Lou Wamp

Resophonic Guitar, Fiddle, Mandolin
Hometown: Hixson, TN
Style: Bluegrass, Acoustic
Website: www.louwamp.com

After knowing just a few things about Lou Wamp, there might be an irresistible tendency to begin tossing out labels:  “Driven”, “Renaissance Man”, “Multi-talented”, “Perplexing”, or, perhaps if he himself were doing the labeling, just “Perplexed”. Easy enough to understand, given he’s at once a 25-year veteran of the music business,  a registered architect with a successful practice (see www.louiswamp.com), impressively talented artist and painter, amateur archaeologist, and father and stepfather to six kids.

Besides being a sought after sideman and studio musician, he certainly has the skill to be a solo artist in his own right.  Born in Ft. Benning, GA in 1956, Lou had plenty of music (Elvis to Travis; Bach to Beatles) around home while growing up.  After piano lessons and playing guitar in his high school jazz band, a broken wrist encouraged him to take up resonator guitar.  Gene Wooten became a close friend and mentor.  Lou played on “Sidemen” nights at the Station Inn in Nashville and was in a band called Hiwassee Ridge that performed at the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville.  Other bands he’s worked with include James Monroe and the Midnight Ramblers, The Dismembered Tennesseans, Cowjazz, Blue Moon Rising, and others.

In 2004, he formed the Wizards of String (now Swing Shift) and released his debut resophonic guitar project, “ResOlution” produced by Butch Baldassari featuring 9 original instrumental tunes (and 2 great covers) with guest artists Jim Hurst, Byron House, Andy Leftwich, Justin Moses, Tom Roady and Jessica Lovell and Lynn Wamp.  It was a labor of love and all involved believed strongly in the talents of a fine reso player who, with this project, would prove he could stand with the giants of the industry.  Lou continues to play, write, record and collaborate with the above and a number of other great muscians.

Penguin’s musical style is deeply rooted in 70’s classic rock and roll. Their original music has the “rock” of Led Zeppelin, the funk of early Stevie Wonder, and a splash of Pink Floydian psychedelia, all blended together with the soulful blues of well-crafted guitar leads.

Penguin’s goal is as natural as it is simple: “To bring back and play honest music that has been lost by today’s trend of regurgitated commercialism, hype, and stereotype”. They believe that today’s best musicians must be students of yesterday’s best musicians, and their unique sound is proof of that. Penguin is excited by the overwhelmingly positive response their music is receiving, is looking forward to big things in 2008.

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New Binkley Brothers
Chattanooga
Traditional Bluegrass/Folk

“Upon first listen to the New Binkley Brothers, my immediate thought was ‘There is indeed still hope for country music’. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about that canned crap coming out of Nashville nowadays (pop stars in cowboy hats). I’m talking about honest to goodness southern music which incorporates the gritty, shuffling fiddle of the famed North Georgia string bands of the 1920’s, the driving clawhammer banjo and the mountain harmonies that make your hair stand on end. These boys get it right. Hailing from Chattanooga, TN, this old-timey trio know just when to whoop it up, stomp and swerve out a fiddle tune, as well as break it down with old religious standards. In true southern fashion, these gents perfectly toe that line between saints and sinners; get down and get right and are as refreshing as cool corn liquor on a hot summers night.” –Leo Chancy TN Dept of Transformation

Roger Alan Wade
Chattanooga, TN
Alt-Country, Outlaw, Americana
http://www.myspace.com/rogeralanwade

Roger Alan Wade is an American singer-songwriter known for writing humorous novelty songs in the country music medium.

Wade has written songs for country legends such as Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, George Jones and Hank Williams Jr. He embarked on a solo career with the promotional assistance of his cousin, actor Johnny Knoxville, who occasionally featured Wade’s music on his TV show Jackass. During a 2003 appearance on the Howard Stern radio show, Knoxville promoted his cousin’s songs, which were favorably received by Stern and his audience and given frequent airplay thereafter. In 2005, Wade released his first album All Likkered Up on Knoxville’s record label.

Wade’s lyrics satirically deal with topics and stereotypes relating to redneck and honky tonk culture. His songs feature folky arrangements, featuring little or no accompaniment beyond acoustic guitar. His best known compositions include “BB Gun,” “Butt Ugly Slut,” “D-R-U-N-K,” “Poontang,” and “If You’re Gonna Be Dumb.”

Billy Block
Nashville, TN
www.billyblock.com

Billy Block to host our Saturday Night Lineup!

CMT’s newest weekly program is Billy Block’s Western Beat, which features artists that you may not hear often, or at all on contemporary country radio these days.

Not only does the show feature live performances by the artists, but they’ll also be interviewed by Billy Block, or his wife, Jill, in between sets. The shows are taped at the Exit/In, and are the centerpiece of the Western Beat empire which includes a radio show, Internet website, magazine, and record label.

Billy Block got his musical start in the Texas music scene back in the late ’70’s playing drums for local artists, Freddy Fender, Shake Russell, Billy Joe Shaver, and B.W. Stevenson. He moved to Los Angeles in 1985, and worked a variety of jobs for the next 10 years, including gigs in a house band at the famed Palomino Club as part of Ronnie Mack’s Barn Dance. Block credits Mack’s efforts in California as being one of the sparkplugs of the alternative country movement.

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Jimmy Davis
Hometown: Memphis, TN
Style: Bluegrass, Folk, Americana
Website: www.jimmy-davis.net

The “Memphis sound” has always escaped a simple definition. Diversity and individuality characterize the musical tradition of the city that gave the world Beale Street, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, the Blues, Sun Studio, B.B. King, Rock ‘n’ Roll and W.C. Handy.

Jimmy Davis is no exception to this rule. This versatile singer-songwriter, named “Premier Male Vocalist” five times by the Memphis Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, knows no boundaries when it comes to musical styles. Influences range from The Beatles to the Eagles, Johnny Cash and Gram Parsons to Jackson Browne. His songs have been recorded by Martina McBride, Restless Heart, Joy White, Johnny Rivers, as well as many other independent artists. Davis has appeared as a backing vocalist on numerous recordings by artists such as Johnny Lang, former Eagle Bernie Leadon, Danny Tate, Eric Gales, William Lee Golden, Mark Collie, Keith Sykes, Iris DeMent, Cory Branan, Susan Marshall, John Eddie, and the late Toy Caldwell. But it’s Jimmy’s charisma, warmth and talent as a performer that make him stand out among his well known peers.

Jimmy started his career in 1987 with the QMI/MCA debut release Kick the Wall by Jimmy Davis & Junction. The title song and first single “Kick the Wall” was a top 40 AOR hit as well as an MTV hit video. The group was known for its live appearances as a tight, loud, rock-n-roll band and toured all over America.

In 1996, Davis, with guitarist and Junction bandmate Tommy Burroughs, re-formed The Riverbluff Clan, a renowned

Memphis rockin’-country-bluegrass outfit from the ‘70’s. The band released two critically acclaimed independent CDs. The live album One Night in a Month of Sundays was heralded for its “hybrid vigor,” while the studio CD Two Quarts Low was called a “genre-bending romp through bluegrass, country and country-tinged rock”. It garnered a top 20 spot on the Gavin Americana chart and the song “Two Quarts Low” was even covered by RBC favorite John Cowan. The Clan also appeared in the award winning independent film The Poor & Hungry, directed by Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow), performing Davis’ “Honeysuckle and Kudzu.”

In 2004, Jimmy made his solo debut with a CD of self-penned songs entitled Jimmy Daddy’s Acoustic Song List. Songs like “Grandmother’s Quilt,” “Devil’s Den,” “I Gotta Roll” and “Waiting in the Wings” honor every style of music Davis has ever approached. The Commercial Appeal called it “an unassuming triumph and as honest a record as you’re likely to hear.”
March of 2006 brought Campfire Songs to the world. The record was produced by Jimmy and recorded at Sounds Unreel in Memphis by Dawn Hopkins. It features Jack Holder, Tommy Burroughs, Jim Dickinson, Reba Russell, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Susan Marshall, Richard Bailey, Cowboy Eddie Long and the River Bluff Clan. Campfire Songs paints a cohesive and evocative picture by bringing together songs written throughout Jimmy’s career. “I always wanted to make this record but I just didn’t have enough songs that fit the concept,” Jimmy says. “It has literally taken me 25 years to get the right mix. “Tennessee” was written in Germany when I was 19 on a USO Tour and “Death Ridge” was written while recording the album in 2004.” As the title implies, some songs were actually written around the campfire on hiking and camping trips. Bluegrass and country, stories and hauntings, it’s all here.

In addition to making the latest record, Jimmy has spent the last couple of years helping out a heaping handful of friends. He appeared as background vocalist on the Grammy-nominated record from the North Mississippi Allstars, Electric Blue Watermelon, as well as their new one, Hernando. Also their pop’s (Jim Dickinson) 2006 release, Jungle Jim and the VooDoo Tiger and his latest Killers From Space. In addition, he sang on William Lee Ellis’ record God’s Tattoo, and provided all the backing vocal for Keith Sykes’ last record, Let It Roll. The Reba Russell Band album Broke Down But Not Out features Jimmy’s vocals and guitar playing as well as his song, “Sister Friend.” And he contributed vocals, guitar as well as a cover of Waiting in the Wings to Jed and Kelley’s cd Songs To Take Home.
He has also added producing to his list of accomplishments with the release of new songs by Giant Bear, including the song “Nashville”, which is on the Paste sampler! Also coming soon in 2008 are Jimmy Daddy’s Acoustic Songlist Vol II and  a cd of home demos called BEAGLES.

Whether fronting a rock band, providing a soundtrack for an Oscar-winning film-maker, or picking his guitar around a campfire, Jimmy Davis continues his musical journey and the emerging legacy of a new Memphis sound.

Trent Summar & The New Row Mob
Hometown: Nashville, TN
Genres: Americana, Country, Farm Rock
Website: www.trentsummarmusic.com

Not that labels in music matter much — at least they shouldn’t — but Trent Summar has an evocative and altogether hard-to-resist term for the music he makes: Farm rock.

That probably says it well enough. But in case further explanation helps, we’re talking about that intersection where Chuck Berry rock and George Jones country converge. We’re talking about love songs that veer off the beaten path with honest slices of rural imagery and humor.

It’s a place on the musical map that’s entirely familiar but just a little too rowdy, a little too much fun (and in truth, too rooted in tradition) to be called mainstream country

If you’ve heard Summar’s 2000 debut album, the critically acclaimed Trent Summar & The New Row Mob, or seen his raucous live act in recent years, you may already be a staunch farm rock adherent.

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Pure Prairie League
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Genres: Americana, Country, Rock
Website: www.pureprairieleague.com

Their rich history goes back to 1969 in the Southern Ohio area where a group of young musicians initially played cover tunes at local bars. Original member Craig Fuller and early member George Powell were beginning to stir their song writing abilities around the time original drummer Tom McGail happened to catch a late night 1939 Errol Flyn flick called Dodge City. The movie’s Pure Prairie League was the woman’s temperance union attempting to clean up Kansas’ most lawless town. RCA signed Pure Prairie League after seeing them play in Cleveland, Ohio. The first album was released the following year. The most memorable thing about it was the Norman Rockwell cover from a 1927 Saturday Evening Post cover, ” recalls Mike Reilly. (more…)

Buzz Cason
Hometown: Nashville
Genres: Americana, Rock, Singer/Songwriter
Website: www.buzzcason.com

4-day Tickets / Thursday Night Feature!

As 2007 arrived, Buzz Cason was the only songwriter credited with cuts by pop icons, the Beatles, Pearl Jam and U2 – not to mention Martina McBride, Gloria Estefan, Jan & Dean, The Derailers, Placido Domingo and even the Oak Ridge Boys. And it all started because of girls.

In 1956, Buzz (then an Inglewood, TN teenager) was given the opportunity to lip-synch “White Christmas” on the Noel Ball Saturday Showcase, a local talent show on WSIX-TV (ABC). Reluctant to delve into a television musical, Jim Seymore, a fellow art student organizing the show told him, “It’ll be fun and there’ll be lots of girls there!” Buzz did enjoy himself and afterwards met other musicians at the television station to later form a band they named The Casuals. Generally recognized as Nashville’s first rock-n-roll band, The Casual’s first album also launched Buzz’s songwriting career with, “My Love Song For You,” co-written with band-mate Richard Williams. By 1957, The Casuals had become a national touring act, replacing The Everly Brothers on a tour of 60 fair dates.

During this same period, Buzz met Bobby Russell, an aspiring writer at the old Globe Recording Studio in Nashville located above Mom’s Tavern (now Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge) and the two began to co-write. At the urging and support of Gary Walker of Lowery Music, they wrote and recorded “Tennessee” as a studio group, The Todds. The song was covered in ‘58 by Jan and Dean, their first Hot 100 record on the BILLBOARD chart, and thus an association of more than 25 years began. Prior to moving to California, Buzz wrote another Todd’s single with Russell, “Popsicle,” which went on to become another Top 20 record for Jan and Dean in 1963.
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Charlie Louvin
Residence: Nashville
Hometown: Henager, Alabama
Genres: Americana, Singer/Songwriter, Country
Website: www.charlielouvinbros.com

2008 Grammy Award Nominee!

The term “living legend” gets thrown around quite a bit, but it actually applies to Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Louvin.

The magical harmonies and depth of feeling found on Louvin Brothers recordings of the 50’s and 60’s inspired a new generation of musicians, firmly establishing the Louvins’ stature as one of the most influential duos in country music history.

In 2006, the Tompkins Square label reached out to Charlie about making his first new studio album in over ten years. They enlisted Mark Nevers, who engineered sessions for many top country artists, and produced Calexico, Lambchop, Candi Staton among others. Guests on the album include Elvis Costello, George Jones, Jeff Tweedy, Will Oldham, Tom T. Hall, Tift Merritt, Marty Stuart, Bobby Bare Sr., David Kilgour, members of Bright Eyes, Lambchop, Clem Snide, Superchunk and more.

Louvin enjoyed the experience. “Mark Nevers is one of the best engineers I’ve ever worked with. My brother and I cut our teeth on some of those old songs and they influenced us tremendously. I’m glad we’re able to remind people of them.”

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Elizabeth Cook
Hometown: Nashville, TN
Genres: Americana, Country
Website: www.elizabeth-cook.com

In contemporary country music, it’s a rare performer who will dare to take on the industry on her own hogs-and-kisses terms. But for the artist whom Nanci Griffith has called “this generation’s Loretta Lynn,” it takes a certain tenacity to meld smart attitude with classic tradition, the credibility of a life lived with genuine hillbilly passion, and the integrity to write an acclaimed cache of uncommonly cool songs. In other words, for Elizabeth Cook, it takes balls.

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Gary Nicholson

Residence: Nashville
Hometown: Garland, Texas
Genres: Americana, Singer/Songwriter, Country, Blues, Rock
Website: www.garynicholson.com

Thursday Night Exclusive - 4-day Tickets Only!

A 2006 nominee for the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Gary Nicholson has had more than 350 of his songs recorded, has won 26 ASCAP songwriting awards and is responsible for more than a dozen major hits. Unlike most tunesmiths, he is not bound by musical genre. His songs routinely top the country hit parade. But rock bands, blues artists, folk stars and bluegrass acts have also embraced him as a songwriter.

“I’ve never found it difficult to ’shift gears’ between different musical styles,” Nicholson says. “I let myself be dictated by the needs of the artist or of the writer I’m collaborating with. A lot of these guys are just looking for good lyrics. Songwriting is songwriting. A song is a song.”

As a guitarist, Gary Nicholson has brightened recording sessions and/or concert stages with the likes of Guy Clark, Billy Joe Shaver, Bobby Bare, Delbert McClinton and Tracy Nelson. During his long career, he has also played lead guitar in at least 10 of his own bands.

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