A Conversation With: Brandon Barnett of Left of Nashville
I have an affinity for hardworking people. That's why I like guys like Brandon Barnett. Brandon is one of Jackson's more interesting songwriters, and he also has a knack for churning out thoughtprovoking podcasts about the struggles of being a musician via "Left of Nashville." I sat down with Brandon last month to talk about things we liked and his music/podcast endeavors.
How do you feel about the state of music right now?
On one hand, there has never been more freedom, but on the other, it's awfully noisy because most everyone is going the indie route. I think the old ways are dying. I'm a big supporter of copyright, and it's a shame how certain companies have gotten away without paying people for intellectual property. You can either fight that through Congress, which they're trying, or you can find a workaround. Something like content marketing, which is providing value to people like what I'm doing with my podcast, "Left of Nashville."
I wish music could be more about creating a community that's more driven to creating good, solid art. There's so much pretense nowadays, but I guess that's always been there.
Yeah, well here's the thing. I'm not a big fan of musicians. I don't hang around musicians. I don't like the lifestyle. I'm too old for it now. I love creating something from nothing. One thing that was refreshing about going to Nashville and trying to do that thing was that people were unapologetic about their aspirations, y'know?
As a curator of content, what do you feel like is the most difficult part of creating a good podcast?
With me specifically, because it’s a documentary, I have to live it first, and there’s the whole thing of, “Am I doing this so I can make a good episode, or am I documenting?” There are so many straight-up interview podcasts, so I’ve taken from Startup, This American Life, Song Exploder, but sometimes you’ll get information that’s interview-based. There’s one episode where you can hear Jonathan Singleton giving me some advice, then there’s also some really bad audio of me driving to Nashville, and then of course, there’s music. I try to make each episode around twenty minutes but will make it longer if the subject warrants it. The podcast is scripted so I can really drive the point home, and I’m also not too good off the cuff.
You’re really good about spacing. One thing that I noticed right off the bat was that there was no time where I thought you were droning or overelaborating a subject.
Thanks, I’m a self-loathing person, so I’m really careful to think, “Who’s going to want to listen to me this long?” That’s why I wanted to do season three of the podcast about someone else. I was really sick of talking about me.
“I take my stuff seriously, but I don’t really take myself too seriously.”
When you write songs do you feel like you’re writing more from actual experiences you’ve had, or do you try to disconnect so you’re not as particular with your songs?
I think there’s a healthy balance between doing the two because, left to my own devices, all of my songs would probably be sad, y’know? In order to write an upbeat kind of thing, I either have to look back on something or sometimes I make stuff up. I mean, it’s a three-minute song, man. The last three or four episodes of the podcast I was trying to do write a song a week.
How’d that go?
In seven weeks I wrote and produced three songs. First two I did in a week's time and were super autobiographical. My idea was to try to write even when a muse didn’t show up. I guess to kinda answer your original question, I take my stuff seriously, but I don’t really take myself too seriously. Again, it’s a three-minute song, man. If this one doesn’t strike a chord, or if it isn’t as deep or honest as it could be, it’s still something I created from nothing.
Do you have any songs that you feel like you can’t really let go of?
I don’t know if this’ll answer your question, but one of the three I just wrote called, “Any Other Way” was an open letter to an ex-girlfriend who by and large broke up with me because I went broke chasing this thing. Ironically, two weeks after we broke up, I signed a publishing deal. The song is simple, and it’s really just trying to say I can’t do it any other way. This music thing is what I am. That’s probably the most honest, vulnerable thing I’ve ever written. I couldn’t care less if anyone likes it because it says exactly what I want it to say without being bitter.
Bo Kitzman is a senior at the University of Memphis' Lambuth Campus. Bo likes music and sports, but playing music is his favorite. You should buy Bo burritos. Bo loves burritos.
Photography provided by Brandon Barnett (Bob du Bois Photography).
Music is something that has forever been woven into the culture of Jackson. While Carl Perkins and the Rockabilly sound are what most people think of first, that staccato rhythm and piano twang is only a part of what Jackson’s music scene was and is. The musical talent that Jackson has produced — from Full Devil Jacket to Erin Rae to LOLO — is as diverse as the community. The problem, though, is that Jackson never had an infrastructure to develop that talent. At least not until now.
On Sunday morning at Historic First Baptist Church, Stedman Roebuck stands ready at the keyboard, looking out over the congregation. As the preacher’s voice rises, and a tune rises with it. He moves with the music, with the crowd, with the lifting of voices. Hands are raised and tears fall. Shoulders relax into a place that feels like home.
“We don’t like it to look too clinical,” remarked Chrissy Watson, board-certified Music Therapist at the STAR Center as she pulled out her guitar. The room’s lavender walls and smorgasbord of colorful instruments, complete with Watson’s warm guitar strums, banished any thought of the adjective “clinical”. Yet, this little room holds sessions where tangible healing takes place.
Grey skies, constant drizzling rain, drooping trees, and whipping cold wind welcomed us into Covid-19 quarantine with a sky that matched our spirits. My husband Rob and I had just moved into a new house a month before the pandemic and were finally feeling settled. Life pre-March was fairly routine. I
However one might choose to gauge her, Lauren Pritchard, who goes by the stage name LOLO, does not situate comfortably into the traditional West Tennessee templates assigned to a middle class white girl. The church choir, theatre class, prom-going standards simply don’t work.
Don’t let the cold weather keep you cooped up all month! Get out to catch some unique events offered this February for lovebirds and professionals to kids and students.
The first time I heard No Time Flatt perform was at the inaugural Tennessee Music Awards event. All five members of the ensemble (Kevin Wright, Patrick Cupples, Becky Weaver, Kevin Keene, and Steve Moore) lined up on stage, each with a microphone in hand, and proceeded to deliver the most beautiful harmonies. They performed to an enthusiastic crowd, who enjoyed the familiar songs and bluegrass twang. This past August, No Time Flatt released a new album of both original songs and covers: Calling After Me.
The Halloween fun may be over, but November is jam-packed of fun community events to get you in the holiday spirit! From shopping and eating to bingo and line dancing, check out what Jackson has to offer before Thanksgiving.
It’s finally fall! Well, almost. Join us as we gear up for arguably the most beautiful time of year in Jackson as we celebrate with drinks, music, and all kinds of outdoors fun.
My love for Alison Krauss began at a young age, between cassette tapes of John Denver and Clint Black (and Willie Nelson, of course) played in my dad’s truck. It wasn’t until college, though, that I truly began diving into her music, and because of the timelessness of her angelic voice, I couldn’t tell you which songs were produced in the 90’s versus her 2017 album. Her music has evolved like any other artist, but her balance of musical genius, heartbreaking lyrics, and bluegrass twang has been a solid rock in my relationship with true country music.
September may be Jackson’s overall best month for community events, and the great weather makes it even better! While we’re always excited for classics like the state fair, international festival, and Starlight Symphony, here are five other favorites we want to see you at. And don’t forget to sync our event calendars with Google or iCal so you don’t miss a thing!
Wow—what an incredible second year of our 731Day Porchfest! Check out this highlight reel by Jameson Winter, featuring LOLO's revised version of "Wasted in Jackson," written just for this event.
At the end of every school year, I have my students create a portfolio of different types of original poetry. I’d like to think I do it in order to foster their creativity, but it’s really because I’m too lazy to grade eighty-four final exams. Either way, it’s a win/win for all of us: they get to write sonnets and pretend that they’re actually writing their first rap hit, and I get to sit back and not grade bubbled-in answer documents. One poem they always struggle with is an elegy.
July is by far one of our favorite times of the year with 731Day on its way, but there’s so much more leading up to that beloved end-of-summer event! Check out all the laughs, music, and other fun in store for this month.
If you drive through the suburban sprawl surrounding Nashville, headed west towards Jackson, Tennessee, the rolling hills will soon taper to level ground. You’ll know you’re almost there when a field of trees swallowed in kudzu forms hovering masses, almost like ancient creatures gathered alongside the road. We don’t think about it too much, but there’s something to the landscape of a place. Plenty of artists have tried, but it shapes us in ways we can’t quite name.
When I was young, my family would take vacations to different cities to watch baseball games. While I loved baseball, the thing I looked forward to the most was seeing the skyline of whatever city we were visiting. In my single digit years, it was always St. Louis. Driving past the multitude of Drury Inns in the suburbs and waiting for the skyline to materialize in the distance never got old. Seeing the Arch stretch across the sky is something I can still see in my mind today. As I got older, the cities became larger: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York.
While the weather may be dreary these days, Jackson’s social scene is most definitely not. February is bringing the most dancing, learning, and new fun our city has seen since the holiday. Here’s just a handful of the awesome events happening throughout our community this month.
I had a college professor tell me once, “Remember, you are changing your generation and the generations of the people around you.” Those words are so true and are still relevant in my life today. In fact, that professor was living proof of that statement by changing my life with mentoring, advising, and pushing me to be better. It was not just that one professor, of course. There were (and still are) many people who continually wanted to invest in me as I grew up here. My father and mother met at Lambuth University, but my dad was not in school there.
“third wave coffee.” noun. 1. The most recent cultural phenomenon in the history of the coffee industry and consumption. Comes after the first wave of coffee, which included “growing coffee consumption exponentially,” and the second wave of coffee, which began to “define and enjoy specialty coffee.” 2. Purchasing coffee due to its “origin and artisan methods of production.” 3. A movement aspiring to produce the highest quality of coffee possible at every level while pleasing and intriguing the coffee consumer. “UrbanHouse.” noun.
January might not be the most exciting month following the joy of Christmas and entering the bleak midwinter, but Jackson has plenty of fun to offer, especially with a handful of annual events we’re all looking forward to. See what’s in store this month!
It’s a cloudy, dreary December day outside, but the laughter between the three musicians I’m sitting with is making things seem brighter. It’s their first time at theCO, and I had them crash on the couches to create a comfy environment for our interview. Ben Gilbreath, Nathan Megelsh, and Tyler Marberry are meeting with me today to talk about their band, Forked Deer Homeschool Parade. If you’re from around the more southern West Tennessee area, you probably know that it’s pronounced “Fork-ed Deer.”
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, y’all! Jackson has so much family fun for you this holiday season, so check out these five favorite events happening this December.
Maybe it will be a high school production of the musical Camelot. An exhibit of stunning photography by a local class may catch your eye. Perhaps you’ll just want to see the downstairs museum, where dozens of photos, plaques, awards, and costumes recall the acting careers of Dixie Carter and her husband, Hal Holbrook. What will bring you to The Dixie? The Dixie Carter Performing Arts & Academic Enrichment Center is a historical performing arts and enrichment center in Huntingdon, Tennessee.
I bought the most reasonably-priced vinyl record of my life at a record store in Jackson. This is the kind of sentence I never thought I’d write. For one thing, reasonable prices, particularly for a brand new, remastered vinyl of an iconic rock star like David Bowie, are hard to come by in most record stores. If you go to Wuxtry Records in Athens, Georgia, you’ll find records for around twenty to thirty bucks.
Is there a better time of year to get out and enjoy the weather than October? Sure, there’s always fall break, Halloween, and a few good Saturday morning races, but don’t forget the local beer, fashion shows, and some dog-friendly fun! Check out Katie Howerton’s five top events for this month.
Great art is meant to be experienced. It is not enough to see a picture of a painting by Delacroix or Jacques-Louis David in an art history book. You must tramp across the wide corridors of the Louvre and encounter them in all the massive, unbelievable glory and beauty; anything else is only a poor substitute. This sort of artistic experience is a great blessing, and it explains why so many people continue to visit the great museums of the world.