Familiarity. That would be the first word that comes to mind when I think about why my wife and I stayed in Jackson following our marriage. For one, I was still enrolled at the University of Memphis and taking night classes at the old Lambuth campus. I was also in my third year of working at Green Frog Coffee Company, and my wife had gotten a job at Union after graduating from there.
Read MoreNo, I "ain’t from around here." I’m neither a born Tennessean nor even a Southerner. I’ve been here since 1982, but I’m not trying to pass for something I’m told I’m not. I do identify with the South, but as a Judge recently observed, my “smart Yankee mouth” probably got me in a lot of trouble. I suspect that will continue. I was born in Washington, D.C.; I grew up in the suburbs of Maryland, and then my family moved to Illinois, where I attended high school and college as an undergraduate.
Read MoreBack in December I was praying and dreaming about what 2015 would hold. I was standing on the cusp of one of the biggest years of my life so far. I was a senior social work major at Union University with only one more semester left of traditional undergrad, and I thought I knew everything as all good college students do. I had secured a great internship with RIFA and was greatly looking forward to what that would teach me.
Read MoreSitting here again in the van, traveling to Nashville today, and I am about to burst open wide with excitement for this hometown show at the Cannery Ballroom. After thirty or so days now on the road, I could not be happier about being back in a place I know—where everything looks familiar, smells familiar, and sounds familiar. But there’s something even more special about coming back to Nashville this time and I think it has to do with my musical baby, Songbird, being birthed.
Read MoreFolk music has enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance over the passed five years, but with any genre of music, another period of stagnation could always be around the corner. There have only been a handful of folk artists I have been able to really appreciate over the past year, and that’s disappointing when the Americana and Folk scenes of 2015 have seemed to be thriving. Luckily, there are always some under appreciated diamonds in the rough.
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