As soon as the first writer started singing, Jane’s Hideaway changed from a full restaurant to a listening room, and the audience quieted down. A neon pink sign glowed over the heads of four guitar-wielding musicians poised with their songs for the room and each other.
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Libby Weitnauer
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Mar 25, 2024 3:23 pm
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William H. Johnson
Evening.
The Frist Art Museum “Southern/Modern” Exhibition Through April 28
“I always like to tell people it’s the best work of art in the building,” said the man sitting at the guest services desk of The Frist Art Museum. He gestured to the grandeur of the lobby that surrounded him. Built as a post office in 1933, the space was indeed an art deco masterpiece with its stainless steel flourishes. However, it had stiff competition in the Frist’s “Southern/Modern” exhibition that I’d come to see.
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Libby Weitnauer
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Mar 17, 2024 2:55 pm
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Hannah Juanita plays on stage at Honky Tonk Tuesday.
Honky Tonk Tuesday American Legion Post 82 Tuesdays
Getting out the door for some air was honestly more difficult than getting in. Since I’d arrived, a line of 15 to 20 people long had formed outside. Dressed to the nines, buzzing with energy, and cigarettes in hands, these patrons were not queued up at a nightclub, but rather the American Legion Inglewood Post 82 in Nashville on a Tuesday night.
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Libby Weitnauer
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Mar 7, 2024 3:35 pm
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Ziona Riley plays at Betty's Grill.
Sam Petschulat, Ziona Riley, Frank Hurricane, and The Cherry Blossoms Betty’s Grill Nashville 3/5/24
During Sam Petschulat’s opening set, I was mostly orienting myself to the beautiful fever dream that is Betty’s Grill. The approximately 500 square feet of dive bar magic contain a simple bar with a bartender who seemingly keeps track of every order on pen and paper, classic black-and-white checkered linoleum floors, wood paneling, silver streamers, some tables, a dart board, a ring toss, and in the corner, a performance area. This performance area, or what I guess one could call a stage, only added to a pretty surreal evening.
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Libby Weitnauer
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Mar 5, 2024 4:07 pm
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The Taste of Things The Belcourt Theater Nashville 3/5/24
Showing up hungry to a movie called The Taste of Things was both unintentional and a mistake — salvageable only through a trip to the concessions stand. Despite running a little late, I made remedying this a priority and got myself a large popcorn and a local craft draft of Jackalope Brewing Company’s Bearwalker beer before entering what ended up being a very intimate and very full theater. I was left with no choice but to sit in the front row and devour every mouthwatering visual the film had to offer from only a few feet away.
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Libby Weitnauer
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Mar 1, 2024 12:30 pm
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View from the bar at Bar Continental.
Bar Continental Nashville 2/28/24
I wondered about the man rummaging through records in the corner as the DJ fussed with the turntables. He was spinning some relatively unengaging modern electronic music. It was almost 10 p.m., the scheduled end of Blue Note Records night at Bar Continental, and the experience was underwhelming thus far. The music was too quiet and frankly, too boring for the hi-fi sound systems that the bar’s concept was based around to be appreciated. But just as the DJ was packing up the records he’d brought from home — despite the bar’s in-house collection of over 5,000 records — and I was ready to chalk the bar up to an unrealized good idea, the mystery man in question took over, and the space came alive.
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Libby Weitnauer
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Feb 27, 2024 10:30 am
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Regi Wooten & Friends play at Rudy's Jazz Room
Regi Wooten & Friends Rudy’s Jazz Room Nashville Feb. 21, 2024
Much to my surprise, the hostess clicked around on her computer trying to see if she could fit us in. I didn’t think reserving tickets for a longstanding weekly show by the same artist would be necessary. “Actually I have just one more table! That couple moved to sit with their friends, so that’s the only reason why,” she said with delight. My curiosity about this sold-out residency was piqued.
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Libby Weitnauer
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Feb 8, 2024 11:56 am
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John Mailander's Forecast plays at Dee's Country Cocktail Lounge.
Sweet Megg and John Mailander’s Forecast Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge Nashville 1/28/24
“Enjoy the bar!” said the bouncer, as he stamped my hand on my way in the door of the double wide trailer. I did the ceremonial walk around the pool table and the bar stools to order a drink while surveying to see what familiar faces were in attendance, only to realize that, in fact, every face was familiar. The scenesters were out.
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Libby Weitnauer
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Jan 28, 2024 3:49 pm
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Brown's Diner.
Ziona Riley, Neil O’Neil, Dylan Whitlow Brown’s Diner Nashville 1/25/24
With a strip of computer paper taped on the shelves behind the bar that reads “booking email” in black Sharpie, Brown’s Diner is as analog and old-school Nashville as it gets. Award-winning food, local music, and an undeniable air of longevity combine to create an entirely unique “dinner-and-a-show” environment.
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Libby Weitnauer
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Jan 24, 2024 1:55 pm
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Steve Daly leads The Cumberland Sliders at The Underdog.
Steve Daly and The Cumberland Sliders The Underdog Nashville 1/23/24
“I wish I woulda quit this shit a long time ago/ but now I’m standing in a Goodwill and I’m sorting through the half-priced clothes,” sang Steve Daly. It was a line from a song he wrote about the experience of being 40 years old and still a working musician. But Daly himself exuded the opposite of bitterness or fatigue in his playing, which had an energetic and inspiring edge Tuesday night, as Daly continues to be one of the more active and seemingly effortless players around town.
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Libby Weitnauer
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Jan 16, 2024 11:28 am
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Ben Garnett Trio at Random Sample.
Ben Garnett Random Sample Nashville, TN Jan. 12, 2024
If my videos and photos make it look like I’m sitting on the floor behind, underneath, or inside a camera tripod in a room smaller than most living rooms and almost in a stranger’s lap, it’s because I was. The spot was West Nashville’s teeny-tiny DIY spot Random Sample.
On Friday night, anyone who could physically fit inside got the pleasure of seeing three musicians who typically play for audiences of hundreds, sometimes thousands, perform Ben Garnett’s original compositions from his in-the-making sophomore album.
As I walked in the door, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes was stepping off the mic after taking a solo and handing it off to bandmate Reed Stutz, wearing a blue jumpsuit appropriate for space travel. The perma-Christmas lights, party streamers, and ’70s wallpaper were all geared up for a night of bluegrass.
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Libby Weitnauer
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Jan 7, 2024 2:42 pm
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Parker James takes a solo with Josh Halper's Bossa Nova Band.
Josh Halper’s Bossa Nova Band The Blue Room Nashville Jan. 4, 2024
I had a headache and noticed a smell of burnt rubber. I discovered I had been driving around on a flat tire. I was somewhat regretting my decision to go out.
As I stepped into the pink and blue neon glow of the Blue Room, that feeling melted away, and the joy of Josh Halper’s Bossa Nova Band took its place.
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Libby Weitnauer
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Jan 2, 2024 4:25 pm
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Outside the Music City Bar and Grill.
Nathan Belt Music City Bar and Grill Nashville Dec. 30, 2023
“It’s music from outer space,” my show-going companion Will Johnson said to me. It’s difficult to convey the accuracy of this assessment, as I’m sure the music sounds pretty standard relayed via iPhone video, but what happens at Music City Bar and Grill is always tinged with a sense of having stepped into another world, another timeline. This was not my first foray into this other realm — perhaps it was my fourth — but every visit, without fail, has resulted in an inspiration and excitement about music that you just don’t come across very easily.
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Libby Weitnauer
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Dec 21, 2023 10:21 am
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Aliyah Bonnette
Three Throws for Forever.
Quilty Pleasures Elephant Gallery Buchanan Arts District Nashville Through Jan. 27
Through the windows of Elephant Gallery, I saw an elephant, a lamp toilet, Tweety Bird. I cursed myself for not thoroughly checking the gallery’s hours. I wanted to go in and see it all, but as it was my first time there, I missed that its weekday hours were by appointment only. This only made my anticipation of checking out the Elephant Gallery’s current show — “Quilty Pleasures” — all the sweeter.
