Archive for March, 2009
BHC Presents Watson & Nash
Friday, March 27th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Watson and Nash
I’m really excited to be hosting the singer/songwriting duo of Watson & Nash to Boro House Concerts on April 11. The duo is made up of Nashville-based Shay Watson and Joe Nash.
Watson and Nash first got together more than a decade ago. They met at a songwriting workshop and struck up a friendship. At the time, Shay was touring with his band, Ten Mile Drive, and Joe was working on a solo career. After Shay’s band broke up, he started pursuing a solo career, but all the while he and Joe would get together to write songs. In 2007, Shay and Joe put together a band. The band didn’t last, but the idea morphed into a duo. Shay and Joe have been together ever since.
Watson & Nash list their major influences as The Eagles, Bruce Hornsby, Tom Petty, Billy Joel, Jackson Browne, and Bruce Springsteen. They also list John Mellencamp, who they’ve worked with, as a major influence. In addition to Mellencamp, they’ve worked with artists like Holly Dunn, Jolie Holland, Trisha Yearwood, T. Graham Brown, Gretchen Wilson, Little Big Town, and many others. Their sound is “Organic American pop/rock meets country.”
We’ll be starting our evening with social hour at 7:00 pm and music will begin at 8;00 pm. As always, the suggested donation is $15/person.
Here’s a little peek into what you have to look forward to:
A Photo of Andrew McKnight
Monday, March 16th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
I tried mightily to put this photo in my last post about Andrew McKnight, but I couldn’t get the formatting right. So instead, I’ve provided a photo of Andrew here. Enjoy!
Andrew McKnight
Another Success: An Evening with Andrew McKnight
Monday, March 16th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Andrew McKnight is a really nice guy. That’s the first thing you notice about him. He’s soft spoken, congenial, personable and very polite.
Andrew is also a terrific singer/songwriter. His songs come from a very well-thought out need to say what needs to be said. He’s an intellectual songwriter. Whether he’s writing about a Civil War soldier, a West Virginia coal mine, or a polluted river in eastern Tennessee, his word are carefully chosen and his music is evocative of the time and place he is singing about.
Saturday night, we had a small, but enthusiastic crowd listen to Andrew McKnight sing songs from his five CDs. We were treated to an excellent evening of songs and storytelling.
For each concert we host, there are always one or two moments during the evening that really stick with me. Andrew’s story about his friend whose family could not live on their land due to the pollution of the Pigeon River that runs through their property hit home with me while he was singing the song “The Other Way.”
Another special moment was Andrew singing “The Road to Appomattox.” I have a special affinity for Civil War-era songs and Andrew did not disappoint. I especially enjoyed the lyrics “On the road to Appomattox, where bullets whine like bees, cut blossoms from the trees,” which recalled the Battle of Shiloh where there was so much shooting that there were no blossoms left on the trees by the end of the battle.
Now that I think about it, I really liked Andrew’s song “Bad News” and his version of “Crossroads” by Robert Johnson. Both songs were excellent examples of acoustic blues, and Andrew’s slide work on “Crossroads” was terrific. Wow, that’s four really special and memorable moments!
Andrew spent the night with us and at breakfast Sunday morning, he showed Shelby (our daughter) a few tricks on the guitar. Shelby is an aspiring guitar player and Andrew’s instruction was really helpful. Shelby spent an hour or two after Andrew left practicing what he had taught her.
Andrew was another example of the fantastic music and musician we have had as part of our house concert series. If you weren’t able to make it, be sure not to miss Nash & Watson on April 11. If you were there, you know how great it was. Next time, bring a friend (or two).