Nashville for Free

Moon Taxi is easily one of Nashville’s most-loved local bands. You know they have to have a damn good following when people who don’t personally know any of the members are fans and they can fill up Exit/In for two nights around New Year’s Eve.

I didn’t know this until a few days ago, but Moon Taxi is releasing a new album today! It’s called Cabaret, was recorded at the excellent Alex the Great, and they’ll be celebrating its release by playing a special acoustic in-store at Grimey’s at 6pm today.

-Emily

Tonight at 6pm at Grimey’s Lindi Ortega is playing an in-store. If you haven’t heard of Lindi don’t feel too bad, she’s bigger in Canada than she is here. However, she does have friends in high places. Friends like Keane and Brandon Flowers, both of whom she’s toured with.

She’s going to have a month-long residency at the Basement, but you can get an early (and free) introduction to her at tonight’s free in-store. Here’s a video:

Jill Andrews at Grimey’s In-Store (June 6th, 2011) by Kate Cauthen.

The Clutters are coming to Grimey’s tonight! No, no, no, not the family from the Truman Capote classic In Cold Blood, though if that was the first thing that popped into your mind I have to commend your excellent taste in literature.

But I digress. Yes, the band The Clutters is coming to Grimey’s tonight at 6pm sharp. This is the band the the fine folks at Grimey’s loved so much they recommended them to Cameron Crowe when the came to Grimey’s. Mr. Crowe (or should I say, shaper of my youth) liked them so much that he put them in his best music of the year list. And apparently the Clutters love Grimey’s because they’re going to rock the house fo’ free tonight.

Isn’t it wonderful when things go full-circle like that?

Here’s the deal; the Clutters are a great band. Their brand of rock is fun, not pretentious, and I’m pretty sure they will blow your face off in a non-death-metal sort of way. Their new album Breaking Bones will be out on May 10th (a very important day for this blogger), but if you catch their sure-to-be-rocking in-store at Grimey’s you can get it a whole week early! Being a whole week ahead of your friends? That’s reason enough to go in my book! Of course, there will also be free beer at this event, so hopefully that’ll tip the scales for you.

-Emily

Believe it or not, it’s been three years since Matt Wertz released an album. That’s kind of a long time. The thing is, he broke up with his record label (always the heartbreakers, record labels) and toured relentlessly, we imagine as an attempt to escape the pain of the split, or maybe just because he likes touring. The next thing we knew, he hadn’t released any new music in awhile.

Finally, the time came to get back in the studio! But before he recorded anything he came up with the title of the new record: Weights and Wings. According to Wertz the title relfects “the idea that the heavy things in life and the transcendent times are both equally important in propelling us on and through life.”

Well, the album is finished and today is the big release day. And, luckily for us, Matt has decided to celebrate the big release by playing a free in-store at Grimey’s tonight at 6pm! But that’s not all. Buy Matt’s new album during the in-store and you’ll get a free bonus EP. Oh, and of course, there will more than likely be free beer.

-Emily

Grimey’s is keeping the in-store momentum today with a special performance from North Mississippi Allstars.

North Mississippi Allstars just put out a new album called Keys to the Kingdom and apparently it’s a career highlight for them (which isn’t something to say lightly for a great band that’s been around for ten years). The fellas in the band even go so far as to call it their “best country blues and Mississippi rock ‘n roll record yet.”

It’s sure to be a great in-store and there’s sure to be free beer, so don’t miss this performance. It’ll get started at 1pm at Grimey’s.

-Emily

I’ve seen single bands at Grimeys, and I’ve seen double-header in-stores at Grimey’s, but never in my life could I have dreamt up such an event. Tomorrow, February 2nd, there will be not one, not two, but THREE bands gracing Grimey’s for an in-store.

Sanders Bohlke, Duquette Johnston, and The Great Book of John, the three acts who will be performing, are all part of a new record label called Communicating Vessels. The label, which was founded by Jeffery Cain, is all about showcasing the “amazing range of music emanating from the South.” Oh, and they like to release their music on beautifully packaged 7″ vinyl.

As for the bands playing, they’re all from the Southeast and they’re all different. Sanders Bohlke is an acoustic-guitar-playing, folksy, soulful white boy from Oxford Mississippi, Duquette Johnston (from the Gum Tree Killers) is a folk/roots guy who is fresh out of the wilderness (and used to play with Verbena), and the Great Book of John is led by the now sadly defunct Wild Sweet Orange founding guitarist, Taylor Shaw. They’re for fans of Jeff Buckley and Elliot Smith.

The in-store starts at 6pm on Wednesday, February 2nd. That’s tomorrow! Don’t miss out on this.

-Emily

Let me introduce you to Magic Kids. They’re from Memphis, they named their album, which came out this past Tuesday Memphis, and they’re poppy soda-shop bliss.

If you were at the Girls show at Exit/In this past winter you probably saw Magic Kids and either thought “what the hell?” or “THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!” I was at the Girls show and, though I was a little confused, thought they put on a pretty solid set.

It’s remarkably hard to find any background on this band, but I can tell you that it features members of The Barbaras and Girls of the Gravitron. I can also tell you that they’re just one of the many critically acclaimed bands on True Panther Sounds, the label that brought us Girls, Delorean, Glasser, and a bunch of other bands that I’ve fallen in love with over the past year. I also know that their taste in clothes is questionable and that their pop hooks are undeniably catchy.

Yeah, you know what, Magic Kids are a little difficult to describe. You should probably just go see them.

This will be the only show they’re playing in Nashville, so don’t miss it. The in-store will be at Grimey’s on Monday, August 30th at 6pm. See you there!

-Emily

Rock fans, rejoice!

There have been a lot of “new Springsteen” bands popping up over the last few years. The Hold Steady, Titus Andronicus, The National, and Marah.

Of all those bands Marah is probably the least famous, but that says nothing about the quality of their music and live shows. If you like Springsteen inspired rock then you’ll like them. I don’t know anything about them playing live, but I can’t imagine them sucking or being boring with music like theirs.

Marah is here to make your Monday a little less awful. Let them. They’ll be at Grimey’s tonight, Monday June 28th at 6pm. Oh yeah, there will probably be free beer, because Grimey’s is always about the free beer.

-Emily

Rock fans, rejoice!

There have been a lot of “new Springsteen” bands popping up over the last few years. The Hold Steady, Titus Andronicus, The National, and Marah.

Of all those bands Marah is probably the least famous, but that says nothing about the quality of their music and live shows. If you like Springsteen inspired rock then you’ll like them. I don’t know anything about them playing live, but I can’t imagine them sucking or being boring with music like theirs.

Marah is here to make your Monday a little less awful. Let them. They’ll be at Grimey’s tonight, Monday June 28th at 6pm. Oh yeah, there will probably be free beer, because Grimey’s is always about the free beer.

-Emily