Canon Blue, Brooke Waggoner, & Empires at The Basement, December 9, Nashville (FREE TICKET GIVEAWAY)

Normally, I just give you a day notice for great shows, but I am posting this one up early for several reason.  First, I’m pretty excited about this show.  Second, there are a lot of things going on in Nashville this weekend, and want to let you know about it before weekend plans are finalized.  Finally, I have a FREE TICKET GIVEAWAY for this one!

How many of you made it into Cannery Ballroom for Foster The People back in June?  Did you get there early enough to catch opener Canon Blue?  If not, let’s talk a little about what you missed.  Canon Blue is the moniker of Nashville resident Daniel James.  He began work on Canon Blue back in 2007 with Chris Taylor (of Grizzly Bear and CANT fame), and it resulted in the 2007 debut album Colonies.  Apparently, it took some time in Europe for James to take his project to the next level.  He spent time in Copenhagen & Iceland arranging and recording.  He even worked with Amilina (that would be the Sigur Rós string section) while in Iceland to record his orchestral arrangements.  Rumspringa was born here, and we are left with an ambitious mixture of orchestral pop (ala Beirut), singer-songwriter (ala Sufjan Stevens), and frenetic beats that provide a complete and beautiful record.

Canon Blue has received quite a bit of acclaim from the likes of NPR, The New York Times, and Interview.  Canon Blue have toured all over the country and internationally both as a headliners and in support of bands like (the above-mentioned) Foster The People, Margot and The Nuclear So & So’s, and several others.

This Friday, Canon Blue is back in Nashville and will be playing a show for us at The Basement.  Things get started at 9pm with two awesome openers including Nashville’s acclaimed singer/songwriter Brooke Waggoner and Chicago’s Empires.  You can enter to win a pair of FREE TICKETS by commenting on this blog post, posting on our facebook page, or tweeting @nocountrynash with hashtag #canonblue.  A winner will be chosen at random on Friday at 2pm local time.  If for some reason you don’t like free shit, then you are welcome to grab tickets over at Grimeys.

I have attached a (flash-required) player below where you can stream Canon Blue’s full Rumspringa record, and I’ve also included a video for both Brooke Waggoner and Empires.  Get out this weekend and see some live music.

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[vimeo 16953996]