LEWIS BRICE

UPstar. Music Showcase

Monday September 11, 2023

@ The Rusty Nail in Hermitage, TN

(Review By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

Though songwriter rounds are a dime a dozen in downtown Nashville, it’s rare to find one that’s tucked away from the flashing neon of Lower Broadway that swerves the aggravating mess of traffic that’s prevalent within the rapidly growing city.

However, UPstar. Music provides that intriguing, outskirts of town atmosphere when their highly respected platform takes over neighborhood bar, The Rusty Nail; 10 miles outside of downtown in nearby Hermitage, TN, but what feels like a million miles away.

In a showcase of the best of the best songwriting talent on today’s music scene, UPstar has already delivered into their spotlight a list of who’s who including Samee Cannon, Meghan Patrick, Page Mackenzie, Matt Gorman, The Dryes, and on this night, a stacked lineup that included amongst others, Taylor Austin Dye, Austin Burke, Sophia Scott, and Lewis Brice.

Brice, the renowned country rocker who is currently riding the buzzworthy wave he set in motion earlier this summer with the release of his latest album (and current single of the same name) Product Of, corner stoned the opening round in front of a very receptive crowd, pulling them in one acoustic chord strum at a time through a powerful display of his ruggedly honest vocals and uber relatable lyrics.

“This is the very first song I put out from this new record,” Brice enthusiastically said as he pumped the natural grit of his voice into his opening song, “Thanks for the Heartbreak,” pulling proper emotional strikes into the captivating lyrics as he looked back on what could have been with he and his ex, to gratefully then flip the focus toward the broken heart she left him with that allowed him to find himself again and end up in an even better relationship today then what they would have been had they stayed together.

“I’m from a small town….Sumter County, SC… and I pretty much wrote this song ‘bout my folks who still live there,” Lewis shared as he slid into the additive country rock drive of his current single, “Product Of,” nostalgically flipping through a Polaroid photo album that painted the perfect map of his small town morals and values while providing a snapshot into where he comes from and how he was raised.

“Together,” his closing song which he introduced as being a rock-n-roll love song, saw Brice crank up the heat to engulf the sultry kissed edge within the intriguing melody as he sang comparatively through a list of different things that fit together so perfectly, ending up on the two of them as he igniting the fire starting spark in the chorus, lifting his voice into the steamy scene that saw their clothes strew about the hallway floor, marking the trail to their hot night in together behind closed doors.

With an overflowing crowd of fellow musicians, music lovers, family, and friends already packed inside The Rusty Nail, and many still flooding in once the music had started, Brice used his space in the opening round to showcase pieces of his newest album while enticing his diehard’s to sing along with the songs they already know and love, while expertly gripping the newcomers to his music and turning them into his next crop of loyal fans.

FULL SET LIST
1) Thanks for the Heartbreak
2) Product Of
3) Together

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