Show Reviews

 

NASHVILLE'S MOST WANTED

Ft. Jake Hoot, Cody Purvis, & Raleigh Keegan

Tuesday November 30, 2021

@ Scoreboard Bar & Grill in Nashville, TN

(Review by: Jeffrey Kurtis)

(Photo Credits: Raleigh Keegan by: Sean McGee /Jake Hoot by: Chris Haston/NBC)

In what is becoming the consistent go-to place to hear great new music, I took my normal seat at The Scoreboard Bar & Grill (just left of the stage) for Cody Purvis’ weekly ‘Nashville’s Most Wanted’ live music series.

Many memorable acts over the past few months have graced this stage; legends of the country genre such as Marty Raybon (Shenandoah), radio hitmakers such as Love & Theft, Keith Anderson, James Otto, William Michael Morgan, and Dillon Carmichael, and exciting newcomers Eldon Huff, Dustin Spears, and RT Johnson.

This week, Purvis welcomed a stacked lineup that included performances from Jake Hoot, Raleigh Keegan, and a rare Tuesday night performance by the host himself, Cody Purvis.

 

Raleigh Keegan has been making a very strong name for himself by blending several different influences into a style that twists and turns you through multiple genres and throwback era sounds, while maintaining a decisively modern feel.

Just one listen to his latest album Clocks Roll Forward, and you’ll find a rockabilly tint on “Sure Like Loving You,” a 70’s vibe on “Long Line of Lovers,” a slight move into a singer-songwriter feel on his cover of James Taylor's “Carolina In My Mind,” and a modern country feel on “Way Back.” But smack dab in the middle of all these different feels is a style that is 100% Raleigh Keegan, which he put well on display in front of the Tuesday night crowd.

By transitioning back and forth between acoustic guitar and keyboard, Keegan introduced his versatility as a musician to the crowd, while leaning into the power of his vocals to bounce his set back and forth between his most current originals and well-placed cover songs which lent themselves perfectly to his piano playing skills.

Pulling most of his originals from his latest release, Keegan captured the crowd with the humorously bent lyric of “Another Good Day,” satisfied a crowd request for “Handyman,” and fused in a toe-tapping, rock-a-billy kissed feel with “Sure Like Loving You” and “Easy on the Trigger.”

Keegan, obviously inspired by the piano greats, fused in 2 outstanding covers from two of the best when he played Elton John’s “Rocketman” and Billy Joel’s “Piano Man,” the latter in which he recently released a studio version of as well.

With the crowd already invested, Keegan took the opportunity to close out his set by offering a small piece of things still to come when he showcased his storytelling abilities on “189 Iris Lane,” and autobiographically told the tale of when he first moved to town on “New to Nashville,” both which are new songs that have yet to be released.


Though ‘Nashville’s Most Wanted’ is Cody Purvis’ show, it isn’t all that often that the host himself takes the stage for a set so whenever he does, it’s always a great treat for the crowd.

Purvis is no stranger to country music fans thanks in part to his song “Drinkin’ Terms” reaching the Top 50 and earning heavy rotation on The Highway. He’s also been pitched (and cut) songs from some of the best current artists/songwriters in town including two that he played during his 45-minute set – “Airplane Mode” which was written by Luke Combs, and “Girls Can Do You That Way,” written by Thomas Rhett and one which Purivs pulled out to play from way back in his catalog as it originally appeared on his 2016 album Southern Thang.

However, what you learn from seeing Purvis perform a couple of times is that different twists define who he is as an overall artist; his love of 90’s country, and his ability to pull you into his new songs to get a feel from the crowd for which he should bring to radio next. 

To find those two aspects, you need to look no further than the middle of his set tonight.

“This next song I’m gonna play is scheduled to come out in early 2022,” Purvis introduced. “We’re going to send this one to radio so let’s see what y’all think of it here tonight,” he finished as he played “Overnight,” a slower paced song that leans into the sexier side with mentions of candles burning while drinking red wine as a Motown record plays to set the mood.

He also offered his most recent release, “Someday Man,” a song in which he stated was one that he had heard when he first moved to town that sat with him, before dedicating the heartfelt tune to anyone who has ever been let down and hurt.

Turning to his 90’s country influences, Purvis said as they rolled to the direct middle of his set, “We’ve reached the portion of the show where we play some covers,” before delivering Joe Diffie’s “Pickup Man,” “Toby Keith’s “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” and Riley Green’s amazing heart-tugger, “I Wish Grandpa’s Never Died.”

Spliced between these two spotlighting aspects, Purvis absolutely satisfied his longtime supporters in the crowd as well by playing some of his catalog’s longstanding fan favorites, whether it was when he opened his show with “College Years,” saluted the military on “Boots on the Ground,” or closed the night with his biggest hit thus far, “Drinkin’ Terms.”

FULL SET LIST (Cody Purvis)

1) College Years

2) Girls Can Do You That Way

3) Airplane Mode

4) Boots on the Ground

5) Overnight

6) Someday Man

7) Pickup Man (Joe Diffie cover)

8) Should’ve Been a Cowboy (Toby Keith cover)

9) I Wish Grandpa’s Never Died (Riley Green cover)

10) Whiskey

11) Drinkin’ Terms

Jake Hoot, familiar to many as the winner of season 17 on the NBC hit television program The Voice, has quickly made his mark on the music scene. Riding the wave of being named the show’s winner, Hoot first hit the charts with “Better Off Without You,” and even more recently has impacted with his current single “Night Left,” and an acclaimed performance with Kelly Clarkson on “I Would’ve Loved You.”

Hoot graced the hallowed stage at the Grand Ole Opry last week, and this Tuesday night he crossed over McGavock Pike and took the stage at Scoreboard to deliver a headlining, full-band show that allowed him to showcase his influences, satisfy his fans with the hit songs they know and love, and to also give us something to look forward to in the near future with a few new songs he splashed into his set, including what will most likely be his next official single.

Rolling into his set with a cover of “That Ain’t My Truck” quickly sent out vibes from The Voice as it was one of the songs Hoot performed during his time on the show. However, it was also an intriguingly smart way to introduce new fans in the crowd to Hoot’s big, powerful voice while instantly pulling them in and getting them to sing along.

“We got any Eagles fans out there tonight?” Jake asked the crowd, who responded with cheers. “Then y’all help me sing this next one” he encouraged as he delivered “Take It Easy,” and quickly followed it with his first of 5 originals of the night with “Something We Can Slow Dance To,” lifted from his latest EP Love Out of Time.

“Wow!” Hoot responded back to the crowd who had seemed to sing every word of the original with him. “It sounds like y’all came ready to sing tonight, so let’s try this one out then,” he enthusiastically said as the band drove into “Hey Baby,” and quickly had the crowd swaying back and forth and singing along with the popular Bruce Channel song from 1959.

After introducing the crowd to his incredible backing band, he then gave them a chance to show off a little bit with a cover of The Georgia Satellites “Keep Your Hands to Yourself,” which they spliced right into the ultra-popular “Better Off Without You,” the original tune that Hoot performed during the finale of The Voice which would become his debut single.

“I can’t tell you as a songwriter how special it is to look out and see people singing your songs back to you like that, so thank you for doing that here tonight,” Hoot humbly acknowledged. “We’re gonna do another one from my EP that was released earlier this year,” he finished as they played “This Is the Night.”

“I’m gonna play what is probably my favorite country song next; “King of the Road” by Roger Miller,” Hoot announced to a round of cheers from the crowd. “Some of you might know that I grew up a missionary kid, so we didn’t really get to watch a lot of movies or hear a lot of music, but whenever we did, we always had to change any suggestive lyrics. So, when Miller says in this song “Ain’t got no cigarettes,” we had to change that to Chiclets; you know like the square gum. I’m gonna try to work that in here somewhere too,” he challenged as he instantly had the crowd singing along with him…“trailers for sale or rent…” (Sidenote: Hoot did manage to work the Chiclets line into the song towards the end).

After an absolutely amazing cover of Blackhawk’s “Goodbye Says It All,” which allowed Hoot and his band to expertly showcase their incredible harmonies, he revved the party back up with his most current single “Night Left.”

“Can we all agree on some level that paying taxes sucks?” Hoot stated to a rousing ovation. “This next song kind of derived from that idea. I got an unexpected bill and I hated to have to pay it, but I told my wife that at least we had the money in the bank to lose, and that sparked this idea,” he said before playing “Had It to Lose,” which he also announced would officially be releasing in early 2022.

“When I was on The Voice, Ms. Kelly Clarkson was always so great about letting me sing anything that I wanted to sing…except for this one time. She told me…hmmm let’s talk to Clyde about that one. Clyde is the guy on the show who makes sure you can do the songs, works out all the copyrights, and that stuff,” Hoot explained giving us a glimpse backstage of the popular television show. “Well, I told Clyde that I had this crazy idea. I want to do a country version of “La Bamba.” Clyde looked at me and he said you’re right that’s crazy, what else you got?” Hoot said as the crowd laughed with him as he smiled.

“But I always swore that someday I’d record it and play it, so here we go!” Hoot energetically said as he closed out the night by getting the crowd to dance along with him and his band who were clearly sending out positive, fun energy as smiles plastered their faces as they bopped back and forth on the stage until the final notes of the Ritchie Valens classic were played and Hoot said goodnight.

FULL SET LIST (Jake Hoot)

1) That Ain’t My Truck (Rhett Akins cover)

2) Take It Easy (Eagles cover)

3) Something We Can Slow Dance To

4) Hey Baby (Bruce Channel cover)

5) Keep Your Hands to Yourself (The Georgia Satellites cover)

6) Better Off Without You

7) This Is the Night

8) King of the Road (Roger Miller cover)

9) Goodbye Says It All (Blackhawk cover)

10) Night Left

11) Had It to Lose

12) La Bamba (Ritchie Valens cover)

 

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