’80s Rock RewindThe 2022 documentary City Without A Subway has garnered acclaim for its coverage of the local rock scene in Nashville circa 1986. By Randy Fox VHS video footage of City Without a Subway. From the collection of Steve Boyle Features Share this story! It’s been 37 years since the release of City Without …
See Rock CityIn 1986, two concerts showcased Nashville’s local rock scene By Randy Fox Raging Fire: (l-r) Mark Medley, Michael Godsey, Melora Zaner, Lee A. Carr. Photo courtesy of Mark Medley Features Share this story! In the early months of 1986, the local Nashville rock scene celebrated its successes with two showcase concerts. The Rock …
The first time I darkened the door at Exit/In was more than four decades ago to experience the Southern-style, prog/jazz/funk-isms of the Dixie Dregs. The face-melting paroxysms of guitarist Steve Morse’s chickin’ pickin’ jazz-on-moonshine riffs were mind blowing, especially up close and personal.
In the winter of 1981, a 21-year-old Amy Grant arrived at the renowned Caribou Ranch recording studio in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to record the tracks for her fourth album, Age to Age. An album that changed her life completely.
Growing up in Nashville, the Fisk Jubilee Singers were, and remain, a constant presence for the developing Black singer. My own reference for Western classical singing in the Black aesthetic begins with them. In fact, when I first started formal voice study, it was in the hopes of becoming a Jubilee Singer.
At a venue as historic as the Ryman Auditorium, every song begins with a story. And stories that span generations and genres are the centerpiece of a new Rock & Roll Hall of Fame exhibit opening this month at the Ryman.
In the summer of 2015, the album that would become Margo Price’s breakout debut, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, had been sitting in the can for months.
A disastrous summer tour left her and her husband, Jeremy Ivey, broke and disgusted. Record label rejections were piling up.
Back in 2012, Audra dedicated the entire year to recording and cataloging 60 of her own songs. She didn’t have a place or plan for them yet, but she systematically went back and gathered those missing “song children” so they wouldn’t end up orphaned, triggering the shame that comes with abandoned art.
While recording his new album, Undivided Heart & Soul, at Historic RCA Studio B, JD McPherson discovered some unexpected collaborators.
The year 1976 may have been “Year Zero” for punk rock in London, New York, and a few other scattered cities, but in Nashville, anarchy was in short supply.
