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.