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Nashville: City of Kings

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By: Lior | in: General, Music |

Nashville

Nashville is Music City in every sense of the term. One of the locals I met boasted that it’s the only place in the world where a bank will accept a record master as collateral for a loan.

In this town, folks in the music business are surprisingly approachable. At no point did I feel surrounded by moguls nor did the landscape suggest music empires. At Warner Chappell, I sat in an office bare of furniture and ornaments. The only desk in the room was pushed back to make room for a stage, lighting gear, a Wurlitzter and Orange amps. Very cool. Universal’s offices are a converted, two story house with a wooden porch. The infamous Music Row is a quite street of residential housing with lawn trimmings and picket fences. Walking through a major publisher’s door is no feat.

Nashville

I’m told that you’re four times more likely to get a Country song cut than a song in any other genre and this rings true with Nashville’s consistent output of Country chart toppers in the US. The city offers an occupation in songwriting like no other place on the planet. Writers flock to the city in search of a publishing deal that will pay their monthly salary (advance against residuals), allowing them to write full time for a living. Quite literally, hundreds of writers wake up each morning, travel to work, write songs and check out at six. Publishing companies will often keep several ‘writing rooms’ vacant and songsmiths will get together to bond - probably over coffee at Fido’s on 21st Ave. - before attempting to collaborate on a future hit at any number of cosy locations arranged by their Creative Directors. Co-writes are common practice and often involve shipping writers out and importing them in. How is that for a day in the office?

Nashville

The live scene is awesome and rich in variety. Deceptively Country, Nashville has a well-established and esteemed rock scene. Come to think of it, I didn’t see a single cowboy hat and pair of boots during my four day visit. I returned to London with a stack of CDs by fledgling indie, emo and garage acts. Did you know that Kings of Leon are Nashville natives? A far cry from Country music, I know, but they too started out as Country writers before renowned artist manager, Ken Levitan (Vector Management), suggested that the brothers form a rock group. So with that, a parting shot from the band that made it big almost everywhere but back home in N’ville:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltqZPy3rY2w


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Posted on May 22, 2007

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