'STORY TO TELL TOUR'

Ft. DAVID NAIL, EMILY ANN ROBERTS, & KARISSA ELLA

Thursday November 3, 2022

@ Skydeck in Nashville, TN

(Review by: Jeffrey Kurtis)

An hour before the doors to the venue officially opened, fans started lining up clad in their “I’m About to Come Alive” t-shirts, taking selfies with the poster for the show that adorned the wall, and talking among their circles about the last time they saw David Nail and what their favorite songs are that they hoped he’d play tonight on the Nashville stop of “Story To Tell Tour.”

There was an excitement brewing full of eager anticipation that bubbled over onto the incredible Skydeck atop the Fifth + Broadway complex as the crowd of fans flooded into the venue, taking pictures of the stage as it lit up its backdrop screen with the letters “DN.”

With an abbreviated trio of only an acoustic guitarist and fiddle player backing her, opening act Karissa Ella placed her incredible vocal in the spotlight for her half hour performance, grabbing the hyped crowd and further readying them for the great night of music that began with her.

As the swampy guitar lick gave way to the cry of the fiddle, Ella opened her set with “Gunpowder & Lead,” taking the familiar Miranda Lambert hit and uniquely injecting it with twists and turns that she spliced into its much softer edged melody that not only made the song her own, but clearly captured the crowd’s attention as they let out a great ovation when its final notes were played.

“This next song is all about those special items and traditions you have with your family members,” told Karissa. “Every line of this song is true and all of these things are a part of who I am,” she finished with a smile as she played “Vintage,” nostalgically going back to her growing up years as she wove the crowd through her family photo album of Polaroids, allowing us to explore her small town, simple life upbringing as she painted vivid pictures with her lyrics that allowed everyone to see each line as she sung them.

“Do we have any whiskey drinkers in the house tonight?” asked Ella as hoots and hollers emerged from the crowd. “I felt that I wasn’t a true country singer if I didn’t have a song about whiskey, and what goes better with whiskey then heartbreak?” she rhetorically asked as she slowed the pace with “Whiskey Whispers Your Name,” a lonely barstool type of song that soaked its vibe with a 70’s branded country influence as she tugged on heartstrings, wrapping an emotional punch into crisp harmonies that elevated the impact.

Allowing her soulful side to show, Karissa dripped a country flavored R&B style into the popular Aretha Franklin smash, “Chain of Fools,” instantly getting the crowd to sway their hips side to side in rhythm with the instrumentation as several in the audience raised a glass and sang along with the familiarity of the chorus.

“I just released this song last month, and I wrote it about not feeling good enough or worthy enough,” she said as she encouraged, “If you’ve ever felt that way, please use this song to remind you of just how special you are,” belting out the incredibly impactful “Beautiful Is You,” reminding everyone in the crowd to embrace the amazing person that they are right here, right now, while knowing with confidence that your unique set of qualities is what makes you, you.

“This one’s all about my hometown. I wish sometimes I didn’t have this crazy dream, so that I could always be around all my friends and family because they’re all great people…but every time I do get a chance to go home, the first place I go visit is my “Hometown Bar,”” she finished with a smile as she played the recent single that saw its music video debut with CMT and get featured in People Magazine, before driving straight into “Bad Summer.”

Just as how she opened her set, Karissa Ella closed out by tapping back into her mid-2000 era country influences, getting the crowd moving and grooving one last time as they sang along with her on a rousing cover of Gretchen Wilson’s “Redneck Woman.”

FULL SET LIST

1) Gunpowder & Lead (Miranda Lambert cover)

2) Vintage

3) Whiskey Whispers Your Name

4) Chain of Fools (Aretha Franklin cover)

5) Beautiful Is You

6) Hometown Bar

7) Bad Summer

8) Redneck Woman (Gretchen Wilson cover)

“We’re gonna play y’all some country music tonight…how does that sound?” Emily Ann Roberts asked enthusiastically with her country charmed accent as she was met with screams from the crowd as she kicked into gear with “Change My Tune,” a toe-tapping, autobiographical song that wrapped around an insatiable rhythm as she introduced us to her old-school soaked brand of modern kissed country, leading the crowd in a clap along to immediately pull out the first of many audience participation moments that would happen over the next half hour.

“I’m just so excited to be here tonight!” exclaimed Emily with a smile. “This next song is one that I got to sing on a teeny tiny little show called The Voice, and it was one that Blake specifically picked out for me to sing,” she shared as she immediately had the entire Skydeck singing along with her when she leaned her down-home swagger into Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.”

“Well….I thought it might be fun to try out a sassy one on y’all tonight! Cause I know that I got some sassy women up here,” she said, pausing as the women in the crowd screamed while she stayed in the realm of her Dolly influence on “Set Her Off,” spitting us through the lyrics of the ultimate kiss off song as she swerved slightly into her bluegrass flared influence while animatedly bouncing around the stage and encouraging the second clap along of the night between her and the crowd.

“I’m sure that you’ve learned already that I like to talk, and that I’m from the South! You can’t hide my country,” she said with a wink. “So, I decided that it would be fun to take all my favorite female country songs and put them together into this little masterpiece…or monster? You can decide on that,” she laughed as she took the crowd through the history pages of country music’s strongest females, from the early innovators to today’s top stars by mashing “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man),” “Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That,” “Fancy,” “This One’s For The Girls,” “Goodbye Earl,” “Any Man of Mine,” “Before He Cheats,” and “Gunpowder & Lead.”

“I’m gonna try another new one out ya, and this one is just pure country,” told Emily Ann. “Now I’m gonna share a little personal info with ya. I’m still basically a newlywed and my husband is precious and I love him to pieces… so now y’all do what you want with that information and enjoy this one,” she stated with a smile as she delivered “Chickens,” staying put in that sweet spot of the line dance tempo precedent that she set during the cover mashup, lighting up every corner of the Skydeck as the crowd tapped boot heels and popped their hips alongside the catchy, fast-paced melody and cleverly written, sexy toned lyrics.

“Whew!!!!” Roberts breathed as she continued introducing herself to the audience. “I was raised over in East Tennessee, and I was raised on a music called bluegrass,” she told as she drove into the standard version of “Shady Grove,” transforming the Skydeck into a heyday version of the famed Grand Ole Opry as the Ryman Auditorium loomed large in the foreground while rich harmonies soared, clap-along’s within the crowd littered the air, and if you closed your eyes you could imagine the Opry Square Dancers clickin’ and clangin’ with smiles on their faces.

“This is the first one that I ever got to release, and it’s still one of my favorites to sing,” Roberts said as the opening notes of “Stuck on Me + You” began to play, taking us back to 2018 and swerving into more modern soaked vibes that perfectly fit alongside today’s country radio, while skillfully never allowing its style to get so far across the line that she lost sight of who she is and where she comes from musically.  

“The most special place in my life is my home church, and as much as home raised me, that little hometown church did too,” Roberts told, slowing the pace to open her diary on her current single “The Building” as just her voice accompanied by the keyboard allowed her to strike remarkably powerful notes, displaying her outstanding range while taking us through a faith-filled lyric about the very place where Jesus came into her life and changed it.

“Well, this sure has been a lot of fun, and we still got one more to play for y’all,” said Roberts as she was met with cheers. “It’s a real barn burner, and we have a lot of fun playing it and want y’all to be clapping along and hollering with us,” she encouraged as she closed her set with the fiery tempoed “Whole Lotta Little.”

FULL SET LIST

1) Change My Tune

2) 9 to 5 (Dolly Parton cover)

3) Set Her Off

4) Country cover mashup

5) Chickens

6) Shady Grove (standard bluegrass version cover)

7) Stuck on Me + You

8) The Building

9) Whole Lotta Little

Two great support acts lifting the enthusiasm of the crowd smashed into the excitement that had been brewing within the crowd all night long for David Nail, boiling over as he took the stage with his band to a thunderous ovation and immediately allowed his rich vocal to captivate the crowd as he opened with “That’s How I’ll Remember You,” transporting us back to his uber popular album, The Sound of A Million Dreams.

Continuing to allow his vocals to shine and connect with the crowd who showered him with applause, Nail tugged the audience through “Heavy,” and then pushed right into his breakthrough hit “Red Light,” adding a freshness to the popular song as it pulled as much flavor from 80’s adult contemporary stylings as it did the version that we all know and love, eliciting a sing along moment with the crowd during its chorus as David relished in the voices singing back to him.

Keeping everyone swaying along, Nail continued to put on a full display of his entire catalog when he tapped into his 2014 album, I’m A Fire, with “Counting Cars,” walking firmly in the groove laden style that he had been standing in since hitting the stage as his vocals wrapped crisply around the insatiable melody.

“Thank y’all for coming out tonight…There’s a lot of places you could be, and I can’t thank you enough for hanging out with us,” gratefully shared Nail as he paused to talk with the crowd for the first time of the night. “I’ve been a nervous wreck all day,” he confessed. “It’s been a while since I played downtown in Nashville.”

“I get this question all the time; What have you been doing?” he shared. “I’ve been putting out music for the last four or five years; different types of stuff, but this is one that I put out about a month and a half ago,” he introduced while the mood of the organ set the overall vibe as he delved into his soulfully kissed R&B side on “Wherever You Are Tonight” as the entire crowd sang along with the chorus providing good indication that they song has clearly already hit its intended mark and is resonating with his exuberant fan base.

Perfectly placing his strongest hits between personal favorites of his and his fans, “Night’s on Fire” immediately had the crowd swaying in time with the rhythm as David moved across the stage left to right, encouraging the crowd to sing along with the smash hit which they aptly did.

Continuing to capture the crowd and keep them fully invested through his biggest hits, “Kiss You Tonight” followed as the piano laced intro smashed into the familiar melody, earning Nail another sing along moment with the crowd when he punched into the chorus.

“My favorite thing in the world is playing a show and then getting on Twitter or Instagram and getting messages about all the songs someone thought I should’ve played, and how upset they are that I didn’t,” admitted Nail. “When I was younger, stuff like that would really upset me. Now that I’m older, I realize what and incredible compliment that really is that one of the songs I did spoke to them so much. These next few songs are some that we haven’t played in a long time, but sing along if you know them,” he motivated as he praised the Music City crowd, “and we’re in Nashville so I know y’all are gonna sound good,” he smiled, as he mashed together fan favorites, “Songs for Sale,” “Brand New Day,” and “Strangers on a Train.”

After praising the influence that Scooter Caruso has had on his career and how much he taught him about songwriting, Nail then delivered an incredible version of “The Sound of a Million Dreams,” which had the entire crowd singing along with a song he told didn’t do as well at radio as he thought it was supposed to do, but one that his wife rightfully told him, “If you ever have a microphone in front of you and you don’t play this song, then you’re cheating people!”

Bringing us back to his debut album, I’m About To Come Alive, for the third time of the night, the moody organ reverberated the stage to set the tone as the drums pounded into “Again,” before David paused to open his notepad to the crowd as he introduced us to more pieces of his life.

Talking about playing college baseball being the catalyst that brought him to Nashville, he also confessed that what he really wanted to do was play country music, before sharing about how his friend would drive him into town for his day job shift at the boot store back in the early days, and how after he’d finished his shift, he would walk over to the Fiddle & Steel Guitar Bar and sit in with the band whenever they’d let him.

“My dad asked me if I was ever going to be a country singer, and I told him that I didn’t know if I sounded country enough,” told Nail. “He said to me, “Son, country is what you are and not what you sound like!” And I’ve always just played music that comes straight from my heart. That’s what I want for y’all from my show tonight. I want you to leave here when we’re done and look at that person next to you and tell them, I don’t give a s**t what kind of music that was, it was good!” he exclaimed as the crowd met him with cheers as he tilted the guitars into a 70’s rock kissed vibe that drove into a souped up country version of “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?,” exchanging the Hank in the song’s hook for its original singer, Waylon, fusing together a wide range of style and sound into one blast to offer a full spectrum view into who David Nail is as an artist and performer.

“Silverado,” followed by another of his biggest hits “Let It Rain” kept the crowd singing along with him, as the muddy, boot stomping groove of “Grandpa’s Farm had everyone bopping along to round out the initial set.

After only a very brief absence from the stage, piano player Reed Pittman returned solo to serenade the audience with “Milk-N-Honey,” before David and the rest of the band came back out to a big ovation.

“When I first heard the demo of this song, my wife and I were living in this really tiny house in Franklin, TN. We didn’t even have a pot to piss in! I remember downloading the song and getting in the shower to listen to it, and halfway through that shower, I looked out from behind the curtain and saw my wife dancing – That’s the first time my wife ever danced to one of my songs and it made me think right then that I gotta stop singing such sad shit and need to happy it up,” he finished as he lit the entire venue up as not one person in the audience was sitting still, and everyone was screaming back the lyrics to “Whatever She’s Got,” the song that David said is the one that changed his whole life.

“I love where I grew up,” David said. “I started writing songs about my hometown twenty plus years ago, and it would always piss me off how everyone always wanted to leave my hometown, because the one thing that I’ve learned over my lifetime is that I can’t wait to get back to it,” Nail stated with an exclamation point as he closed the night with “Home,” his heartfelt ode to Kennett, MO.

David Nail is an artist that has seen every side of the mainstream music industry, rising through the ranks to achieve massive amounts of success, while also finding a balance to explore with different sounds and styles as he reinvented himself.

On this night, Nail put on an absolute clinic in writing a set list like only a veteran artist and performer can. The superb layout saw him picking all the perfect spots to splice in his biggest hits, while keeping the crowd fully invested within an entire scope of who he is as an artist by diving back to his earliest material to deliver album cuts that are the fan favorites, and by bringing everyone right up into the here and now with a splash of his latest material.

His know how on stage to connect with the audience combined with his incredible voice which found perfect placement in each one of his songs to deliver the power of the lyrics, but more than that…his personality is so transparently real that by the end of the night you simply felt like you just finished hanging out and catching up with an old friend!

FULL SET LIST

1) That’s How I’ll Remember You

2) Heavy

3) Red Light

4) Counting Cars

5) Wherever You Are Tonight

6) Night’s on Fire

7) Kiss You Tonight

8) Songs for Sale/Brand New Day/Strangers on a Train

9) The Sound of a Million Dreams

10) Again

11) Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way (Waylon Jennings cover)

12) Silverado

13) Let It Rain

14) Grandpa’s Farm

15) Milk-N-Honey (Reed Pittman)

16) Whatever She’s Got

17) Home

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