music city Archives - Page 4 of 6

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.

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 4, 2025 Matt Perkins

Muddy Roots takes All Kinds

If you’ve never heard of it, Muddy Roots takes place every year at the June Bug Ranch north of Cookeville. I’ll be the first to say that I wasn’t sure what to expect from a punk festival in somewhat rural Tennessee but it’s a safe, fun place where feral kids roam free, Nazis aren’t welcome, and people genuinely look out for each other. Sure they have used Narcan out there and people break bones, but I’ve seen over a hundred people throw cash into a PBR twelve pack box to help someone out. We pick up our people who have fallen in the circle pit of life.

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September 1, 2025 Jason Shrum

I Believe in a Thing Called The Darkness

My passion for the British rock group began back in 2003 when I first heard the single ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’, off their debut album Permission to Land. Now singer/guitarist Justin Hawkins, his brother guitarist Dan Hawkins, bassist Frankie Poullain, and drummer Rufus Taylor (son of Queen drummer Roger Taylor) are back with their eighth studio album. If you know anything about The Darkness, then you know about a high level of intensity when playing live gigs. As the band first emerged on the scene there was this inkling that they were some kind of joke band. That they were spoofing the 1970’s hard and glam rock scene, but those ribbings were quickly left by the side of musicality road. This band is absolutely enthralling. Listeners and critics alike fastly found themselves realizing the technical fortitude of this sonically reverent band.

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August 25, 2025 Jason Shrum

Bully Packs A Punch at The Blue Room

I was back at The Blue Room again in Nashville to cover the Bully show with Jawdropped supporting on the second evening of a two-show engagement. You know you spend a lot of time at a venue when you walk up to the ticket person and they say, “Oh, it’s you again”. I laughed. Live music venues are my happy place, so I was certainly glad to be there again. This would be my third time seeing Alicia Bognanno and her band. “Bully” refers to her “inner bully” or the “inner demons” she confronts in her music and life. The name Bully also represents the initial band she fronted a decade ago but later became synonymous with Bognanno herself as the sole member.

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August 22, 2025 Jason Shrum

Arts Fishing Club Drops Lines in Blue Room Waters

Their sound is hard to root down and that’s why I am excited about their future. You can say they are this or that, but their ability to play just about anything is evident in their music. At the core, Arts Fishing Club is branded as an indie-folk rock band, but I am not sure that’s the best descriptor of what they are about, although I am not sure how I would list them if I had to. The music is fun. The band plays tight. It’s fast when it needs to be but slows down with all the right accents tapping directly into all the listeners emotions. They keep it light between songs too, letting the audience know just how much fun they are having. On this Thursday, in the dimly lit architectural aqua-bowl of a room, our guiding light was AFC.