Show Reviews

 

NASHVILLE'S MOST WANTED

Ft. Eddie Ray Arnold, Bailey James, Ashley Dalton, & Aubrey Page

Tuesday February 15, 2022

@ Scoreboard Bar & Grill in Nashville, TN

(Review by: Jeffrey Kurtis)

As the new year began, Cody Purvis and his weekly Nashville’s Most Wanted continued to ride the wave of momentum that the second half of 2021 gave to them, and the show even turned things up a notch by welcoming such talent as Hannah Dasher, Heath Sanders, and Trae Landon over the past six weeks.

Tuesday nights in the Music Valley area of Nashville clearly belong to Cody Purvis’ show, and this week was no different as he welcomed some of the strongest emerging talent to the stage at Scoreboard Bar & Grill: Aubrey Page, Ashley Dalton, Bailey James, and Eddie Ray Arnold. 

Young Belmont University freshman Aubrey Page opened the night with an acoustic set of cover songs that showed that her “Have A Willie Nice Day!” Willie Nelson t-shirt wasn’t just a trendy thing to wear for a show, but a great representation of her influences.

Page drove into her set with Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” and she immediately stopped people in their tracks and had them turning their attention toward the stage as the powerful quivering tilt to her voice encapsulated that of Parton’s.

Influences played a big role in her song selection as she introduced herself and who she is mostly through the music, bouncing into a classic rock vibe on the back of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” and the Eagles “Hotel California,” while twisting in an R&B/soul vibe with Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine.”

However, country music stayed at the center of it all.

Clearly influenced by the classic country sound, although she chose mostly modern covers, they came from those artists who are often linked up to a more traditional bent country style for today’s modern era – the neo-traditionalists if you will.

She added an interesting female dynamic to “Tennessee Whiskey” and set closer “Folsom Prison Blues,” played her little sister’s favorite song in honor of her 13th birthday with Lorrie Morgan’s “Except For Monday, stopped people in their tracks for a second time as she showcased her vocal range on Jamey Johnson’s “That Lonesome Song,” and dropped in songs such as “Tequila Does” and “Mama’s Broken Heart” from today’s outlaw branded female Miranda Lambert.

Aubrey Page did everything right with her first-time performance at Nashville’s Most Wanted. The 5PM time slot is a tough one as the crowd is just arriving, settling in, and ordering drinks and food, but Page immediately won them over and kept them on the edge of the seat for her entire performance. This set acted as a great introduction to who she is and what she brings to the table, and she left me intrigued to hear what original material may be coming down the road from this young talent.

FULL SET LIST

1) Jolene (Dolly Parton cover)

2) Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton styled cover)

3) Feathered Indians (Tyler Childers cover)

4) Dreams (Fleetwood Mac cover)

5) Mama’s Broken Heart (Miranda Lambert cover)

6) Ain’t No Sunshine (Bill Withers cover)

7) Hotel California (Eagles cover)

8) That Lonesome Song (Jamey Johnson cover)

9) Tequila Does (Miranda Lambert cover)

10) When I’m With You (Chris Stapleton cover)

11) Except For Monday (Lorrie Morgan cover)

12) Starting Over (Chris Stapleton cover)

13) Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash cover)


Whereas Aubrey Page before her introduced herself to the audience through cover songs and an overall scope of her influences through them, the second first timer to the Nashville’s Most Wanted stage, Ashley Dalton, while she did drop in a cover of John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery” and brought one of her frequent co-writer’s – JoyBeth Taylor – to the stage, for the most part played her original music and used her 45-minute time slot to deliver a display of songs that would make most songwriter’s jealous and reminded me why I love this songwriter driven town so much.

She instantly showcased her picture painting lyric style on the stark honesty of opening song “Trashy,” and continued pulling the audience into her songs through relatable lyrics on “Grown Up Problems,” “These Are My Best Years,” and several selections that were born from dating “losers” including “Lucky I’m Lonely” and “Front Porch,” the latter which was introduced as a song about “when someone tells you if you could have just seen it from my perspective, you wouldn’t have stayed as long as you did.”

However, as strong as everything had been throughout Dalton’s set, including JoyBeth Taylor’s performances of “Wanna Die Young When I’m Old” and “Hometown Says,” there were two moments that quieted down the crowd and had them enthralled in the lyrics so much that you could have heard a pin drop.

Both moments came near the end of her set.

“We were talking about how Loretta Lynn had a song a long time ago about birth control,” Dalton said while referencing “The Pill.” “It was a super controversial song for its time, but it got us talking about how as songwriters we have a responsibility to talk about topics that might be controversial,” she finished as she played the very strong “Pregnant on Purpose,” a song she lamented was written about a pregnancy scare.

The second moment came just two songs later when she closed her set with “Death to the Old Me.”

“Has anybody in here made new year’s resolutions?” asked Dalton. “I think there’s just something really cool about celebrating who you used to be and how far you’ve come,” she encouraged as she closed out her set to a tremendous ovation.

FULL SET LIST

1) Trashy

2) Grown Up Problems

3) Angel From Montgomery (John Prine cover)

4) Drink To Forget

5) Front Porch

6) My Best Years

7) Wanna Die Young When I’m Old (JoyBeth Taylor)

8) Hometown Says (JoyBeth Taylor)

9) Say No More

10) Pregnant on Purpose

11) Lucky I’m Lonely

12) Death to the Old Me



Flawless! Powerful! Amazing! All these words and then some are perfect descriptions of the voice of 19-year-old Bailey James and a snapshot into what has elevated her into becoming one of the best, and most unique, emerging talents that Nashville has to offer.

With a sonic blend that pulls together classic country influences and the iconic jazz popularized in the 1950s, that then smashes into an overall soulful vibe, Bailey James immediately stunned the crowd as she opened her set with “Leave Me the Right Way,” during which she clearly found the zone that most singer/songwriters yearn to discover as her own energy transcended over the crowd as she bounced on her seat in excitement.

“As you get to know me tonight, you’ll see that I am pretty good at music, but not so good at love,” she confessed. “But that does give you good songs; it’s the artist curse,” she finished with a laugh as she played an incredible cover of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” that had the traditional loving crowd singing along.

“I started doing music when I was only 11…and I’m 19 now,” James explained. “Patsy was one of the first female country vocalists that made me want to do this. I could feel everything that she was saying when she would sing, and I was like…I want to do that!”

With a slight introduction to who she is as an artist over the first two songs, James then continued to deliver a masterpiece of a set from here forward, that acted not only as an introduction to her range of influences, but a spotlight shining showcase on all the signature feels that she brings to the stage through her original material that makes her stand out amongst an overcrowded scene.

She pulled the crowd in with an outstanding mash-up of “Tennessee Whiskey” with Etta James’ “I’d Rather Go Blind,” showcases her soulful influences with Solomon Burke’s “Cry to Me” during which she joked about first hearing it in the film Dirty Dancing but paying more attention to Patrick Swayze, and placed focus on the writer who delivered the rare song that she didn’t write herself when she played “Perfectly Fine,” a song that she said had hit her just right after she had just gotten out of a 2-year relationship.

However, as with any great artist…once Bailey James had you hooked and intently listening on the edge of your seat, she delivered a one-two punch in the middle of her set with back-to-back original songs that both knocked it out of the park.

“2021 was a super exciting year for me,” she exclaimed. “This next song was my first one out to Billboard and hit #42, and it was also named Opry circle song of the year,” she announced as she played her incredible smash hit “Finally Free,’ followed up by an outstanding new song, “Drinking For Two.”

With time left for one more song after James had played the final one that was originally supposed to end her set, she talked about going through a Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love phase before she left the crowd stunned one last time by closing her 45-minute set with a spot-on cover of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” a song originally done by Lead Belly but brought to modern popularity during Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged.

FULL SET LIST

1) Leave Me the Right Way

2) Crazy (Patsy Cline cover)

3) Love Drunk

4) Tennessee Whiskey/I’d Rather Go Blind (Stapleton version/Etta James cover mash-up)

5) Finally Free

6) Drinking For Two

7) Perfectly Fine

8) Cry to Me (Solomon Burke cover)

9) Cold (Chris Stapleton cover)

10) Where Did You Sleep Last Night? (Nirvana version cover)

Having to follow three incredible female singer/songwriters who only needed acoustic guitars, a powerful voice, and great songs to quiet down an entire bar and pull the crowd into each of their sets would be no easy task, but Eddie Ray Arnold brought enough of a different feel to his full band set that he was able to hold the crowd and keep them rocking until the night came to an end with his cover of Brooks and Dunn’s “Red Dirt Road.”

As he sound checked with Travis Tritt’s “Put Some Drive in Your Country,” the crowd tapped their toes along with the jumpy rhythm as Arnold and company put on a quick display of the 90’s branded country sound we could expect from their set, which he opened with “What If I Don’t” and quickly followed with his most current single, “For A Little While.”

Arnold kept the crowd bopping along with his mostly original set that included an up-tempo new song that’s built for dancing with “Rock Your World,” the guitar lick, mid-tempo driven “85,” and his first single release after he signed his label deal, “Beautiful Day.”

Arnold truly shined, though, when he peeled back the tempo and connected stories with the audience’s hearts on songs such as “We Don’t Break” and “Carry On,” the latter which he explained before playing as one that he wrote for his friends who were experiencing a situation of “back when we were sending a lot of people overseas and some weren’t coming back.”

However, for me personally the highlight of his 45-minute set came pretty early on when he played “Old Faded Pictures,” a song that he explained was influenced by when he was cleaning out a closet and came across a big box of photos, but it also fondly reconnected me back to my childhood when I’d sit on the couch with my grandmother and flip through her old photo albums while she told me stories about all the people in the pictures. 

Though he dropped in a solid cover of Kip Moore’s “She’s Mine,” for the most part Eddie Ray Arnold refreshingly carried a modern-day throwback sound to the 90’s era of country and the crowd ate it up. He didn’t do too much talking, but rather allowed the songs to speak for themselves; and while they each had memorable melodies, just as with the 90’s era of country music it was Arnold’s storytelling that delivered the memories for the listener.

FULL SET LIST

1) What If I Don’t

2) For A Little While

3) Old Faded Pictures

4) She’s Mine (Kip Moore cover)

5) We Don’t Break

6) Carry On

7) You Were Worth the Heartbreak

8) Rock Your Wold

9) Beautiful Day

10) 85

11) Red Dirt Road (Brooks & Dunn cover)

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