HIT SONGWRITER SERIES

Ft. Brice Long & Marla Cannon-Goodman

W/ special guests Phillip Lammonds & Erin Enderlin

Wednesday February 22, 2023

@ Joelton Hardware, Feed & Farmacy in Joelton, TN

(Review by: Jeffrey Kurtis)

Outside the flashing neon lights and tourist traps of downtown Nashville, not so far away that it isn’t just a quick jaunt to get there, but miles enough apart that you escape the madness and bring it back down to the basics the moment you step into it, sits Joelton Hardware, Feed & Farmacy.

Though you’d be 100% correct in your assumption that tools and farm necessities surround you in this independent hardware store, which although established in 2017 carries an old school feel to it, the stage setup for live music sits within its own vibey atmosphere as great food, cold drinks, and an everybody knows everyone aura permeates the venue.

On the far wall hangs a cork dartboard, American Flag, and a photo of Marty Robbins, while packed tables full of enthusiastic, down-home country folk line the middle as hitmakers Brice Long and Marla Cannon-Goodman return the stage in what has become a monthly residency aptly titled, “Hit Songwriter Series.”

Done in the traditional style of a unique to Nashville songwriter round, Marla Cannon-Goodman got things going with “Ten Rounds With Jose Cuervo,” eliciting cheers through the first chorus of the Tracy Byrd smash, which had heads bobbing along as the crowd began to sing it out with her by the time the second chorus hit.

“Thank y’all for coming out and hanging with us tonight,” said Brice Long with an appreciative tip of his ballcap to the packed house. “I wrote this one with my buddy Casey James and he had it out at radio a few years back,” he told as he added a sexy vibe to the venue while several in the crowd swayed along in rhythm with the melody of “Let’s Don’t Call It A Night.”

Giving props where props are due, Long enthusiastically stated as the final notes of the song were played, “There ain’t nothin’ like turning a hardware store into a honky-tonk! I’ve played at a lot of different places, and this is one of the coolest.”

With a new song, “I Don’t Want It Anymore,” Marla slowed the pace, expertly moving the atmosphere to a true listening room as she quieted the crowd and had them pulled in closer for a more intentional listen to the heart-tugging lyric.

Staying in a softer paced range, Brice then delivered the Randall King single “Hey Cowgirl,” transporting us straight to a Texas dancehall with the sawdust floor covered, honky-tonk slow dance styled song.

“I really hate to say this in front of kids,” laughed Marla. “But my daughter was dating this kid…and I love him, but I just didn’t love him with her. Well, I was doing this round at the Bluebird one night and I called him a douche canoe, but it turned out that he was watching it over the livestream, so he heard that,” she told with a shrug as the crowd clapped and chuckled with her before she played the Rodney Atkins #1, “Cleaning This Gun.”

“This one hasn't been cut yet, but it’s in pile for one of my heroes; a guy named George out in Texas,” said Long as cheers erupted from the crowd at the humble nod to the country music icon. “Hopefully he'll get around to recording again this year,” he said with a finger’s crossed tilt in his voice as he stunned the crowd with the amazing, “Leave It Up To A Cowboy.”

“Same Devil,” the Grammy nominated song from Brandy Clark and Brandi Carlile, saw Cannon-Goodman tilting the mood into a darker tone through the spoken word style of the verse, before punching the poignant chorus that boldly tackled very heavy subject matter of drugs, bullying, and political differences.

“This next song…when I had one of my record deals, they wouldn’t let me cut it because they said it wasn’t a hit,” mused Long. “But God bless Gary Allan for proving them wrong and giving me the first number one that I ever had,” he stated amongst hoots and hollers from the crowd as he counted into “Nothin’ On But The Radio” and instantly had everyone singing along with him.

“I’ve got to bring it down for a minute,” told Marla as she allowed us into her personal life. “One of my best friends is in the house tonight. We grew up together, and one of our friends from when we were back in school passed away this week, so I’m gonna dedicate this to Andy tonight,” she somberly told as she delivered “Unfair Weather Friend,” a song recorded by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard that once again, had the crowd quiet as they digested the touching tribute.

After swapping hilarious stories of when each of them met Merle Haggard and how different the experiences were, Brice instantly earned cheers the moment that he struck into the opening lines of “Anything Goes,” the breakout hit for country star Randy Houser, which saw many in the crowd closing their eyes and opening their ears as they allowed the song to hit them in the feels.

“I wrote this with a kid named Tucker Beathard and his dad Casey. He had a bit of a tussle with the label that he was on and asked off of it, so they pulled it from radio,” said Cannon-Goodman as she shook her head, delivering the amazingly well-crafted, “Rock On,” a song that had climbed all the way into the Top 5 before it was sadly pulled.

“This song is the first time in my career that I had one of mine get released twice,” told Long as he played “All-American Comeback Kid,” a song he wrote with Terry McBryde and Craig Campbell that ended up on Garth Brooks’ Man Against the Machine album, before Campbell had now just re-released his version of it this past week on his new album, The Lost Files: Exhibit A.

Brice Long then welcomed very special guests to the stage for the second part of the night, hit songwriter Phillip Lammonds and the incredible songwriter/artist Erin Enderlin.

“There’s this fella in my hometown that used to give me all these song ideas…he ran a tire shop!” exclaimed Lammonds as he fine-tuned his guitar. “One day he told me that he had this really good idea…fried bologna mustard only! And I thought that really is a good idea and so we stuck that in this song,” he said with a smile as he opened with “Simple Man, Simple Life,” speaking straight to the heart of the country folk and immediately connecting with them.

“In my hometown when I was growing up, there was only one of everything and this place reminds me of going to the hardware store with my grandpa,” shared Enderlin as she paused. “That really has absolutely nothing to do with his song I’m gonna play, but this place made me think of that,” she finished as she dripped her traditional country flare into, “Whatever Gets You Through The Night.” 

“I’ve got a friend out there tonight who is one hell of a songwriter…Tiffany Goss! And we was writing one day…Hannah Dasher was there with us…and we started talking about things and got this song out of it,” Lammonds said as he brought a Woodstock type of aura through “Love Is Love,” displaying the idea of coming together through our differences as a calming peace radiated the venue.

“I’ll go ahead and play the song that brought me to the dance,” said Enderlin. “This one was named the 39^th all-time saddest song ever by Rolling Stone, but I was lucky enough to have Alan Jackson and Patty Loveless record it,” she finished as you could hear a pin drop during “Monday Morning Church” before the crowd would erupt when the final notes were strummed.

With the tender hearted “The Best Part of Me,” a song best known as the one the Lee Brice dedicated to his daughter, Lammonds shifted the mood of the venue as Enderlin then slid in with “You Don’t Know Jack.”

Like Erin did a few songs prior with “Monday Morning Church,” Phillip turned the hardware store into a heartfelt prayer meeting full of concerns that asked God the toughest questions about war, drugs, and racism, before landing on the hook that softened the otherwise heavy song, “Why Don’t Dogs Get To Live That Long?”

Keeping in the sad realm, Enderlin delivered the Bradley Walker cut “His Memory Walks On Water,” while Lammonds then captured the crowd with an incredible new song, “Ain’t Thinkin’ About You,” which no doubt will be landing on a record sooner rather than later.

With another song that helped solidify Erin Enderlin as one of the country music genres most renowned songwriters, she closed her part of the night with “Last Call,” the 2008 Lee Ann Womack single that landed inside the Top 20.

“My son was just 7 or 8 years old, and we were working on Halloween,” shared Lammonds. “He was always a cowboy, but he came to me and said, “dad, we have all the boots and hats, but what I really want this year is those sheepskin chaps like you see in the movies. Well, we was at Wal-Mart a few days later and I lost him for a minute, but then he came back around the other side of the aisle holding this fuzzy toilet seat cover and when it was cut it half…it made for the best chaps he ever had!” Lammonds told as the crowd laughed with him before he’d play “Cowboy Things,” a song inspired by his son that just got recorded by Kylie Frey, which ended in a very touching, teary-eyed moment as Lammonds got choked up during the final chorus and finished the song as strongly as he could while wiping a tear from his eye.

With Long and Cannon-Goodman now back on stage, they closed the night with two of their biggest hits.

Where Marla piggy-backed off Enderlin before her by quieting the crowd one last time as she delivered Lee Ann Womack’s “The Fool,” Long had the entire place clapping along with him as they bounced in timing with the melody and sang along with the Jon Pardi smash, “Heartache on the Dancefloor.” 

Songwriters are the ones behind the hits that you know, love, and can’t stop singing along with every time they come on the radio. Their creativity is the lifeblood that makes Nashville truly live up to its branding of “Music City.”

While hitmakers Brice Long and Marla Cannon-Goodman were more than enough for the billing to be quite attractive, the inclusion of Phillip Lammonds and Erin Enderlin presented the crowd with one of those moments that is often referred to as, “Only in Nashville!” 

The foursome combined their talents within one of the most laid-back spots that I’ve ever seen live music played in, while very humbly putting on a bold showcase of the amazing talent that runs richly through the songwriting community.

You can catch Brice Long and Marla Cannon-Goodman’s next residency date at Joelton Hardware, Feed & Farmacy on Wednesday March 29, 2023.

FULL SET LIST

1) Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo (Marla Cannon-Goodman)

2) Let’s Don’t Call It a Night (Brice Long)

3) I Don’t Want It Anymore (Marla Cannon-Goodman)

4) Hey Cowgirl (Brice Long)

5) Cleaning This Gun (Marla Cannon-Goodman)

6) Leave It Up To A Cowboy (Brice Long)

7) Same Devil (Marla Cannon-Goodman)

8) Nothin’ On But The Radio (Brice Long)

9) Unfair Weather Friend (Marla Cannon-Goodman)

10) Anything Goes (Brice Long)

11) Rock On (Marla Cannon-Goodman)

12) All-American Comeback Kid (Brice Long)

13) Simple Man, Simple Life (Phillip Lammonds)

14) Whatever Gets You Through The Night (Erin Enderlin)

15) Love Is Love (Phillip Lammonds)

16) Monday Morning Church (Erin Enderlin)

17) The Best Part of Me (Phillip Lammonds)

18) You Don’t Know Jack (Erin Enderlin)

19) Why Don’t Dogs Get To Live That Long? (Phillip Lammonds)

20)  His Memory Walks On Water (Erin Enderlin)

21) Ain’t Thinkin’ About You (Phillip Lammonds)

22) Last Call (Erin Enderlin)

23) Cowboy Things (Phillip Lammonds)

24) The Fool (Marla Cannon-Goodman)

25) Heartache on the Dancefloor (Brice Long)

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