Adventures in: A Week in Music

Oh my God. The Alabama Shakes.

One of the entertaining parts of having a blog is occasionally jabbering about yourself. That and coming up with your own house style... but that's a separate bag of j-nerdiness you probably don't care about. That said, I thought I'd write up a week in music that was more eventful than most. 

+Monday: I broke out of the house and caught a CD release show at The Basement here in Nashville, for a charming Irish duo called The Lost Brothers. My reoccurring thought throughout the night was "I'm so glad I'm not covering this." Words fail me. But I'll keep typing. It was everything that makes Nashville the best city to see a show. The Lost Brothers are very good live. They're even better when accompanied by top flight musicians including a talented lap steel player, trombonist, and violinist. Brendan Benson joined them on stage for a song to play washtub bass, and then touring partner Glen Hansard popped up to sing a few songs as well. The night went like this: "Hey Jim, you out there? Did you bring your guitar? Come on up here."  I never want to see an arena/stadium concert again. 

+Tuesday: The new Mumford and Sons record came out and much to my dismay, Target sold out of the deluxe version, which has three bonus tracks, including their cover of "The Boxer" featuring Paul Simon and Jerry Douglas. Really, this little story has more to do with saving a few bucks thanks to Amazon. I ordered it for $11.99 instead of Target's $13.99. Shipping is free with my Prime account, and then Amazon kicked me back a buck to put toward a future purchase. Unless I'm able to get Grimey's, Amazon– I'm all yours. 

+Wednesday: For the past few weeks I've been slowly crafting a mix (well, Spotify playlist) for a mix club some folks I know started. I was ready to launch yesterday, but for some reason friends can't see certain tracks on my published playlists, and it's not a matter of Spotify not having the music. Anyway, I'm crossing my fingers that the good folks at Spotify shoot me an email back soon with a magic solution. And speaking of said mix, does it ever weird you out when there's a song you like and you can't find out anything about the band? More on that later. 

+ Thursday: I went with some people to see The Alabama Shakes at Live on the Green, a great free outdoor concert series put on by the illustrious Lighting 100. Got there late, left early, had about 10,000 people in my way. This night I also found myself thinking "I'm so glad I'm not covering this." On the bright side, I got to hear "Goin' to the Party" and "Hold On." On a related note, I'm like to commend LOTG. The top of the stage structure looked stunning. 

And Friday? Well. Basically nothing happened Friday. Anyhoodle, that's what's happening in these parts. Until later. 

September Roundup

Music loves September, apparently. Here's a rundown of some of the stuff I probably should have been posting about this month.

+ The Avett Brothers album The Carpenter came out on the 11th. The best part of the album is how immediately familiar it is. I felt like it took two listens to learn all the songs. Was it safe? Ok, maybe a little bit. Would I counter that argument by saying,  "hello, guitar distortion and drums?" You bet.

+ Babel by Mumford and Sons hits shelves tomorrow. The band played Saturday Night Live this week. The sound was subpar as usual, but that's ok because seeing them dressed as a Beatles tribute band almost made up for it. #cheaplaughs

+ The Killers released Battle Born last week. If you're anything like me, you miss the days when The Killers were sleazy. Synth, eyeliner, tight white suits. Hell, at this point I'd settle for that Day and Age-era jacket with the feathery epaulets. (Maybe) Now frontman Brandon Flowers sings about good character. I guess one of us had to grow up.

+ All Songs Considered posted a fall music preview. The potential of new music is always exciting. It's been a while since I've found anything interesting.

+ If you're in Nashville, the Alabama Shakes are going to be at Live on the Green this Thursday, and that's excellent.