ALICE NELSON

W/ DUSTIN FORD & ALEX TINKER

Monday February 7, 2022

@ The Commodore Grille in Nashville, TN

(Review by: Jeffrey Kurtis)

Whenever Alabama native Alice Nelson makes a trip up to Nashville there is purpose wrapped within every single day and not a moment of her time is wasted. For example, the last trip she made to Music City was to officially mark the release of her hot rising single “Girlfriend,” which included several Music Row appearances, live performances, and a turn on the famous Nashville Sign to announce her new release.

This most current trip saw Nelson, who’s performance schedule back in her home state of Alabama is filling up with high-profile gigs, leap from being just a part of a writer’s round at the famed songwriter haven The Commodore Grille, to hosting her own round for the first time.

“Welcome to the Commodore Grill,” Nelson said officially welcoming the crowd to the venue during the opening round. “I’m so happy to have two great friends here with me; Dustin Ford and Alex Tinker,” she exclaimed with an amount of pride as she introduced her songwriting cohorts to the crowd.

With Dustin Ford sitting to Nelson’s right, he found himself in the hot seat which meant he’d be leading off each of the 3 rounds.

Choosing his songs then, in a sense, meant setting the overall tone for each round, whether he was tugging on heartstrings by perfectly painting pictures of the feelings that come with unrequited love on “Loving By Myself,” showcasing a more folksy side on “Travelling On,” or closing his set with “Friends,” a tune he co-wrote with Alice Nelson and her frequent collaborator Carmen Melton Bennet.

On the flipside, Alex Tinker sat to Nelson’s left, which meant he not only closed each of the 3 rounds, but that he also was tasked with following Nelson in each round; a task that wouldn’t be easy for just anyone, but on that saw Tinker able to uphold the momentum set before him and continuously deliver songs that captured our attention.

With Nelson sitting in on backups, Tinker instantly had the crowd bopping along with the fun melody and irresistible hook of “You and I Make Two,” broke hearts with the gut punch of “Lay Me In Lavender,” and made everyone in the audience have to go to church the next morning with the barnburner that wrapped up the entire round, “7 Deadly Sins.”

Alice Nelson’s career is currently blossoming in big ways on the back of her current single, “Girlfriend,” and the spotlight clearly shone on her as she sat center stage, although she gratefully praised her fellow songwriters at every turn, humbly moving the spotlight off of her and over to them.

“Recently, I went through a really bad heartbreak,” Nelson confessed. “And I decided that I could either cry about it - and nobody has time for that - or I could choose how my heart breaks,” Nelson introduced as she opened her portion of the first round with the ultra-vibey “Heart Breaks,” a song clearly built for today’s mainstream country radio.

As with many writer’s rounds in Music City, they often provided a chance for the artist/writer to showcase some of their newest material and try it out on a live crowd to gauge their reactions. Nelson, no differently, did just that during the second round with the softer paced “Never,” a song which she had said to have just written two weeks prior to the show.

As her turn during the third round came about, the anticipation bubbled on stage and a buzz swept across the audience as they knew which song she would be closing with before she even began to play it.

“This one is out everywhere,” began Nelson with a big smile on her face. “I wrote this one with Carmen Melton Bennett back in Alabama, so shout-out to her,” she finished as she played the acoustic version of her current radio single “Girlfriend,” during which she had the crowd, as well as her fellow writer’s onstage, singing the lyrics along with her – great indications that let her know the song has been resonating since its release.

I’ve been to several rounds over the decade+ of living in Nashville, and as such have seen many young talents. However, it is rare that you that you find someone that carries an all-around “IT” factor with them during these rounds.

You will see some great songwriters.

You will hear some really great songs.

However, the “IT” factor only arrives when you take both those already mentioned factors and smash them together with an engaging personality and an undeniable flare that only an artist will carry with them. Alice Nelson is the perfect combination of all those factors which makes her a triple threat to the country music industry – she’s a songwriter, she’s an artist, and she can sing!

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