On Dec. 19, we’re teaming up with old pals East Nashville Underground at The Stone Fox to bring you a night full of Christmas caroling fun with more than 20 of your favorite local bands. Those of you who joined us before will remember arm in arm singing, shenanigans, laughs galore, holiday drinks, and some awesome takes on the holiday standards. This year we can expect more of the same from acts like ELEL, Buffalo Rodeo, The Combo, Sad Baxter & Luella who will be joining with performers including, Jung Youth, Beech Benders, Tesla Rossa, Twiggs, Hot Tub Club, Waterfall Wash, Hotel War, Gardening Not Architecture, Photo Ops, American Dream, and Tetherball!
This year also features some fresh blood from the likes of Yankee Blood, Charlie Abbott, Phantom Farmer, & Jacob Thomas Jr.! And, of course, no caroling evening would be complete without Mr. Steve The Music Man (aka Steve Lee) carrying us out in a full on, some of us slurring, sing-a-long.
Want more? No problem. This sucker is FREE! That’s right. Come one, come all to this celebration of friends and music at The Stone Fox starting at 7pm on Dec. 19! We’ll also be keeping it charitable again this year by accepting unused pet food and other pet items at the door to donate to two of our favorite local animal rescues (heroes) A Place To Bark & Nashville Cat Rescue!
For the rest of the week, we’ll be getting you in the mood with little previews of each of the bands that will be performing carols on Saturday. If you want more information about the event, you can RSVP at the Facebook event page, check out our preview of the bands from the 8 o’clock hour here, head below for a preview of the artists performing in the 9 o’clock hour after the jump, and stay tuned as we continue to run down the rest of the lineup this week!
TESLA ROSSA | “SILVER AND GOLD” | 9:00 PM
As long time fans of Nashville rockers Tesla Rossa, we welcome them back to the Caroling party, after just seeing them at the East Nashville Underground reunion show, and the boys have been busy. When we threw this little shindig last year, they were celebrating the release of their debut full length, and have since followed that up with a recent tour released EP titled Heat Bath. On Saturday they will be kicking off the 9 o’clock hour with an interpretation of “Silver and Gold” which was written by Johnny Marks and performed by Burl Ives for the classic Christmas show Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. If it is anything like their take on the Robert Alex Anderson classic “Mele Kalikimaka” below, we’re all in for a treat.
TETHERBALL | “CHRISTMAS DON’T BE LATE” | 9:10 PM
Steve Voss’s Tetherball project immediately hooked us with its glorious romp through the indie rock spectrum, and this is perfectly displayed on his debut album, Whimsy. Voss is a talented and accomplished musician who has even reimagined Whimsy as a jazz project around town. Needless to say, we’ll be excited to hear his rendition of “Christmas Don’t Be Late” that you may have heard in your childhood as performed by Alvin & The Chipmunks.
TWIGGS | “WHITE CHRISTMAS” | 9:20 PM
Twiggs first popped onto our radar with their self-titled debut in 2013, and we knew we had to get them on for what was a very special night at Acme with the above mentioned Tetherball last April. They followed up their debut with a laid back gem titled Twiggs II back in September. You can have a listen to that below, and then think about how it will translate into Irving Berlin’s top selling single of all time “White Christmas.”
BUFFALO RODEO | “THAT SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS” | 9:30 PM
Bowling Green based pop-tinged psychedelic outfit, Buffalo Rodeo, practically call Nashville home with the number of bills that they play on around town. We hosted them at Acme back in July, but you’ve had plenty of other chances to see them out supporting their stellar EP 123 Water which dropped in March of this year. It’ll be very exciting to hear how they transform the Ray Charles classic of “That Spirit Of Christmas” into their own style.
PHANTOM FARMER | “HAPPY CHRISTMAS (WAR IS OVER)” | 9:40 PM
The self-description, “cosmic southern gospel soundscapes,” is probably the best way to describe the solo project of Joel J. Dahl, who was previously rambling around Nashville in other outfits like Harmonium, De Novo Dahl, & By Lightning, but found recluse outside of the distractions of Music City to reconnect with his art. Get in touch with the spiritual side of Phantom Farmer in his track “Cross Town Kids,” and then get ready for an interpretation of Lennon’s classic, politically charged, holiday classic, “Happy Christmas (War Is Over).”
PHOTO OPS | “IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME AGAIN” | 9:50 PM
Photo Ops is the project of Terry Price who has struggled through the past few years with the loss of his father and a serious medical scare of his own. Those struggles manifest in the music of his upcoming sophomore LP, Vacation, due out Feb. 5 on Bad Friend Records. The first single recently premiered on Consequence Of Sound, and features a swirling minimal pop folk sound with touching soaring vocals. You can check out that track below, before you see Photo Ops perform “It’s Christmas Time Again” by The Backstreet Boys.
The Fourth Annual Christmas Carol Show takes place Saturday Dec. 19 at The Stone Fox. The show is 18+, begins at 8pm (doors at 6pm), and it’s totally FREE!