Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Friday October 23, 2015 - Nashville, TN

Road Blog – Nashville, TN
October 23, 2015

First thing we did in Nashville was to stop at Grimey’s Records. It’s a great store I always hit when I’m in town. I scored a couple gems and Gabe did too. After that it was over to Third Man Records – Jack White’s compound. I hadn’t been there since they expanded the store from 1 room to 3 and Patty & Gabe had never been there so it was a good stop. It’s a really cool place with a vintage photo booth and single-song recording machine, a little guitar and amp, and most every release on the 3MR record label. The Detroit connection is strong and we’re looking forward to the new store opening in mid-town next month.

After some horrible Nashville traffic and a short break at the hotel, we headed back downtown to meet my dad and our pals from Lexington, Those Crosstown Rivals, for dinner at Hattie B’s Hot Fried Chicken. My dad is on a little venture around the Carolinas and Tennessee and he managed to make it out to our Asheville and Nashville shows. The Kentucky boys were en-route from Lexington. The line at Hattie B’s was stupid long but I do love their chicken. I made the mistake of getting mine ‘damn hot’ which is the hottest you can get short of ‘shut the cluck up,’ which is just suicidal. I thought I got damn hot last time, but now I think not because it was pretty painful to get down. Stick with the hot. Still – amazing fried chicken, great collard greens, and a fun place. More about that in a minute.

We loaded into the Douglas Corner and said hi to our Nashville pals in Ned Van Go, who were the locals hosting the show. They are great dudes we’ve played with and crossed paths with a couple times before and they are a rockin’ great band. Always great to hang with them and watch them play. Douglas Corner is a cool bar usually catering to singer-songwriters. It can handle a rock show, though, no problem. The drinks were strong, the staff was friendly, and there was a good crowd there for the music. Also in attendance were Mike Jett – a dear friend from Louisville we don’t get to see often enough, and Justin Tidwell from Huntsville, who we saw briefly the night before. Great to see so many friends in a faraway city!

First up were The Excuses. They are a powerpop band from Nashville with great licks and hooks. I chatted with their bass player Pat for a bit too – nice guy and good ambassador to Nashville. Next up was Ned Van Go and they kicked ass as always. Great tunes, super powerful drumming & bass and killer guitars. My dad loved them and bought a CD. Those Crosstown Rivals hit next and just slayed as always. So fun to watch those dudes play. Loud, heavy, driving southern riffs with great vocals and lyrics. We batted cleanup, playing last to the shrinking crowd. Still, we had plenty of faces up front and we played a loose, but decent set. Playing last is tough – you have to ration your drinking all night, things rarely go on schedule, and people tend to start clearing out as the night progresses. Last night was cool though – good sound, good response and a good end to the night. Afterwards we partied with our friends for a while and made a few new ones while we loaded out. One last piece of Hattie B’s at the Crosstown truck before we headed back to the hotel.

I woke up early this morning and paid dearly for the ‘damn hot’ chicken. That there is a mistake I won’t be making again, and I’ll just leave it at that. On our way out of Nashville we hit a cool record store called Fond Object and had a great sandwich across the street. We’re in Kentucky now, about an hour south of Louisville, heading towards Lexington for the last night of the tour. My stomach and other areas affected by last night’s debauchery are settling down and we’re gearing up to do it one more time. Lexington is our favorite city to play and it’s the perfect place to end the tour.