Steve’s RIG

• 1987 Joe Glaser custom Telecaster style w/ B bender

• 2009 Jeff Senn Pomona Telecaster style guitar

• 1959 Gretsch (Reissue) Chet Atkins Country Gentleman

• 1954 Fender Telecaster

• 2015 Gibson Hummingbird acoustic

• 1997 Kirksand Custom Made Classic Electric

• 2014 Martin 000021 acoustic

• 1976 Fender Stratocaster

• Various Takamine SW341 models

• Xact Tone Solutions (XTS) pedalboard with: o XTS Pegasus boost o Hotcake overdrive o TC Electronic stereo chorus o MXR carbon copy delay (X2) o XTS Percission Multi Drive

• 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb amplifier

• Celestion greenback speaker

• All cables and capos are Planet Waves

• Thumb picks are the small size by Jim Dunlop

• D’Addario strings

The second of two sold-out shows at the CMA Theater celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s groundbreaking album Will the Circle Be Unbroken was a memorable night of music and remembrance. That album was a crossroads of musical styles and cultures, as a band of West Coast hippies joined up with iconic superstars of country music like Roy Acuff, Merle Travis, Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson and Earl Scruggs, and brought two worlds together. Other great musicians and artists on the original project were Jimmy Martin, Vassar Clements, Norman Blake, Junior Huskey, and Pete “Brother Oswald” Kirby.

Dobro master Jerry Douglas was the host and opened the night with an eloquent story of his long connection with the Dirt Band. He then welcomed founding and current band members Jeff Hanna and Jimmie Fadden, and former band members Les

Thompson and John McEuen, all of whom were on the Circle album, to the stage. The stellar supporting cast included current NGDB band members keyboardist Bob Carpenter, and multi-instrumentalists Jaime Hanna and Ross Holmes, joined by Stuart Duncan on fiddle and mandolin, Charlie Cushman on banjo and guitar, and Mike Bub playing acoustic bass.

In addition to the band members, many of the night’s lead vocals and acoustic guitar were handled wonderfully by Trey Hensley. A series of guest vocalists sang throughout the show including John Cowan, Carlene Carter, and Matraca Berg, along with John Carter Cash and family. Video and photo montages from the original sessions at Woodland Studios were shown on the back screen, giving a splendidly surreal visual to the music, which lived up to the spirit of the original project.

The concert highlighted both the ageless quality of this incredibly influential album, and the multi-generational connection between traditional songs and new interpreters. Dirt Band stalwarts guitarist/vocalist Jeff Hanna and drummer Jimmie Fadden on harmonica and vocals sounded great as always, and McEuen and Thompson picked right up where they left off. Hanna and Fadden read a sweet letter from longtime member Jimmy Ibbotson, who was unable to attend. The support crew, especially Douglas,

Cushman, Duncan, and Bub, all brought their A-game to the proceedings throughout the night. Not surprisingly, the uber-talented Trey Hensley did a great job on songs originally sung by Jimmy Martin and others, and nailed the acoustic guitar parts as well. An unexpected surprise was multi-instrumentalist Stuart Duncan taking on Acuff’s lead vocal in “Wreck on the Highway” with great enthusiasm. Cushman nailed both Earl Scruggs’ guitar and banjo styles, and his “Soldier’s Joy” banjo duet with McEuen and Bub, who kept the band in the pocket throughout the night, was spot on.

It was a great night of music and good vibes — there was a lot of love in the room for the performers onstage and in the videos, and the legacy of this iconic album. It felt like a larger version of the famous picking parties Earl Scruggs used to host at his house on Franklin Road. I feel sure that those great musicians who are no longer with us, such as Earl, Gary, and Randy Scruggs, Maybelle Carter, Jimmy Martin and Merle Travis were looking down at the CMA Theater with joy and enthusiasm. What they and the Nitty

Gritty Dirt Band did 50 years ago has had some serious staying power, and the music lives on. Kudos to all involved, and especially to Jeff Hanna and Jimmie Fadden for keeping the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band alive and well for more than a half-century.

— Roy Montana

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23rd Annual Nashville Unlimited Christmas

Christ Church Cathedral

The 23rd annual Nashville Unlimited Christmas benefit concert for Room in the Inn was an uplifting night of holiday music featuring a wide variety of Music City’s finest performers. The beautiful Christ Church Cathedral was full with over 400 in attendance, and raised more $10,000 at the door, and an additional $2000 online. This annual collective effort to help Nashville’s homeless has now raised over $500,000 for the selfless work of Room in the Inn, which has changed countless lives for the better.

The concert is organized by bassist Dave Pomeroy, who hosted the night’s festivities with acclaimed singer-songwriter Don Henry. After a rousing introduction by Richard Wineland, Pomeroy opened with his song, “I Wish It Could Always Be Christmas,” followed by a solo bass piece, “Grateful,” that he dedicated to all those who have passed this year. Cohost Don Henry cracked the audience up with his song, “Ho Ho Ho, (I Can’t Take No More)” accompanied by Pomeroy and his longtime collaborator, Nashville Symphony percussionist Sam Bacco. Next up was John Knowles, C.G.P. (Certified Guitar Player, a rare honor bestowed by the late Chet Atkins) who played a beautiful medley of Christmas songs including “Little Town of Bethlehem” and “Deck the Halls” on classical guitar.

Country Music Hall of Famer and Grand Ole Opry member Don Schlitz sang two of his Christmas originals, “I Trust You” and “Like A Baby” with his wife Stacy singing sweet harmony vocals.

The stylistic diversity continued with pianist Will Barrow, reinventing the Harry Belafonte classic “Mary’s Boy Child” with a pulsing calypso beat. Awesome rhythmic support was added by drummer Marcus Finnie, Cuban émigré Marlon Aguilar on bass, and Bacco on percussion. The always outstanding Steve Wariner, also a C.G.P., accompanied by Pomeroy, fiddler Jimmy Mattingly, and pianist Randy Hart, played two beautiful originals — “Our Savior Is Born,” and the upbeat “Christmas in your Arms” — and closed with a gorgeous version of “The First Noel.” Cowboy music legends Riders in the Sky performed a hilarious “Let It Snow” Christmas medley, “Corn, Water, and Wood,” and “Here Comes Santa Claus” to the delight of the crowd, as Santa made an appearance and danced through the building.

Nashville natives and gospel music stars The McCrary Sisters — Regina, Ann, and Freda — performed a gentle swaying arrangement of “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” backed by guitarist Phil Hughley, drummer Dre Williams, Pomeroy and Barrow. The sisters brought down the house with a funky version of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” followed by a high energy gospel raveup treatment of “Joy To the World.” Led by pianist Ted Wilson, The Nashville Jazz Ensemble, featuring Don Aliquo and Roger Bissell on sax and trombone, Jacob Jezioro on bass and Bob Mater on drums, played very cool swinging arrangements of “We Three Kings” and “Joy to the World,” showcasing the skills of some of Nashville’s finest jazz musicians.

The angelic Emmylou Harris closed the show as only she could do. She brought along two special guests, dobro master Jerry Douglas and Irish vocalist Maura O’Connell. Pomeroy, Barrow, and Bacco backed them on a trio of songs from Harris’s classic holiday album “Light of the Stable,” including the title track, the gentle, uplifting “There’s A Light,” and the sweet Celtic ballad “Golden Cradle.” The show closed with a shimmering finale of “Silent Night,” — O’Connell singing an acapella verse in Gaelic, followed by Harris, with Douglas and the McCrary Sisters joined by the full host of musicians and singers. A splendid time was had by all.Thanks to everyone involved in this great collective effort to celebrate the season by helping others. That’s how we do it in Nashville.

— Roy Montana TNM

BY MELINDA WHITLEY

Ikeep being reminded of how corporate the symphonic industry is becoming. In my last article, I wrote about the organizational structure of the Musicians of the Nashville Symphony, and how that interfaces with our own management. Since then, some symphony musicians have told me that before they won their job, they had no idea what kinds of things happened behind the scenes in an orchestra of this size, not to mention the unique challenges they might encounter. Today I’d like to take a look at one type of challenge we’ve been facing, especially this year.

With so much varied music activity in our city, it’s easy to believe we foster a general inclusiveness, but is that really true? Here in Nashville, we have our own well-worn music traditions and industry practices that are constantly honored for their deep history and longevity. The symphonic industry is no different.

In order to maintain traditions and industry practices, new musicians have to know they exist and then choose to honor them. This doesn’t happen by accident. Not only do we have to teach them to new colleagues, but we have to include them actively on the team. None of us advanced in our careers with only a few technical or historical presentations to internalize on our own time, or by being left alone to figure things out. If you ask most of us how or why we became, and continue to be professional musicians, we’ll likely tell you about being inspired by the working relationships we experience.

But we can just as easily become uninspired. We can feel excluded or marginalized, even downright unwelcome. Those feelings are not limited to one group of people like the new members of an ensemble. They can just as easily be felt by others overwhelmed by change. In my recent study of systems theory, I’ve learned that too much change or stress can destabilize a system and cause seemingly unrelated problems. In our workplaces, we have federal laws protecting employees from many types of discrimination. Some orchestras like Nashville, also have a human resources department, and with the agreement of our union, establish workplace policies that address other behaviors often appearing in stressful times. These laws and policies can go a long way towards promoting professionalism and self-awareness.

However, it’s normal under stress to react from an emotional place. When we, as an industry, face extra-scarce resources, the competition for those resources can distract us and cause us to forget the importance of our individual professionalism and self-awareness, both on and off the stage. That’s not an excuse, but it’s normal human behavior.

Sometimes in order to grow as a group, we need to feel discomfort. We need to look at our own behavior and allow others to do the same in a supportive environment. Our industry is not the only one experiencing a massive change in personnel. “The Great Resignation” we’ve all heard about has hit our city hard. The hospitality and food industries have especially suffered. The entire music industry has taken a big hit too. From artists to managements, our ensemble is no different. We’re slowly coming back from a very difficult time, but right now, we have so many openings on stage, that this moment is full of issues we’re not accustomed to handling.

We can’t produce concerts with lots of vacant chairs. Someone has to be in those seats producing that large orchestral sound or we cease to be a full orchestra. We have very detailed, bargained-for contract language about how an audition must be executed in order to fill a position permanently. We’re proud that our process in Nashville is a leader in our industry for fairness and the reduction of bias throughout the process, but that doesn’t help us fill multiple vacancies quickly.

It used to be that an orchestra experienced very few vacancies in a season. Due to events outside our influence, we currently have many openings and we can’t possibly fill them quickly enough to ignore the effects on our ensemble. We have one large section in the orchestra with six vacancies, including major leadership roles. That’s unprecedented. Some smaller sections have had to perform regularly with only one-third of their members being permanent musicians. This is not normal for us and I don’t know of ensembles in other genres that perform regularly when missing so many key personnel.

Like other orchestras, we’re lucky in Nashville that the pool of qualified musicians interested in performing with us is so deep. We’re fortunate to have filled our large and unusual number of empty chairs with many long and short-term temporary players. We’re lucky that performing with us gives those musicians something they want and need as well. It’s a complementary relationship and all relationships sometimes need a little extra care.

“We are stronger together” is an idea that has stood the test of time. Remembering to take a moment in stressful times to seek professionalism and self-awareness helps us all to safeguard the strength of our togetherness. Not only do these practices deepen our connections with each other, but they cross the proverbial fourth wall to our audiences and wider communities. They strengthen our performances and the workings of all our professional music organizations, even the AFM.

verybody’s trying to figure out if the COVID-19 pandemic is over or making a comeback, and if the economy is about to collapse or recover. Either way, most musicians’ lives and careers have been significantly compromised over the last two years. My own observation is that those most negatively affected are the “casual” artists, the ones who practice their art any place they can find, without support from managers and record labels, or an income stream from CDs and clothes with their names on them. They have to get up every day and look for the next gig. And the number of those gigs has not returned to pre-pandemic level. So, let’s see what I found for this quarter.

At MTSU’s School of Music in Murfreesboro, their annual Illinois Jacquet Jazz Festival will be April 1. Band performances and clinics will be held all day in the Wright and Saunders Music buildings starting at 9 a.m., featuring school bands and major guest artists. The final concert at 7:30 p.m. presents internationally renowned drummer Adam Nussbaum. For information contact James.Simmons@mtsu.edu.

Belmont University School of Music presents 50 Years of Jazz with a pair of concerts: their Alumni Band on Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m., and a rare appearance by outstanding saxophonist Chris Potter on Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m., both in the new Fisher Center. The Jazz Strings perform March 1 at 10 a.m. in Massey Auditorium, and March 27 pianist Bruce Dudley’s Double Quartet (a jazz quartet plus fourstrings) take over McAfee Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m. Info at cmpaevents.belmont.edu.

At the Schermerhorn Symphony Center the Nashville Symphony plays George Gershwin’s jazz-infused composition “American in Paris” at 8 p.m. Feb. 23, 24, and 25. Then look for Aaron Diehl’s piano trio on April 2 at 7:30 p.m. Banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck continues his adventure with jazz, Indian music, and who knows what else with his buds Edgar Meyer on bass and Zakir Hussain on tabla drums April 19 at 7:30 p.m. Info at nashvillesymphony.org. Get down at the Ryman Auditorium with some blues and soul. Grammy-winning vocalist Gregory Porter appears Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. Guitarists Susan Tedeschi and Butch Trucks bring their Tedeschi Trucks Band into the hallowed hall for three nights, Feb. 23, 24, and 25 at 8 p.m., followed by blues guitar legend Buddy Guy March 18 at 8 p.m. Info at ryman.com/event

BY AUSTIN BEALMEAR

Jazz up your Valentine’s Day early with a picturesque drive to Centerville for the Annual Molly Bates Valentine’s Banquet Friday, Feb. 10. This combination dinner and concert includes a catered meal at 6 p.m. and three sets of jazz starting at 7 p.m. by the Daniel Bey Trio (woodwinds, guitar, bass). The venue is Molly’s Place — a cozy speakeasy-type cellar below street level at 407 W. Public Square, Centerville, 37033. Look for the Bates building next to a Shell station and walk down the drive between the building and the gas station. Entrance is behind the building. Dinner reservations must be made by Feb. 8, or just come for the concert. For information and reservations, text 931-994-2013.

On Tuesday, Feb. 14, Rudy’s Jazz Room presents a really fine vocalist, Stephanie Adlington, in a Valentine’s Day production of classic and offbeat songs called “Our Love is Here to Slay.” Adlington is a veteran talent definitely deserving wider recognition. Choose from two shows, 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. On Feb. 24 and 25, pianist Martin Bejerano, who teaches at the well-known University of Miami jazz school, showcases his Cuban-American trio at 8 p.m. Info at rudysjazzroom.com

You can hear more of Stephanie Adlington with her regular trio at Sambuca, usually on Sunday evenings or Saturday brunches. Vocalist Dallas Starke also does some of the Saturdays and Sundays. For specific dates go to sambucanashville.com.

Thanks to sponsorship by the Nissan corporation, at the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) you can now immerse yourself in American musical heritage without charge on Nissan Free Wednesdays the first Wednesday of every month. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The entrance is at 5th and Broadway, and you can take advantage of the union’s parking discount at the McKendree garage one block north. Info at www.nmaam.org cowrote “Peggy Sue,” “Well…All Right,” and “Think It Over.” In fact, “Peggy Sue” was initially called “Cindy Lou” but was retitled after a girlfriend of Allison’s. His tom-tom part on the song was typically atypical, and not the only time Allison explored new rhythm territory. On “Not Fade Away” he beat time with a cardboard box in an homage to Bo Diddley, and in “Well…All Right,” he only played cymbals.

Do you have a high school student interested in playing jazz? The Nashville Youth Jazz Ensemble is a community-based, nonprofit dedicated to nurturing the love of jazz among young people. Band members rehearse Sunday afternoons during the school year, present two or more concerts each semester at various locations, and sponsor the NYJE Jazz Fest each year in Hendersonville. NYJE Director is veteran jazz educator Dr. Richard Ripani. To learn more, go to nashyouthjazz.org.

See you out there.