The Bluebird Cafe – First Timer
Well, it’s my weekly Wednesday Night Out and my bud Jeff McMahon says there’s a friend of his playing some of her work “in the round.” Even though I’m somewhat hep to the local music biz jargon I had to make a joke about the artists singing “Row Row Row Your Boat” in rounds, to which Jeff quickly said that they also do “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.”
Anyone that lives in Nashville knows that The Bluebird Cafe is the paramount place to go to hear artists and writers. Wednesday night was my first time to cross the threshold of this landmark here in town.
For nearly 10 years now I’ve driven by this place and have created what turns out to be a romanticized image of what this venue is beyond the understated facade. Once inside my first impression was “This looks like it used to be a Japanese restaurant.”
The place was filled with friends, supporters of the artists and I assume some music business executives or wannabe’s. Not much, if any, pretension – which is nice. This venue was pretty much just an intimate (shoulder to shoulder … “is there a fire marshal in the house?”) relaxed environment … at least for the audience. The artists commented on how it can be a little intimidating to play without all the lights, stage, tech that goes with big venues.
The event was an “ASCAP Presents: In The Round with …” and they had four artists/writers. For my taste I was really struck by the talent of Kelleigh Bannen and Meghan Kabir. All four were far more talented than I could ever hope to be but the style of these two really caught my ear.
Kelleigh Bannen had a style and tone that reminded me of Patty Griffin. Meghan Kabir made me think of Fleming and John. It was fun hearing their voices and enjoy them in a pure and unproduced environment.
I’ll never bill myself as a music critique but I certainly know what I like and do have an appreciation for people’s talents.
- Kyle Dreier (Mr. Critical)