I’m really happy to be a part of my 4th annual Nashville Boogie which is a yearly Western Swing, and Rockabilly extravaganza held at the Opryland Hotel here in the Opryland area of Nashville Tn. As usual I got lost in this insane labyrinth of stairways and carpeted corridors, sometimes it seems you can walk for minutes until you find help. But eventually you find what you seek, and if this weekend you seek some truly fine Rockabilly music you came to the right place!
There is so much to talk about and show you about this festival, no matter how hard I study that map I always get lost pretty bad. But I found the first stage pretty easily since I have been here so many times. I eased into the Presidential Ballroom first for my first band to cover tonight Mr. Anthony Castagna who warmed up the stage tonight with some really good tunes like the Jimmy Lloyd Logsdon classic “Rocket In My Pocket”. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not as sharp on the precise history of Rockabilly as I am Country, and Mr. Jimmy Lloyd Logsdon was the earliest I could research.
His set contained a few treats as well like my buddy A Man Called Stu AKA Stu Arkoff, who played his song called “Trouble Maker” and followed that up with the classic “One Woman Man” made popular by George Jones in 1989. The band played some mighty fine instrumentals with “Whole Lotta Shaking” and a great rendition of “Shotgun Boogie” by Tennessee Ernie Ford.
He was also joined by Mr. Pope Paul from Pope Paul And The Illegals on bass guitar tonight and as I began to move onto the Magnolia Ballroom to cover my next act I watched them close with an instrumental he recorded at the Quanset Hut in Nashville for an upcoming EP.
The swing dancing folks pretty much wear me out watching them go, I have been shooting some terrific pictures of them tonight all over both ballrooms…and some in the hallways! Pretty much this event celebrates and embraces the Rockabilly culture and dress, and I like to watch it all happen. This event comes complete with a car show and record convention, full vendor area and so much more!
The fashion show was one of the functions I missed for other happenings at the Palace on day 2. I truly appreciate the western style dress however I am more beneficial to Muddy Roots if I cover the music on the website, so I decided to do just that. Included with my good times were some bad times as well, but none of them were the festivals fault, I ended up with a nasty flat tire that I got fixed at home. In addition I ended up the entire weekend with a trip to the hospital with the flu and an infection…Getting old sucks.
I’m going to include some dancers I encountered on multiple occasions at all three stages. This couple was SO energetic and I didn’t get an opportunity to talk to them BUT I’m sure they will be tickled pink to be loved on by us all. SEE THIS is what the Boogie is ALL ABOUT….FUN for ALL AGES. I’m going to SHOW YOU all the fun kids had too!
My next band I covered quite a few times was none other than Miss Jane Rose And The Deadend Boys Who always hammer out a wonderful set wherever they play. It sure was a treat getting to hear her sing about “Bad Lil Betty”, and how she loves her “Hot Rod Daddy” up here in Opryland.
Her set included many good songs like “Fool” and “Bitten” from the Poultricide album, and also “Whiskey Nights” off of her Damaged Goods album. I have indeed been keeping an eye on them for new music, and much to my delight I found some from them! According to the set list one of the new songs was called “on Again, Off Again” and the other was called “Fucked Up From The Floor Up’.
Now folks I only got a little time to speak with her in passing today, so maybe I will catch up with her in the future for a chat about her future plans as of late. She closed their set with a song called “Consequences”, and of course I migrated on to my next place! The trek from one ballroom to another was fairly easy once I got used to the stages, as I elaborated earlier I could NOT FIND the Magnolia Ballroom even as they had signs, and my map wasn’t much help in that instance. It was nobody’s fault but mine in that area. Once I did find them both I saw how good the layout truly was, Mr. Jason had them set up pretty good.
Also I wanted to point out how wonderful the shuttle bus service was for this festival once again. The staff at the hotel is always so nice to us and keeps the tables cleaned and traffic moving. Much of my eating was done at the Scoreboard, and ill touch on what I all ate there in a bit. Honestly I packed some sandwiches in order to have money for shirts and stickers…you know…stuff N junk. Basically that is one complaint I have about this one, and I know it’s not Mr. Jason’s fault the food isn’t always affordable there.
Hillbilly Casino comes to us fresh off an Ireland tour, and are working their butts off in 2018. Their latest album called “Red White And Bruised” hit my TOP 50 OF 2017, you can read about that HERE. Also I’m SURE they WILL be featured at this year’s Muddy Roots Festival.
Their energetic set included quite a few new songs from their album including their second song “She’s Got Tricks”, and another called ‘Give It All Up”. This unusually larger stage area gave lead singer Nic Roulette more room to unleash his vocalist fury upon…is that a BAD THING…not if you love America! There will be ‘NO Toll Taken” on those of you who don’t love America…I mean Hillbilly Casino IS AMERICA.
My baby’s “Low Down” was next followed by “More Blue Than Green” mostly off the above mentioned new album, as was one of my personal favorites called ‘Jibber Jabber”. Now, that one was being played live for many years before it got recorded on the album. They also played “Stop Drop And Roll” before going into WHAT I THOUGHT WAS Violets In May…ended up being a really cool version of “Ghost Riders In The Sky”.’
The Paladins began in 1980 on the west coast, in San Diego California by Mr. Thomas Yearsley and Mr. Dave Gonzalez they are one of Rockabilly’s most beloved Legendary trios. They coined the phrase Western And Bop as they played a combination of Rockabilly and vintage Country together, creating a unique sound all their own.
They have released nine studio albums in their tenure including their first self titled album which was produced by Mr. Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds. In 2004 they took a small hiatus when Mr. Dave created the Hacienda Brothers western soul band, which garnered much success until 2008 when one of the members died. Fast forward to now and you have the Paladins….and they tore the place apart tonight, quite possibly the best act of the entire festival.
They played their very first single called “Slow Down” only the song does everything BUT SLOW DOWN, and neither did the set in any fashion. They unleashed an epic helping of their past classics the likes of “Sneaking In” and “Good Lovi’n”.
Absolutely NO SIGNS of age on tonight’s show everyone….time has not faltered their stage presence here, and they wowed the audience with more songs like “Get On The Right Track” and “Irene”, and as I began to pack up to make my way out to the Palace to see the next planned band I got to hear them play “Big Mary’s House” and they followed that up with “Lookin’ For A Girl Like You” . The last song I heard was called “Mercy”. I had to depart to hear the Cowpokes!
The Cowpokes are one of my favorite Country bands to watch in this area because despite the fact they play mostly cover songs, they are so obscure that it’s fun to hear their take on them. And of course it is always a treat to hear Mr. Andy Gibson on the steel guitar like that.
They played “One More Time” and another Webb Pierce song before they did indeed play an original song called “I Wanna Dance With You”. Another truly great song they play is the Mel Tillis song called “Heart Over Mind” , That was followed by the great song called “I Wonder Where You Are Tonight” by Keith Whitley. Their set concluded with the classic song “They Call Me A Playboy”.
In a nutshell the second day of the festival ( first for me as I had to work Thursday) was pretty much the best for me health wise. Music wise Saturday was equally stellar however I’ll have to say it now my favorite set of the weekend was by far the Paladins, after all these years they still have all the bells and whistles of a perfect show!
