Show Reviews

 

NATALIE BRADY & THE NITE OWLS

Monday August 9, 2021

@ Scoreboard Bar & Grill in Nashville, TN

(Review by: Jeffrey Kurtis)

www.nataliebradymusic.com

The thing that makes Nashville earn its moniker of “Music City” more than anything else, is that you’ll always find great live music in nearly every corner that you look. Because of this, there is quite the variety of music being played and the bar is raised very high for every artist, songwriter, and venue to deliver a power pack punch that uniquely stands out. 

Living here, I personally like to get away from underneath the neon lights of Broadway, so I spent most of my time in the shadow of the Grand Ole Opry House in the Music Valley area of town – just a 10-minute drive from downtown, but a million miles away.

One of my favorite places to visit in that area is the Scoreboard Bar & Grill. The notorious Green Bay Packers bar has featured many great acts and a wide range of styles on their stage from traditional country to 80s cover band The Spazmatics, gritty Southern rock, soulful blues, and more!

I caught the tail end of a set from Natalie Brady & The Nite Owls the last time I was at Scoreboard on a Monday night, and I was blown away so much in those 15 minutes that I had to make it a point to go back and see a full set.

Known for her incredible rocking version of Heart’s “Barracuda” during the blind auditions on Season 15 of The Voice – a performance that had Adam Levine turn around his chair in 5 seconds – Natalie Brady’s influences of Joplin, Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Raitt, and Ann Wilson shine through in her roots branded rock music, and she leaves it all on the floor with every performance as she proved on this night by introducing us to her wide range of influences during the two and a half hour cover set.

Clad in all black from head to toe and dripping with gritty soul, the Tulsa, Oklahoma native sat between her acoustic guitar players Danny Faillo and Mike Spurgat and quieted the chatter in the room as she effortlessly belted out a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” to open the set.

Throughout the performance, Brady allowed her voice to impressively do the talking, whether it was on modern country songs such as “American Honey,” and “Bluebird,” or when tackling powerful females of the Lilith Fair era such as with Natalie Merchant’s “Carnival” or Sheryl Crow’s “Strong Enough,” a song in which she admitted they took a chance in playing since they never had done it before.

A marathon set like this, however, also allowed Brady to step back from the center stage spotlight on several occasions to let her Nite Owl bandmates shine. Faillo and Spurgat, both who have amazing voices of their own, brought two decisively different styles to the stage; Faillo hitting a stride with his takes on late 90’s era rock such as the Black Crowes “She Talks To Angels,” Goo Goo Dolls “Slide” and “Matchbox 20’s “3AM,” while Spurgat stayed more in the classic rock realm with the Marshall Tucker Band’s “Fire On The Mountain,” Little Feat’s “Willin’,” and the Allman Brothers Band’s “Melissa.”

The set rolled to its close with an incredible three- part harmony on “Listen To The Music,” a song which Brady announced as “my favorite happy song and hopefully it gets your week going.”

As with any set like this, there are specific things that make the artist stand out and leave their mark. In the case of Natalie Brady & The Nite Owls there were several:

1) The wide range of covers they played, mostly obscure when compared to the other cover sets around town, allowed the audience to hear songs that they can’t just go and hear being done by any given band at any given bar. You had to see Natalie Brady & The Nite Owls making them a must-see attraction.

2) Brady has a bluesy soulful tone naturally built into her voice which helps to add a unique flare to songs - especially those that are originally performed by male acts. This aspect of her vocals helps make these songs fresh and have a feel all their own: Chris Stapleton’s “Broken Halos,” Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright,” The Allman Brothers Band’s “Soulshine,” “Hurricane” by the Band of Heathens, and “Stupid Boy” from Keith Urban.

3) They completely satisfied the crowd’s requests to give them an unforgettable night of moments and memories to carry home with them; whether it was a request for “Pancho and Lefty,” the band getting a couple up and twirling on the dancefloor with a request for Miranda Lambert’s “White Liar,” or knocking it out of the park on a cover of Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight” in honor of a couple who was there to celebrate their 25th anniversary.

4) Although this was a two-and-a-half-hour set, by excluding her incredible original songs from it, Natalie Brady & The Nite Owls managed to leave you clamoring for more. A very effective way to use covers to pull you into their undeniable chemistry and show what you they’ve got, but then have you racing home to find out when they are playing again so you can hear more!

FULL SET LIST

1. Dreams (Fleetwood Mac cover)

2. Bluebird (Miranda Lambert cover)

3. Wildflowers (Tom Petty cover)

4. 3AM (Matchbox Twenty cover)

5. Carnival (Natalie Merchant cover)

6. Even If It Breaks Your Heart (Will Hoge/Eli Young Band cover)

7. You Don’t Know How It Feels (Tom Petty cover)

8. Broken Halos (Chris Stapleton cover)

9. Fire On The Mountain (Marshall Tucker Band cover)

10. Atlantic City (Bruce Springsteen cover)

11. American Honey (Lady A cover)

12. Willin’ (Little Feat cover)

13. Don’t Do Me Like That (Tom Petty cover)

14. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (Bob Dylan cover)

15. Melissa (The Allman Brothers Band cover)

16. She Talks To Angels (Black Crowes cover)

17. Wonderful Tonight (Eric Clapton cover)

18. Soulshine (The Allman Brothers Band cover)

19. Slide (Goo Goo Dolls cover)

20. Pancho and Lefty (Willie Nelson cover)

21. I Won’t Back Down (Tom Petty cover)

22. Stupid Boy (Keith Urban cover)

23. Starting Over (Chris Stapleton cover)

24. How It’s Done (Maren Morris cover)

25. White Liar (Miranda Lambert cover)

26. Jolene (Dolly Parton cover)

27. You Should Probably Leave (Chris Stapleton cover)

28. Strong Enough (Sheryl Crow cover)

29. My Favorite Mistake (Sheryl Crow cover)

30. Hurricane (Band of Heathens cover)

31. Listen To The Music (The Doobie Brothers cover)

 

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