Jason Shrum

WNXP Gives So Much. You Should Give Back.

To say that WXNP saved my life may be the most honest thing I have ever written, because I was truly starting to feel lost until I discovered these wonderful curators of musicality. I came to the state’s capital just over two years ago after losing my small brewery in Seattle to the hardships of COVID shutdowns. There I was privy to KEXP and listener powered radio. That station and those DJs eased my soul everyday with affirmations of “You are not alone” surrounded by gorgeously manicured playlists. I was scanning the dial one morning in Middle Tennessee during an episode of deep thought, and I was wondering if my decision making was correct. Should I have stayed in the Pacific Northwest? Why did I choose to live in Nashville? What am I going to do for work? Will I ever be happy again? You know, normal life thoughts. Then I bumped into the station that quite literally based their model after my old hometown heroes, and I began to feel at ease.

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October 14, 2025 Jason Shrum

Tyler Childers Brought Us Together

When you go see Tyler Childers live you will find out that he is multifaceted. This article is more than just music because Childers is a preacher, a carnival barker, a comedian, a motivational speaker, and oh yeah, a wonderful singer and songwriter. In between songs he can make you laugh or rile you up or make you sink into deep reflective thought… and when he plays… you are completely engaged. That’s exactly what he did on Saturday night in Nashville at Geodis Park. Tyler was in town supporting his “On The Road” tour both Friday and Saturday nights on October 11th and 12th. This tour comes in the wake of Childers’ Rustin’ in the Rain album, which debuted at #10 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart. Childers was there along with special guests Charley Crockett and Cory Branan.

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October 10, 2025 Jason Shrum

Standout Guitarist Leilani Kilgore Releases Her Debut Album

Leilani Kilgore has already been praised by Guitar World magazine for her “killer vibe and chops to back it up.” Kilgore, touted as a “must-see live performer” by Loud Hailer Magazine, has hundreds of live shows and festivals notched in her belt, both in the U.S. and overseas, including headlining slots on legendary stages like Sturgis Buffalo Chip and Summerfest, and she has opened for such renowned acts as Buddy Guy, Lita Ford, 38 Special, The Dead Daisies (feat. Glenn Hughes and Doug Aldrich) and Tommy Castro. So yeah, she is doing her thing, and we need to all listen. Her sound is certainly engrained in rock and roll, but this bluesy underbelly pads the backbone of the blistering and raucous forefront.

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September 26, 2025 Jason Shrum

We Caught Those Fists in Nashville

This was the third cultivated show by Rolling Stone Magazine monikered as the Gather No Moss Tour. Fans knew exactly when to clap and clamor back with audio responses provoked by the group. It was as if we were watching a classic rock band we had seen for years, yet this is fresh and new and certainly exciting. If you are not listening to Wet Leg, then you are doing yourself a disservice. With just the two records out in only a few years as a collective the band has a ceiling that currently is way above the peer of human eyes.

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September 23, 2025 Jason Shrum

Whitney Phillips is Listening

Whitney Phillips is one of those people that sees an opportunity to get back to our roots and build, rather than tear down. Oh, who is Whitney Phillips? Lemme spin the record back for a minute. I met Whitney years ago when she was a singer/songwriter from Seattle and a good friend of my now ex-wife’s. I knew she was good and that she was starting to scratch her name into the ledgers of the industry, however, she has become more than just the background voice that she used to provide to mega-stars.