NASHVILLE'S MOST WANTED
Ft. Audra McLaughlin, Hasting & Co., & Eldon Huff
Tuesday November 9, 2021
@ Scoreboard Bar & Grill in Nashville, TN
(Review by: Jeffrey Kurtis)
I love everything that Cody Purvis is doing week in and week out with his Nashville’s Most Wanted shows. By him bringing together major acts with the best emerging talent that Nashville has to offer, his show gives the audience the chance to hear their favorite artists and songwriters, while also allowing them the room to discover new talent they can latch onto and become a fan of.
One of the things that I love the most about being blessed to be able to write about country music is when I get to go to a show for a specific act on the bill, and then one of those acts who plays before them absolutely blows me away.
“Eldon Huff is killing it up there,” Cody Purvis told me when I first walked into Scoreboard Bar & Grill for his Nashville’s Most Wanted show this week – and he was absolutely right!
As I made my way over to my table, the Kentucky native (who now calls Nashville home) surrounded me with shredding guitars that kissed a southern rock edge and pulled straight into his country tilted vibe that balanced against a Red Dirt sound filled with a lot of soul.
Songs like “Muscle Shoals and Macon,” from his 2015 Tough Times and the Truth album, introduced a gritty, swampy sound to his set while clearly being steeped rich with an injection of blues influences, while his songwriting prowess shined on the slower paced “She’s Been Singin’ Free Bird,” and he brought a boogie-woogie, rhythm and blues feel to “One Quarter at a Time,” both from his latest album Drifter.
Confession time: When you see and hear as much music as we do, it’s often difficult for a band/artist that we didn’t specifically come out to see to really grab our attention, but as I tapped my toes, bobbed my head, and sat wowed on the edge of my seat listening so intently that nothing could distract me (not even the waitress bringing me my drink), it was clear that Eldon Huff had absolutely grabbed my attention on this night and earned a new fan.
I first caught Hasting & Co. (Josh Beale and Kate Hasting) during a Nashville’s Most Wanted show in July with headliner Craig Campbell, and I’ve been following them ever since. There’s just something so catchy about their music that it keeps you humming the melody for days on end after you first hear it – see their most current single “Dip” for a great example!
Opening with their ultra-catchy song about day drinking, “Brunch Drunk,” the duo instantly pulled the crowd into their set and had them immediately shoulder dancing along with them and grooving to the insanely catchy melody.
“We’ve been writing in Nashville for a few years now,” began Beale. “And finally, over the whole COVID thing, we were able to catch a bit of a break. Our friend Priscilla Block signed a record deal with Universal Music, and she’s put out some of the songs that we wrote together. This is one of those and it ended up featured on The Highway,” he finished as he took over the leads on “Wish You Were the Whiskey.”
With each member of the duo having now shown their individual dynamic with a turn at lead vocals, they then switched over to showing off how perfectly their voices compliment one another as they slid into a true duo fashion, swapping vocals back and forth on the first of two classic country covers they’d play during their set with Johnny and June’s “Jackson.”
“We haven’t really played this one out except for one other time in Muscle Shoals at a songwriter fest, and we were put in a round that we so didn’t belong in,” confessed Kate.
“Yeah, we were out there playing “Brunch Drunk” and the guy next to us plays “Run,” the George Strait song he wrote. We didn’t have a hit to play like that,” responded Josh, quickly injecting another layer as to what makes Hasting & Co. so intriguing – their on-stage chemistry and back and forth.
“But earlier that same day, we found out that this next song we wrote on was the newest Highway find and we didn’t expect that at all,” revealed Kate. “We had no idea this was going to be released by Priscilla (Block),” she finished as they played Block’s newest release, “Peaked in High School,” a song which Josh mentioned being for all of those who were bullied in high school.
Continuing with their witty back and forth, Hasting said of “One,” “it’s about being on the Tinder dating app,” but then quickly stated, “I was on it for a while, but I’m on Hinge now!” enticing Beale to then chime in with a touch of sarcastic bent humor when he said, “And aren’t you on Farmers Only now too; judging by your shirt tonight!” referring to her cow print top.
Staying with fashion, they followed with “Canadian Tuxedo,” which Kate explained was when you wear denim on denim, and they then delivered their second of two classic country covers with Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn’s “You’re The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly,” a song which they said is the best way they can think of to sum up the answer to the question they so often get, “are you dating?” (For those inquiring minds, they are not.)
“I have no idea who asked us this, but they asked us to describe what Hasting & Co. sounds like,” began Kate. “And our friend said, aggressively American. The songwriters in us thought, Oh! There is a song in that!” she finished as they played said song, “Aggressively American.”
The incredible on stage back and forth between Hasting and Beale continued, with Hasting now getting her turn at sarcastic humor.
“It’s getting to be colder outside, and to that time of year when I start to think a lot about beaches,” began Beale, prompting Hasting to chime in with, “He loves his beaches!” bringing the crowd to a roaring laughter with her play on words remark.
With a smile plastered on his face, Beale continued. “So in this beach fantasy, you have to picture whatever drink you’re holding right now as a margarita, that you’re out somewhere on the beach, and someone sexy is laying next to you on that beach,” he paused, before injecting the story with his own dose of humor as he told the crowd, “And you can picture me laying there with you if you want to,” as they played “SPFU,” a song Hasting swore before playing was only about sun tan lotion and nothing more!
They rounded out their 45-minute, 11-song set with “My Dog Was Right About You,” and set closer “Dip,” which Hasting said of, “We had a single come out, and the craziest thing…we were playing at a songwriter festival and totally forgot to play it, but not tonight! Y’all get to hear it!”
FULL SET LIST (Hasting & Co.)
1) Brunch Drunk
2) Wish You Were the Whiskey
3) Jackson (Johnny and June Carter Cash cover)
4) Peaked in High School
5) One
6) Canadian Tuxedo
7) You’re The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly (Conway Twitty/Loretta Lynn cover)
8) Aggressively American
9) SPFU
10) My Dog Was Right About You
11) Dip
The hit television program The Voice has produced many ultra-talented vocalists, and not just those who’ve they’ve crowned as the winner of their respective season. One such vocalist headlined this week’s edition of Nashville’s Most Wanted, Audra McLaughlin.
McLaughlin, who many will recognize from Season 6 in 2014, has since made a name on the songwriter circuit in Music City, developing her sound and consistently delivering a power punch with her vocals at each songwriter round (or show) that she’s part of – including this one!
With a country fusion of soul and a singer/songwriter vibe, McLaughlin instantly captured the crowd’s attention as her powerful voice reverberated throughout Scoreboard Bar & Grill as she opened her set with “Boomerang,” a song which she introduced as being on the of the first that she wrote and recorded when she arrived in Nashville.
She balanced her set between her newest, yet to be released material, and the songs that Nashville music lovers have come to know and love from her back catalog, splicing in just enough of the stories behind the songs to draw you into the personal side of the incredibly heart-tugging songs and lyrics.
Whether it was a story about wanting to write something more positive while dealing with the COVID lockdown before she played “Friend Like This,” or talking about relationship struggles and heartbreaks that come with having to move on even after you tried everything to repair what was broken before she’d play “Headed For the Fall” and “Drinking With Lonely,” McLaughlin stayed completely transparent about her life which added to the raw honesty of each song.
Mentioning that she loved to try out her new songs on crowds, plenty of new ones made their way into her 10-song set and vividly showcased where she is as an artist and songwriter today, but also which direction her music is heading in the very near future: “Wake Me Up,” “Beautiful Pain,” “Take My Time,” and the aforementioned “Friend Like This” and “Headed For The Fall.”
But at the core of each song, the brand-new ones or the favorites from her catalog, McLaughlin’s powerful voice took center stage as she used specific moments during her set to display an incredible vocal range that would make Mariah Carey jealous, while also showing her ability to craft a lyric that hits all the proper emotions while tugging on the heartstrings of the listener, giving her a connectibilty factor that wins over new fans one note at a time!
FULL SET LIST (Audra McLaughlin)
1) Boomerang
2) Wake Me Up
3) Friend Like This
4) Leaving The Light On
5) Headed For the Fall
6) Drinking With Lonely
7) Stranger In My Bed
8) We Ain’t Missing Nothing
9) Beautiful Pain
10) Take My Time