It’s been 7 years since last time I visited Nashville. The Gibson Guitars display still greeted me at baggage claim but almost immediately I sensed a change. The city is a little less country, more “hip,” a little more diverse; there’s a slightly different beat. There was no Uber 7 years ago but now nowhere is no more than a 5 minute wait. Uber fuels Nashville with military precision by way of musician drivers, cops earning extra pay and two-income married couples, like Paulette who with her husband bought two mini-vans so they could reap maximum income benefit when party after downtown party calls for someone else driving you home.
I’m here for the 2018 Americana Music Fest and can’t tell you how many times an Uber driver, barista, waitress or even fellow musician has asked, “so what’s Americana anyway?” Over the 4 days of the festival I honed my answer to, “it’s any roots music genre — like blues, bluegrass, gospel, folk, zydeco or soul and it’s derivatives that still rely, in part on traditional instruments such as acoustic guitar, banjo, standup bass, accordion, mandolin.” Frankly I don’t know if that’s a good definition but it works enough to move most conversations to the next topic.
Though many hotels dot downtown Nashville and a new one seems to open nearly every day, I decided to AirBnB it — cheaper and East Nashville (far more gentrified than I remember) is close enough to downtown but far enough to feel like I’m away when I want to be.
Today was amazing starting w/breakfast at The Post coffee shop made famous by the Nashville tv show and right around the corner from my flat. Afterwords, despite navigating temperatures 30 degrees hotter than my hometown and way more humidity, I walked through the amazing urban Shelby Park only 0.3 miles away — shaded in parts, I encountered a few intrepid runners along with fellow walkers. All friendly, making me feel very much at home.
The day crescendoed as I hit the Americana Music Fest meeting fellow Seattle musician at a workshop discovering we have a boatload of common friends, heading to Concord Records’ “wine and cheese” fretting I knew no one only to hear “Paula Boggs?”...it was my AirBnB landlord (who I’d never met in person) and his first cousin...his husband works for Rounder Records and he happened to see my name tag.
Topped off evening w/4 off-the-hook performances at 3 different storied venues— if you ever get a chance to see any of these folks...DO IT: Yola Carter (Nashville Palace), Kaia Kater (The Local) and Israel Rush followed by Courtney Marie Andrews (The High Watt).
As I head back to overcast Seattle reflecting on the 4 days spent halfway across the country meeting fellow artists, others in the music business and hearing great music, I feel good. Mission accomplished and I’ll be back. Stay friendly Nashville.
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Paula Boggs Band / Blog
Reflections on Recently Concluded 64th Grammy Awards
These are my personal views. I thought the show Sunday April 3, 2022 was its best in years. Was it flawless? No. Were there a few unfortunate winners? Sure. I’ve been a Recording Academy voting member for a decade+ and a PNW Chapter board governor for two. I’m also my chapter’s ambassador to the Recording Academy’s national DEI Council.
I take my job as a voting member seriously. It dishonors the work of my peers to do anything less. And yes, the Recording Academy awards are the result of creators/engineers/producers/crafts people, etc. judging the works of peers. It is not a popularity contest for me. I don’t check to see who’s #1 on Billboard or some other chart. I choose the categories I vote in carefully and listen to the music. After listening and comparing I vote. If you’re doing it authentically it is arduous work.
Most nominees and winners become such because of what 12K+ individual voters collectively decide (a recent reform). When you say “the Grammys” got it wrong, you’re actually saying more individual voters than not got it “wrong.” I can’t speak for other voters but I’m listening for musicianship, the quality of lyrics where applicable, whether a piece really “fits” its genre and how a song makes me feel. All highly subjective.
As the Recording Academy’s membership becomes more generationally, racially, culturally, geographically, gender and overall diverse that diversity will be reflected in its voting. For those eligible for membership who choose to criticize outside the tent, that’s on you. #music #diversity #grammyawards #grammys2022
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Remembering Someone I Never Knew
Why had I not heard of her? How does that happen? I’m not sure why the Sunday Seattle Times obituary section always finds me. Maybe it’s because the older I get the more likely I’ll read about someone I once knew or learn of someone I’m meeting too late. So it was this morning. Yesterday was too busy so over this morning’s breakfast I started turning the pages old school of my local daily news. There’s something about the feel of actual paper, the sound of pages turning and ritual that make my print edition a welcomed luxury in an era where I could consume its content online the night before.
The Times has a section called “Passages” that follows the local obit section and covers national and international figures. There I learned about Allee Willis, “one of the music industry’s most colorful figures” who died on December 24th at age 72. During her lifetime Willis wrote well over 900 songs and was responsible for hits as diverse as Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September,” The Pet Shop Boys “What Have I Done to Deserve This?,” tracks for Dusty Springfield, Ray Charles, Cyndi Lauper and co-writing the music for “The Color Purple.” In 2018 she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. I should have known about her. I wish I’d known about her. But I didn’t. In an industry where “performance” is king, too many songwriters don’t know about other songwriters. I can’t change the industry but I can change myself. Willis’s story inspires me to learn. Inspires me to take more steps to discover fellow songwriters...before “Passages.”
https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8547067/allee-willis-10-most-influential-songs
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Spending A Little Time In Music City
It’s been 7 years since last time I visited Nashville. The Gibson Guitars display still greeted me at baggage claim but almost immediately I sensed a change. The city is a little less country, more “hip,” a little more diverse; there’s a slightly different beat. There was no Uber 7 years ago but now nowhere is no more than a 5 minute wait. Uber fuels Nashville with military precision by way of musician drivers, cops earning extra pay and two-income married couples, like Paulette who with her husband bought two mini-vans so they could reap maximum income benefit when party after downtown party calls for someone else driving you home.
I’m here for the 2018 Americana Music Fest and can’t tell you how many times an Uber driver, barista, waitress or even fellow musician has asked, “so what’s Americana anyway?” Over the 4 days of the festival I honed my answer to, “it’s any roots music genre — like blues, bluegrass, gospel, folk, zydeco or soul and it’s derivatives that still rely, in part on traditional instruments such as acoustic guitar, banjo, standup bass, accordion, mandolin.” Frankly I don’t know if that’s a good definition but it works enough to move most conversations to the next topic.
Though many hotels dot downtown Nashville and a new one seems to open nearly every day, I decided to AirBnB it — cheaper and East Nashville (far more gentrified than I remember) is close enough to downtown but far enough to feel like I’m away when I want to be.
Today was amazing starting w/breakfast at The Post coffee shop made famous by the Nashville tv show and right around the corner from my flat. Afterwords, despite navigating temperatures 30 degrees hotter than my hometown and way more humidity, I walked through the amazing urban Shelby Park only 0.3 miles away — shaded in parts, I encountered a few intrepid runners along with fellow walkers. All friendly, making me feel very much at home.
The day crescendoed as I hit the Americana Music Fest meeting fellow Seattle musician at a workshop discovering we have a boatload of common friends, heading to Concord Records’ “wine and cheese” fretting I knew no one only to hear “Paula Boggs?”...it was my AirBnB landlord (who I’d never met in person) and his first cousin...his husband works for Rounder Records and he happened to see my name tag.
Topped off evening w/4 off-the-hook performances at 3 different storied venues— if you ever get a chance to see any of these folks...DO IT: Yola Carter (Nashville Palace), Kaia Kater (The Local) and Israel Rush followed by Courtney Marie Andrews (The High Watt).
As I head back to overcast Seattle reflecting on the 4 days spent halfway across the country meeting fellow artists, others in the music business and hearing great music, I feel good. Mission accomplished and I’ll be back. Stay friendly Nashville.
Reply
Ep. 054 - Paula Boggs - From Former Top Starbucks Lawyer to Paula Boggs Band
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sea-town-podcast-interviewing-seattles-business-leaders/id1089833365?mt=2&i=1000412463950
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Interview w/Guitar Goddess Podcast
https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/guitar-goddess/e/53407645?autoplay=true
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Winter Solstice 2017
A sole purple orchid kisses a wan opening Poipu sky while runners hug a jagged but still welcoming coastline hosting the crash of impatient waves.
I’m an imposter with skin dark enough to cause natives to smile slightly deeper and the music within me beckons the ukulele resting in our living room steps away. Happy Winter Solstice and as days climb longer my hope is so too may our empathy for each other grow, Aloha.🌺☀️
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Riding the Bus and Writing a Song
It’s a lot cleaner and more high tech than I remember with commuters in various stages of awokeness. Almost everyone is “of color” though I appear to be only 1 of 2 members of the African American tribe along for the ride. I’m on Sound Transit bus 216 traveling from Sammamish where I live to Seattle Center where I have a late morning meeting. Actually it’ll take 2 buses and 90 minutes to travel 23 miles — a trip that, depending on traffic, usually takes 35-50 in my car. But I love the $2.50 exact change price of admission and marvel it’s taken me this long to actually do this.
So why now? Well, I’m 1 of 5 Seattle area songwriters chosen for this year’s global Acoustic Guitar Project: one guitar.one week.one song. I’m songwriter #4 and last night picked up a Kindred guitar from songwriter #3. Now I have 1 week to write and record a song with it. Back in the day riding the bus often inspired me to write and so I’m hoping to once again catch lightning in a bottle. Wish me luck!”
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RIP Glen Campbell...The Wichita Lineman
When I first heard "Wichita Lineman" I didn't know where Wichita was and I didn't really know what a lineman did, but this song hooked me. Jimmy Webb's searing lyrics "and I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time" stirred my grammar school sensibilities and the chord progressions mesmerized me. But Glen Campbell SOLD this song -- the voice, the guitar, the delivery -- making it stick with me to this very day. Upon learning of Glen Campbell's death I played the original version and found it a little too "produced" but then found a live version of Glen singing it at one of his final performances and at Nashville's storied Ryman Auditorium. I love this version...RIP Glen🎶🎵🕯
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Many Thanks and Onward 2016‼️
Dear Friends and Fans, thanks to you 2015 was an amazing year for Paula Boggs Band.
After launching album CARNIVAL OF MIRACLES in March, we hit the road quickly with shows in Berkeley, Baltimore, Philly, NYC, DC, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Tacoma, Olympia, Bend, OR and Eugene before returning to Seattle for a year end gig. In addition, we were featured in many local and national publications, appeared twice on NBC TV shows, were on PBS and cable. We were played on several radio stations in the US, UK and Netherlands and made 5 in-studio or on-air radio interview appearances.
And in keeping with our mission to make "music that matters," in September we announced a partnership with NAACP Legal Defense Fund and My Brother's Keeper Alliance using our song "Look Straight Ahead Remix, featuring J. Pinder" to help spark awareness, constructive dialogue and forward movement in improving outcomes for boys and young men of color in America through mentoring, improved job skills training, improved police-community of color relations and reform of our criminal justice system. With LDF, MBKA and to be announced stakeholders, we will co-host forums in Seattle and Baltimore and hold a Seattle benefit concert with TBA musicians in 2016.
Along with our partnership, the new year starts with a Seattle TV appearance and shows in Portland, San Diego and Everett, WA as we build a tour calendar that again takes us across the US and Canada. We've applied to music festivals and will keep you posted as we learn more. Along the way we continue to write new music and are close to having enough material for a 2017 album of "Seattle-Brewed Soulgrass."
We could not do what we do without your support so THANK YOU and Happy Holidays from us to you,
PAULA BOGGS BAND
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Bleecker Street
"There's a gypsy down on Bleecker Street. I went in to see her as a kind of joke and she lit a candle for my love luck and eighteen bucks went up in smoke..." Joni Mitchell's "Song for Sharon" on Hejira keeps running through my head as I stroll Greenwich Village's Bleecker Street a day after our Rockwood Music Hall show. It's a Saturday and the sun blazes as buskers sing everything from folk to gospel and tourists gawk at a transvestite's sashay. Walking along Bleecker, I hear the ghosts of Joni, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and so many others who honor it in song or lived it back in the day. As I pass "The Bitter End" a bouncer shouts "live music inside!" I'm tempted but resist knowing time is short before flying home. I must return...I will.
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