music city Archives - Rock Oracle

February 2, 2026 Jason Shrum

Nashville Heats Back Up with 615 Indie Live

615 Indie Live is a celebration of Nashville’s Independent Venues and Artists, and it is produced in partnership by the Music Venue Alliance Nashville (MVAN) and Visit Music City. The event was created last year to support Nashville’s independent music venues and to showcase the city’s local diverse music ecosystem by driving business, both new and loyal, to Nashville’s Independent Music Venues during a historically slow time of year, while raising awareness of their importance. It also supports Nashville’s local artists, by investing more than 50% of the event budget towards paying participating artists, performers, and musicians. Finally, it acts as a fundraiser for MVAN, with proceeds from ticket sales contributing to the organization’s Emergency Relief Fund and operating budget.

B Sides FEATURED MUSIC NEWS

January 18, 2026 Jason Shrum

Paul McCartney’s “Eyes of the Storm” Keeps The Beatle Touring

McCartney carried his 35mm Pentax camera around him during these three months and created portraits of not only his mates John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison, but of loved ones, roadies, fans, hotel and airport workers and a handful of “unidentified women backstage”. Pulled from McCartney’s personal archive, most of the images have never seen the light of day before this worldwide tour. What is created is a perspective of the young upstarts before they wave of mega-stardom. The gallery is aptly named “Eyes of the Storm”.

LIVE REVIEWS

January 14, 2026 Jason Shrum

Here’s to a Weird New Year

When the music hit, it was simply stunning. The red tapestry that hid our presenters eased aside, and we gazed upon our bards who were set beside their keys and strapped with a guitar, a saxophone and an armament of talent. A backdrop of red beams shown through a cloud of eerie fog. The opening tone was a taunting murmur of hum that drifted about the atmosphere and held us tightly. That hope we longed for was imminent, if even just for a moment.

ALBUM REVIEWS FEATURED LIVE REVIEWS MUSIC NEWS

December 19, 2025 Jason Shrum

Dann Huff & Friends: A Special Night in Music

3rd & Lindsley, Nashville, hosted an event that was 35 years in the making. It was the triumphant return of guitar hero Dann Huff, under the lights, for the first time in a long time. Maybe youhave never heard of Huff, but you have certainly heard him play. He deserves a mention alongside any legendary axe wielder that you can speak into existence. Google his name and you will find him listed as a player with hundreds of famous musicians and on just as many hit records. I’ll give you two names: Michael Jackson and Taylor Swift.

ALBUM REVIEWS FEATURED INTERVIEWS

December 15, 2025 Jason Shrum

Rawlings New Record “I Fixed It All”

I am enamored by the depth of his song that he titles ‘Teeny Tiny’. Rawlings says of the track, “This is by far the hardest song to put out. Because it attempts to address the end of innocence, something I feel too guilty to speak about regularly.” When I told him that I thought the song was gorgeous, but that I wanted to know about the story behind the song he went on to tell me, “Thanks for saying that. It is based on the truth. We should make time to discuss this song in more detail. I couldn’t do the truth justice without dedicating time to give you the background.” So, I will have to dive deeper into that with Rawlings in a future interview as we were cut short for time when I brought up the inquiry.

FEATURED INTERVIEWS LIVE REVIEWS MUSIC NEWS

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.

ALBUM REVIEWS FEATURED LIVE REVIEWS

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.