Day One, yesterday, of the Americana Music Association Festival in Nashville and there is just no way to see everybody and do it all, but we are having a blast! We are camped out at convention headquarters, the newly renovated Sheraton Nashville Downtown. They had the ribbon cutting and grand re-opening ceremony just before the festival offically got underway. The rooms are beautiful! Simple, elegant. The pillows, oh yeah, are a thing to behold. Ensconcing and utterly luxurious. What better preparation for the busy days ahead, than laying your head in clouds of down at the end of the day. We kicked it off early, starting with an able assist from Eric Brace, who helped us on our round of errands. This included a stop at the Gibson Showroom, to pick up beautiful guitars and solid amps. We thank the Gibson folks for providing them to us!
Couple of things: there is a special guest for the Honors and Awards Show at the Ryman Auditorium. We can't tell you who it is exactly, but he is a rock icon, and his latest project makes a "joyful" noise! Tickets are still available at the box office, and all I can say is if you are in Nashville, or close, YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THIS SHOW. Really! If you can't get here, listen to the live stream on Folk Alley starting at 6:30pm CT today, but the special guest won't be broadcast...you have to be at the Ryman for that part! The second thing I wanted to mention is that another roots luminary is here, as there is a book signing with Rosanne Cash to celebrate the release of her memoir, Composed, in the second floor atrium at the Sheraton Nashville Downtown on Friday, September 10th, from Noon to 1pm.
Yesterday in our studio, which is set up in a sweet suite at the Sheraton, we had visits from Myk Gordon, Frontier Ruckus, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Shawn Camp, Marshall Chapman, Hans Rotenberry, John Brannen and Raul Malo. Just a half day for us! Only kidding. We started at 7am and wrapped at 7:30pm, grabbed a bite to eat, then sequestered ourselves to the production suite for video editing, mastering, uploading and writing. We thought it fitting to bring you a tune from Raul, actually one that he also did for us at last year's Americana Festival. This year we have a different rendering, as he brought Michael Guerra on accordion. "Lucky One," from the album of the same name. Not to worry, this is just the first of the videos from the 2010 Americana Music Festival. We have just begun to rock.
- Jessie Scott
