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The Sotted, Sentimental Swagger of Shane MacGowan and the Pogues
The list of cultural seats for the Irish-American diaspora usually starts and ends with New York or Boston. Chicago maybe. But Tulsa? Not...
John Carpenter
Mar 18, 20244 min read
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The Milk Carton Kids Were Made for the Ryman Auditorium
You know you’re going to hear beautiful music at a Milk Carton Kids show. But there is trepidation when they are the headliner. A small...
John Carpenter
Feb 5, 20244 min read
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Elvis Costello Still Knows How to Piss People Off
Okay, maybe not piss off exactly. It takes an artist of a certain stature and temperament to make 2,300 fans wait through two-plus hours...
John Carpenter
Jan 30, 20245 min read
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Old Friends and Rising Stars at Florida's 30A Songwriter's Fest
I generally think of music festivals as minimally clad young people writhing in blazing heat taking duck-lip selfies amid a greater...
John Carpenter
Jan 27, 20245 min read
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Foot Stomping Ryman New Year's Eve with Old Crow Medicine Show
Always good to start the year with a 2,300-person sing-along. (And I’m not talking about “Auld Lang Syne,” a song I never really...
John Carpenter
Jan 2, 20242 min read
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Liz Phair, 'Guyville,' and Happy, Hazy Memories of Early '90s Chicago
The shifting ground between youth and adulthood in my post-college years was an awesome time, at least as far as I can remember. It was a...
John Carpenter
Nov 29, 20235 min read
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"The Last Waltz" Plays On In Nashville Thanksgiving Tradition
Thanksgiving is upon us, and that means Last Waltz season for fans of the greatest concert movie ever made. (Sorry/not sorry to fans of...
John Carpenter
Nov 22, 20235 min read
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A Lively Musical Conversation - Rachael Davis, Valerie June, Yasmin Williams, and Thao
As we walked in the door of the CMA Theatre in downtown Nashville, we could hear the crowds screaming about a block away. The big stars...
John Carpenter
Nov 10, 20233 min read
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Here Come the Mummies! And They Brought the Funk
One thing we’ve learned about the Nashville music scene is to be on the look-out for any show that suggests the presence of “session...
John Carpenter
Nov 9, 20232 min read
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Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: Another Ryman Tour de Force
“Let’s see if we can turn a Sunday night into a Saturday night,” Jason Isbell told his band. Then they did. What a pleasure to catch a...
John Carpenter
Oct 26, 20234 min read
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Rhiannon Giddens at the Ryman: Reclaiming American Music One Song at a Time
Rhiannon Giddens and her band served up a lot of powerful music at the Ryman Auditorium this weekend. But it was a salty,...
John Carpenter
Sep 19, 20234 min read
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Another Nashville Evening: Folded Lawn Chairs and Number One Songs
The “in the round” show is a staple of Nashville entertainment. Sometimes called a guitar pull, and often performed in a row rather than...
John Carpenter
Jun 7, 20234 min read
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Avett Brothers Shake the Trees in Backwoods Tennessee
Not long ago a live-music-loving friend told me that the Avett Brothers were the one band he would still see over and over again. Now...
John Carpenter
May 2, 20234 min read
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Aoife O'Donovan and Friends Offer Fresh Take on Springsteen's Nebraska
Any night you find yourself standing 15 feet from a harmony-singing Emmylou Harris is a good night. The show was Aoife O’Donovan at the...
John Carpenter
Apr 18, 20234 min read
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Marty Stuart: Bluegrass Meets Rock-a-billy in White-Hot Set
At some point during the pandemic, as we were savoring the 16-hour binge that is Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary, Mary and I became...
John Carpenter
Feb 20, 20234 min read
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Night Train to Nashville Showcases Music City R&B Roots
It was the mid-1950s and, for better or worse, the “Nashville Sound” was taking shape. It didn’t seem to matter whether they were love...
John Carpenter
Jan 31, 20234 min read
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Killing the Covid Blues in Clarksdale, Mississippi
I might as well have driven down to Mississippi a hundred years ago. But it was March of 2020. Peering back through the lockdown haze, I...
John Carpenter
Dec 31, 20228 min read
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A lucky musical find in Dublin: The Magpies
Our goal was simple. We were looking for some traditional Irish music and a pub that wasn’t packed to the gills – a trickier ask than one...
John Carpenter
Nov 3, 20222 min read
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A Ryman Love Letter to the Late Great John Prine
I don’t know how John Prine would have felt about Monday night’s Covid-delayed celebration of his life. He probably would have cracked a...
John Carpenter
Oct 11, 20225 min read
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Father John Misty Blesses Nashville's Mother Church
Our expectations were somewhat low for Father John Misty. We were only going because good friends are big fans and built a Nashville...
John Carpenter
Oct 7, 20222 min read
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