TWiN | This Weekend In Nashville | 1/11-1/13

Here we go!  Another weekend in Nashville, and holy shit! It must be a birthday for our friends over at Cannery Row, whose lineup is made up almost exclusively of  bands we have covered in this blog. These bands are playing on three stages over two nights.  We also have a couple more picks that might tickle your fancy if for some reason you are scared of 8th Avenue South.  Regardless, if you don’t get out to see some music this weekend, you have no soul.  Do it!

Friday

The first night lineup of Mercy Lounge’s 10th Anniversary Party is so good, I just dare you to try to stay in one room all night. Yep, that’s right. Even though the celebration is for Mercy, tonight’s fun isn’t just confined to the lounge: The Cannery Ballroom and The High Watt are getting in on the action as well, and one ticket gets you access to 12 great bands across three floors! You’ve got three options: arrive early and get in free (limited to the first 150 people), snag a 1-night ticket for only $10, or you can get a 2-night weekend pass for just $15!

In the Cannery Ballroom, you’ve got a lineup of indie/garage rock locals that have  gotten a ton of national love this year: our Nashville Record of the Year pick JEFF the Brotherhood (who recently played Conan), psychedelic rocker Ri¢hie, Turbo Fruits (another of our Best of Nashville 2012 picks and one of many Nashville bands playing SXSW this year), and Brooklyn transplants Clear Plastic Masks. Check out the video for JEFF the Brotherhood’s inescapable song “Sixpack” below:

Things get even more diverse upstairs at Mercy Lounge. Headlining the night is delightful folk pop singer Tristen, supported by SXSW 2013-bound dance rockers Wild Cub, straight-up soul rockers Magnolia Sons, and indie band Black Sea Royalty (who we recently interviewed). Tristen’s new album ‘Caves’ is coming soon, but in the meantime you can check out her the video for “Baby Drugs,” from her most recent EP, below:

If you’re still not content with the lineups in the bigger rooms, you can head up to the third floor for a more eclectic mix of bands at The High Watt. At the top of the bill, dreamy folky group James Wallace & the Naked Light are sure to offer you a solid alternative to anything happening downstairs, along with former Pink Spider Matt Friction, and  lo-fi indie rocker Evan P. Donohue. More bands are TBA. You can check out a great James Wallace tune below:

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Saturday

As if you didn’t get enough last night… Well, you didn’t.  It’s all starting back up again tonight over on Cannery Row with Night Two of the biggest Birthday Bash in town. And, get this:  you get admission to all three venues for only $10.  That’s right, $10 measly bucks, and you get 12 bands on three stages.  That’s less than a $1 a band.  What?  Is that too expensive for you?  Well get there early, because the first 150 people get in fo’ FREE!

On the main stage down in Cannery Ballroom, things get started with Coin, followed by some of our faves over here. Brandon Jazz & His Armed Forces, Machines Are People Too, and local SXSW representatives Cherub bring the ass-moving grooves all night.  You can check out Cherub’s 2012 release Mom & Dad below.

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Things are a bit more on the rock side upstairs.  Mercy Lounge features local heavyweights Sol Cat, recent East Nashville Underground headliners Ravello, electro-rockers Five Knives, and The Weeks, who were recently featured on the cover of The Tennessean.  You can check out The Weeks “Dear Bo Jackson” below.

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Finally, as you didn’t have enough choices all in the same venue, you have a bit of everything going on over at The High Watt.  Local rock couple Mystery Twins, psych-rockers D. Watusi, cuntry all-stars Bird Cloud, & the best rock album cover-of-the-year winner Natural Child.

[bandcamp album=3433844945  bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

But if you’re like Andrew and looking for something a little different — something that makes you shake your booty like you never shook it before, and something that’s got the full-throttle party groove, then you have to check out The Dirty Dozen Brass Band with AJ & The Jiggawatts at Exit/In. The Dirty Dozen revolutionized the New Orleans brass band style by incorporating funk and bebop elements into the mix. Check out their live video below from Joy Theater in New Orleans.

AJ & The Jiggawatts is the perfect opener for The Dirty Dozen. They’re a little more uptempo, straight-up funk, so they’re the perfect band to get the party started. Check out some of their tunes below:

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[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/48084982″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

But if you’re in the mood for something COMPLETELY different, you can check out Mr. T.J. Hooker himself, the one and only William Shatner, doing his one man show over at TPAC. Jessika will be there, and you can read more about her hopes for that show over the weekend. If you weren’t lucky enough to snag the pricey VIP treatment that included a meet-n-greet(!!!) before that tier sold out, you can still see the show while tickets are available. Remaining tickets run $25-$75, and the show starts at 8pm. It’s at TPAC’s Jackson Hall and you can get ’em in advance on the jump.

Here’s a musical Shat refresher with his surprise hit, “Has Been.”

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Sunday

Sunday offers a very cool event over on the East side at The Building with the Unchained tour rolling their big old blue love bus into town. Some of the nation’s greatest storytellers will do their thing for a live audience, sharing hilarious and heartbreaking tales from real life. There will also be live music by Christopher Paul Stelling and you can check him out below. More details available at their website and more on the event over the weekend from Jess.