mvyradio @ Americana Music Conference 2007
"Well, there's sixteen thousand eight hundred 'n' twenty one
Mothers from Nashville
All their friends play music, and they ain't uptight
If one of the kids will..."
We're took mvyradio on the road for The 8th Annual Americana Music Festival, 2007! mvyradio was in Nashville, Tennessee on October 31st, November 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, bringing all the excitement of this amazing event to our listeners.
One of the highlights of the conference was the 6th Annual Americana Honors & Awards held at the Ryman Auditorium Thursday, November 1, 2007. Appearing at this year's event were Emmylou Harris, Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Ricky Skaggs, Bruce Hornsby, The Avett Brothers and more.
The Conference brought together an estimated 1,000 artists, record executives, managers, agents, music publishers, performing rights society executives, music retailers, producers, promoters, allied professionals and major media for three days of learning, networking and entertainment. By the way, you can hear highlights from mvyradio's performance captures at last year's '06 AMA in our Archives section.
Barbara’s Journal
Monday, November 5 10 PM --at my desk at home on the Vineyard
We made it back in one piece, delighted with the music we heard and the musicians we met. Thanks to all the people who were part of our On The Road trip to Nashville. Joe, Gary, PJ, Todd, Laurel, Nick, Paige, the musicians, the sound engineers, the club owners, the AMA, all of our record and radio friends, and Friends of mvyradio. All the effort and energy, the late nights and early mornings --it's all so worth it to bring this music to life. Thanks to David Goodridge and his girlfriend Jennifer, and to Bob Holman, his wife Bobbie and their friends from at Atlanta for coming by our suite!
I got a request to list some musical highlights of the audio that we captured, the performances and interviews that you can hear on this page. Okay --Blue Rodeo, Emmylou Harris and Patty Griffin, The Gougers, Lyle Lovett, Mike Farris, Otis Gibbs, Paul Burch, Tift Merritt , The Wrights. Really you should just listen to everything, because it's all great!!! Long live, live music!!!
Sunday, November 4 8 AM --in our hotel suite at The Renaissance
After all is said and done, this is just a small town packed with musicians of great heart and talent. I'm sure there are some that don't fit this description, but we didn't meet them. After spending several days here, I really got this small town perspective, and it makes the experience of listening to the music and stories that much more heart-warming and dear. The majority of musicians that we talked with live in Nashville and it's been amazing to be let in on the journeys that led them here and the discipline that leads them on.
Mike Farris was absolutely amazing! He had a huge band --maybe ten musicians in all on stage. His performance was like a revival --big soul sound big positive message. Ray Wylie Hubbard [website] brought Buddy Miller and Gurf Morlix [website] on stage and they completely rocked!
James Intveld [website], Matthew Ryan , The Texas Sapphires. All folks who had been with us in our suite and now bringing it out to The Mercy Lounge.
Saturday, November 3 5PM hotel suite at The Renaissances
It's been another full day of interviews, bringing out total to twenty-two. Allright! We set quite a pace for ourselves, but if we didn't we would miss out on so many great moments. The husband and wife duo, The Wrights [website] came by and were wowed by their sweet and gentle sound. Paul Burch [website] blew us away with his ability to put the music of this great town into perspective and the songs he sings reflect this knowledge and understanding. Our conversation with Eliza Gilkyson [website] was a wonderful close to our four days of interviews and I enjoyed hearing her perspective on her forty years in music.
Now we're preparing to head out for another night on the town. Gary's going to 3rd and Lindsley for Eliza Gilkyson and Grayson Capps and Joe and I are headed to The Mercy Lounge and The Cannery Ballroom for Mike Farris, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Matthew Ryan, James Intveld and more.
Friday, November 2 8:00P The Basement in Nashville
Hopefully you have heard me on the air or web and know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth because my journal isn't up to date. Man oh man --have we been working and gathering some of the greatest music that Nashville has to offer! Daytime in the suite; nightime in the clubs. Cary Ann Hearst [website] is on stage now at The Basement. She came by earlier today, and we spent some time together talking about her life in Charleston, South Carolina, the magical place where she lives and plays music. She grew up in Nashville and has a very supportive and musical family. In fact she was playing a beautiful Taylor guitar that she took from "her old man", her dad who is a musician too.
We have been taking it all in, soaking up the vibe, the music, the tradition. One by one, musicians come by and lay it out for us, lay it on the line, open up their heart through the songs they sing. Our hotel room becomes the open space of expression and communication.
Last night The Ryman Auditorium was host to The Americana Awards and we got to see Emmylou Harris [website], Lyle Lovett [website], Patty Griffin [website], Bruce Hornsby [website], and many others who were participating and celebrating this wonderful style of music. Jim Dickinson won a Lifetime Acheivement award and spoke in his irrevrent and sweet way about the life he has had in music with the likes of The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. He proudly annonced that his sons, Cory and Luther, part of The North Mississippi Allstars, were out on tour with Mavis Staples. The Avett Brothers, Uncle Earl, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Fats Kaplan, Darrell Scott. All performing with the greatest of ease.
Wednesday, October 31 8:00P Station Inn 12th St in Nashville
I’m thinking back to 3:30 this morning when I got up to go to Providence to fly out to Nashville. It will probably be close to 2 a.m. when I lay down again. All this day spent on the way, on the road to more music, more connections. Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart [website] are on stage at The Station Inn and they have the audience completely engaged as they sing sweet songs of the heart. I’m in the sound booooth on this Halloween night, getting the set recorded for mvyradio’s Archives.
Stacey and Mark stopped by our suite this afternoon and talked about their life together as a married couple, playing over 170 shows a year, working though all the challenges that life on the road brings. Mark’s hair is long, beautiful, and flowing free tonight. This afternoon it was up under his hat –“a hat trick” as he called it. He said he needed it because “you never know when you might have to hitch a ride”. Stacey just had her hair done today, and it looks great, too. She got a hug from a guy outside the hairdresser that she passed on to me, spontaneously, just before the interview today. What a great thing to get a hug from someone you’ve never met before! They’re strolling around the club now, off mic, bringing it all home to their hometown, Nashville.
Things are just getting started for the Americana Music Festival and Conference. Over 100 bands will play over the next four days in clubs all over town and in our little suite in a hotel in downtown Nashville. We moved the bed out of our “studio” and into my room to make more space for our musical guests. It’s our reserved and respectful way of trashing the hotel room. We folded up the bedding very neatly and stacked the pillows with care. Doing no harm, just getting the job done.
Judd Fuller and Dana Radford , our long-time friends from Martha’s Vineyard who live in Nashville now, stopped by this afternoon for an in-suite set. Judd was in Vineyard bands Entrain, Mike Benjamin Band, Drawn Butter and the Brewbakers, and also played with Bob Weir, Bo Diddley, and Bill Clinton (!). He is now in country superstar Rodney Atkins’ band. Dana is originally from Canada and lived and played music on Martha’s Vineyard for several years. She has one of the most powerful voices around and an amazing stage presence. She and Judd are writing great songs together and they played a few, one that they had just finished with another Vineyarder, Joanne Cassidy.
Amelia White
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007 
Americana Music Conference 2007 Awards Show Part 1
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Jim Jordan and Billy Sherrill
Sound by: Jim Jordan and Billy Sherrill
Americana Music Conference 2007 Awards Show Part 2
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Jim Jordan and Billy Sherrill
Sound by: Jim Jordan and Billy Sherrill
Americana Music Conference 2007 Awards Show Part 3
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Jim Jordan and Billy Sherrill
Sound by: Jim Jordan and Billy Sherrill
Amy LaVere
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Avett Brothers
Performance of 'Shame', Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Jim Jordan and Billy Sherrill
Sound by: Jim Jordan and Billy Sherrill
Blue Mountain
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Blue Rodeo and Friends
Performance (in order of appearance: Oh Susanna, Justine Rutedge, Luke Doucet, Ron Sexsmith, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings joined the last encore), Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Midcoast Audio, Nashville
Sound by: Todd Farhood
Cary Ann Hearst
Interview with Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance: Cover of Bob Dylan's 'It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry', Americana Music Conference 2007
Dale Watson
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Wilton Wall
Dana Radford and Judd Fuller
Interview with Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance of 'Shooting Star', Americana Music Conference 2007
Darrell Scott
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
David Olney
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Devon Sproule
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance: Cover of Jesse Winchester's 'Eulalie', Americana Music Conference 2007
Eliza Gilkyson
Interview, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Mikey Jaeger
Sound by: Mikey Jaeger
Emmylou Harris and Patty Griffin
Performance of 'Trapeze', Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Jim Jordan and Billy Sherrill
Sound by: Jim Jordan and Billy Sherrill
Grayson Capps
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Mikey Jaeger
Sound by: Mikey Jaeger
Gurf Morlix
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Ron Rice
Sound by: Ron Rice
Guy Davis
Interview with Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Hoots and Hellmouth
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
James Intveld
Interview, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Wilton Wall
Lancaster Orchestra
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Wilton Wall
Lyle Lovett
Performance of 'If I Had A Boat', Americana Music Conference 2007
Matthew Ryan
Interview with Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Wilton Wall
Melinda Schneider
Interview with Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mike Farris
Interview with Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Sound by: Midcoast Audio, Nashville
Mike Younger
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Otis Gibbs
Interview with Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance: Cover of Hank Williams' 'Lonesome Whistle', Americana Music Conference 2007
Paul Burch
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance: Cover of Red Foley's 'Tennessee Border', Americana Music Conference 2007
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby
Performance of 'Gone', Americana Music Conference 2007
Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris
Performance of 'Leavin' Louisiana', Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Jim Jordan and Billy Sherrill
Sound by: Jim Jordan and Billy Sherrill
Sarah Borges
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Mike Grimes
Sound by: Mike Grimes
Scott Miller and the Commonwealth
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Wilton Wall
Sorta
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart
Interview with Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Stacie Collins
Interview with Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Mikey Jaeger
Sound by: Mikey Jaeger
Performance: Cover of Loretta Lynn's 'You Ain't Woman Enough', Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Mikey Jaeger
Sound by: Mikey Jaeger
Steve Forbert
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Texas Sapphires
Interview with Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Wilton Wall
The Gougers
Interview with Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Wilton Wall
The Wrights
Interview with Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Tift Merritt
Interview with Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Wilton Wall
Performance: Cover of Townes Van Zandt's 'Gypsy Sally', Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Wilton Wall
Trent Summar
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Wilton Wall
Trey Johnson
Interview with Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Webb Wilder
Interview with Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Performance, Americana Music Conference 2007
Mixed by: Wilton Wall