NSN with Nick Pagliari & Drew Holcomb

This was a great night of music from a couple of artists who have both Nashville and Memphis connections. Opener Nick Pagliari has moved back to Memphis recently, but was here in Nashville for a 5 year period, during which he won the 2003 Nashville Scene Readers' Poll for Best Unsigned Songwriter. Nick concentrated on songs from his new CD "Please & Thank You," leading a great band that was augmented on some songs by a great horn section. The setlist:

The Union Infantry
Leave It Alone*
Play That Rock & Roll Loud
Romantic Picture Show
I Don't Wanna Die Lonely
Highway Stays The Same
Do What You Love
Somebody Told Me
Carl's Revenge
Magazines

Headliner Drew Holcomb was paying us a return visit to NSN, having played our show back in February. Drew was raised in Memphis but is now based in East Nashville as is most of his band, thus the name Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors. They've been playing live a lot - over 500 concerts across the country in the past 4 years. The new CD is called "Passenger Seat," from a line in a great song on it called "Love Is Magic." The band consists of Drew's wife Ellie Holcomb on harmony and sometimes lead vocals and sometimes guitar, mandolin, percussion, Nathan Dugger on guitar, Rich Brinsfield on bass and Jon Radford on drums. The band is incredibly tight and the setlist was full of outstanding songs. It was a great performance from start to finish. Ellie told me she's trying to learn to play more instruments so she has more to do onstage than just sing and I thought she did well and always looked like she was having fun. The set included a great cover of The Beatles' "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away," which they've brilliantly rearranged into a faster rocker than the original Beatles' ballad. Drew mentioned that people say "don't do Beatles covers, because the best song in the set will never be your own." But he says screw it, he loves the Beatles and he's gonna do it anyway. I told him I thought it was good to do a Beatles cover when you do something special to it, like they did with this one. The whole setlist:

Hallelujah
Late Night Drama Queen*
Fire & Dynamite*
Daylight
Boy
Hung The Moon (Ellie-lead vocal)
The Wire
Love You, Come Back Home (new song)
Rhythym Of The Clock*
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away*
Heartache Heartbreak*
Love Is Magic*
Jamie*

You can hear "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" and "Jamie" on demand on our "Media"/"Live Performances" page at Lightning100.com.

NSN with Arizona & Amy Ray 10-19-08

Opening act Arizona, despite their name, is not from Arizona. They're from Brooklyn, NY, but now are based in Ashville, NC! It's a long story. Their sound dips its toe in the psychedelic folk-rock of the late 60's. No set list was provided, but they stated during the set that they were playing their new album, Glowing Bird, in order, so you see the names of the songs on their album.

Indigo Girl Amy Ray was our headliner, playing the first show of her latest solo tour, supporting her new solo CD "Didn't It Feel Kinder," which is her 4th solo album. It has always seemed to me that Amy was the one who liked to rock out in the Indigo Girls and I would imagine the acoustic-folk nature of that duo's sound constrains her a bit, so these solo outings are a way of getting her punk rock on. Amy's show definitely rocked, and the 3rd & Lindsley crowd that packed the house didn't seem to mind at all! Despite having to deal with bus troubles getting to the gig, Amy was having a good time on this tour-opener and played on after we went off the air. Something that frequently happens and is a good reason to come see our NSN shows live!

Amy Ray setlist:
Birds Of A Feather
Bus Bus
Black Heart Today
Rural Faggot
Give In
She's Got To Be
Salt Lake City Radio
Gun Gun
Blender
Mountains Of Glory
On Your Honor
Cold Shoulder
Driver's Ed

NSN with Madi Diaz & Amie Miriello 10-12-08

A night of two great up-and-coming female artists. First up was Nashville's own Madi Diaz, whose solo debut CD is "Skin and Bone," but she has some new songs and a new record coming, as she revealed to us on this night. The setlist:

Late Night Driving
Nothing At All
Just A Little Bit
Love You
Heavy Heart
Let's Go*
Ten Gun
Pictures
I Know

Then it was our headliner, Amie Miriello, who I've been looking forward to having on our show after seeing her perform in Boulder, Colorado a couple of months ago. I got to hang out with Amie and her songwriting partner and guitarist Jay Dmuchowski a little bit, grab a meal and see some other shows. They're both great folks, we had a lot of laughs, and Jay is one heck of a music trivia buff. He knows a lot more about the 60's and 70's than he should for his age. Amie used to be in a band called Dirtie Blonde and she enjoyed the line I used in my introduction that she don't need no dirty band. They had a setlist prepared, but jumped around all over it unpredictably, choosing which song to play next as they went along. Here's the order they actually performed them:

I Came Around*
Brand New
Tearful Bride
Snow
Grey
Beauty Of Goodbye
List Of Things
What's Good
Drifter

NSN with Rabbit Ears Radio & Erin McCarley 10-5-08

This night showcased some great talent living right here in Nashville. First up was Rabbit Ears Radio, who I had not seen or heard before. The group is really new, having formed recently out of a collaboration of several Nashville-based artists, who have recorded and performed individually and in other groups. I think they have put together something greater than the sum of its parts and expect we'll be hearing a lot more from them in the future. They are Larissa Maestro on vocals and guitar, James Farrell on guitar and keys, Adam Popick on drums, Adam Ollendorf on slide and Rachel Loy on bass. The setlist:

Something I Don't Know
You'll Never Change
Moment Of Closure
Through With Love
Too Good To Be True
Blowing Out The Smoke
You And Me
Not Supposed To
Just What You Did
Push Me

Then it was time for our long-awaited NSN debut of Erin McCarley. She's one of the Ten Out Of Tenn artists who recently toured together and many of her contemporaries have already played NSN, so it was about time we finally got her on. She recorded her album "Love, Save The Empty" in a recording studio just down the hall from Lightning 100 in Marathon Village! I told Erin it was cool to see shots in her EPK that were obviously here at Marathon. Her song "Pony" has been a bit hit on Lightning 100, and of course it was in the set along with these others:

Sticky Sweet
Hello Goodbye
Love Save The Empty
Lovesick Mistake
Gotta Figure This One Out
Little Drummer Boy (a short preview of an upcoming Ten Out Of Tenn Christmas album)
Sleepwaking
Blue Suitcase
Pony
Pitter Pat

NSN with Steve Conn & Sonny Landreth 9-28-08

For rock & roll Louisiana-style, it doesn't get much better than these two artists. Both have made past visits to NSN over the years, always enjoyable, and I was excited to have them back-to-back this night. Steve Conn, who's made Nashville his home since 1993, was first up. Steve's often played with Sonny on recordings and live, and he would on this evening, too, but opened our show with a set of his own songs. The list:

Trouble
These Are The Best Days
Easier Said Than Done
Thinking In Tongues
I'm Losing You
I've Got Your Dog
It Is What It Is
The Only Truth

Steve's set was running a little long and volunteered to cut a song, but since I knew there was very little set changing needed tonight, I encouraged him to do them all. So, we were only away for about 10 minutes before it was time for Sonny Landreth. Sonny's new album "From The Reach," his 9th, is loaded with guest stars such as Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Vince Gill, Dr. John, Jimmy Buffett and others. No, none of them showed up for the show on this night. I figured the best chance was for Vince Gill, who lives here and has made it out to some NSN shows in the past, but not this night. My favorite song on the new album is the one with Mark Knopfler, "Blue Tarp Blues." It was in the set, along with old favorites like "Native "Stepson" and "Back to Bayou Teche." Here's the whole setlist:

Port Of Calling
South Of I-10
Native Stepson
Promise
Deucer
Hell At Home
Storm Of Worry
The Milky Way Home
Blue Tarp Blues*
Uberesso
Key
USS Zydecoldsmobile
All About You
Back To Bayou Teche
Pedal To Metal