Next Big Nashville 2008: Thursday

Nashville - fairly or unfairly - is most often typecast as a country music city with the wacky sideshow that is the contemporary Christian genre sitting just down the aisle.  And that's not entirely incorrect.  Just take a stroll through Broadway in downtown Nashville.  There's enough cowboy hats and customized belt buckles, you might feel as if you've died and gone to a Brooks & Dunn video.  But, if the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau is to be believe, it's not Country Music City USA or Jesus Rock City USA, but rather Music City USA.

Luckily about three years ago, a group of Nashville rock enthusiasts set about to change that image.  What they created is called Next Big Nashville.

Now, in it's third year the event has become a full-on music conference and festival scattered across clubs in the city.  It's a SXSW or CMJ-styled event in the heart of the Southeast, showcasing some of the best singer-songwriter and rock talent that the city, as well as the region has to offer.  And let's be honest, SXSW is totally saturated.  There's not much else left to do there that isn't already being done.  And who needs another destination/camping festival?  The Next Big Nashville organizers - with all club shows and a stellar lineup of conference panels - are onto something here....

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11

7:30 PM - Atlanta's traffic gods have smiled on me and allowed me to arrive in Nashville in less than a four-hour drive.  And the journey back into Central Standard Time allows me to swing by the opening party at Nashville's Hard Rock Cafe.  With free bourbon, sliders and spring rolls, you can't go wrong.

9:00 PM - McAllen, TX's Dignan are an underrated bunch.  But they've been doing it right.  Slogging it out on the road, slowly building up an audience.  This was my third time seeing the band live.  And Lot 7 proved to be a weird, but charming venue - a club in the dance club sense - the sort you can't get in with tennis shoes.  With a constant plume of totally unnecessary fake smoke pouring out in the audience, Dignan played a solid set mixing their Arcade Fire wall of sound with a Promise Ring early emo confessional aspect.  Singer Andy Pena has a striking voice, a husky and full of bravado that stands out in a genre wth a lot of whiny, adolescent screamers.

9:45 PM - I had to cut out of Dignan after a few songs in order to make it down West End to the Exit/In to catch Nashville-based indie label Dualtone newest signees, The Deep Vibration.  And while they have what in my mind is a pretty terrible name, they have a pretty awesome story about how they got it.  Hanging out one night behind Nashville's legendary Ryman Auditorium, they ran into Lou Reed.  Short on things to say Reed, they mentioned they were in a band, but were forced to change their name, so what should they rename themselves?  Reed took a drag from his cigarette and said, "The Deep Vibration."  So, you obey what Lou says.  The band is absolutely compelling live.  Frontman Matt Campbell sways, swaggers and genuinely freaks out during their set.  The band is classic rock through and through - Dylan, Young, Springsteen and Petty all feel near - but it's not derivative at all.  Clearly enjoying the set, the band played through their allotted time.  And the sound guy actually cut the front of house sound, the lights, and all the mics, but the band kept playing until the sound guy actually walked on stage and flagged them off with his flashlight.  So punk rock.

10:30 PM - Psychedelic blues-jammers Skyblazer are a total bore, so I head backstage to say hello to the venue's next act, Dead Confederate.

11:15 PM - I've seen Athens, GA-based Dead Confederate probably half a dozen times now.  They are one of my favorite live acts from Georgia, and they didn't disappoint this time either.  If you like Nirvana, you'll love Dead Confederate.  I love Nirvana.  I love Dead Confederate.  I call them southern-fried Nirvana to anyone who asks.  Their new LP, Wrecking Ball, is out soon.  Here's hoping it kills like the live show does...

12:00 AM - I caught Matthew Perryman Jones a few weeks ago here in Atlanta.  Sound problems plagued the set, so I wanted to give him another shot.  Leaving Exit/In, I headed down 12th Ave S to The Basement, one of my favorite club venues anywhere.  Underneath the best record store in the Southeast, Grimey's, it's literally a basement that could probably hardly hold 100 people.  And tonight it's playing host to the Mr. Lemon's showcase.  Mr. Lemon's is a local Nashville studio run by longtime Paste favorite Neilson Hubbard.  Hubbard plays keys in Jones' band, as well.  Jones has a captivating voice and soaring melodies.  He's a songwriter strongly influenced by Coldplay, and it shows.  Towards the end of his set, Jones stopped and invited another Mr. Lemons artist, Glen Phillips, to the stage.  Philips is probably best known as the frontman of 90's alternafolk band Toad the Wet Sprocket.  When Phillips took the mic he ran through three of his own songs, including his ubiquitous 1991 hit "All I Want."