Cortney Tidwell & Field Days, The End, Tonight In Nashville

Whoop, whoop…. It’s Friday night!  What are you gonna do tonight?  How about some live music?  I know shocking that you would hear that coming from us, but, seriously, did you have better plans?  What if you went down to see a couple of up and coming Nashville musicians?  Not a bad idea, huh?  Well, read below and you’ll know what to do tonight in Nashville.

Cortney Tidwell is a Nashville based singer/songwriter, but it is a more experimental sound than you might be expecting.  She was born and raised in Nashville with music in the genes.  Her mother was a country music musician, her father a producer, and her grandfather ran a country music label.  She probably knows the backstage area of the Grand Ole Opry better than the janitor.  What does all this mean?  She understands the music industry, and she knows how to make good music.

Cortney began releasing music in 2005 with her self-titled debut album, and released her first full length in her 2006 follow-up Don’t Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up.  In 2009, she released another album entitled Boys.  She has side projects like KORT (which includes collaboration with members from Lambchop) and FeverQueen.  From her website, it sounds like she has finished recording another album, so that is something for you to keep you eyes out for.  Her sound has been compared to Liz Frazier, Sinead O’Connor, Bjork, and 60’s flower child Melanie.  My favorite comparisons though are the ones where people imagine two bands having a love child.

Cocteau Twins and Mazzy Star having a slow-mo orgy.  At a torch revue.  In a cave… A tremendous new talent.  Idiosyncratic, complicated and very, very lush.  What’s not to love?
– Rocksound

She has been on tour with a number of artists, including (one of my personal favorites) Andrew Bird, but you shouldn’t think that it’s hard to find her hanging around her hometown.  She plays around here a lot.  For instance at The End in Nashville tonight!!!  She is the second (I think) opener for tonight’s slate.  It’s definitely something new, fun, and fresh for tonight…

Whoa, wait a second, don’t go anywhere yet.  I’m not done with you yet… C’mon, it’s Friday.  You weren’t really going to work that hard today anyway.

I wanna spend a second talking about the first opener at The End tonight too.  Field Days is the project of local pop-folkster Patrick Damphier.  I started listening to his debut release, Projectors, a few weeks ago, and I am still listening to it today.  Since I’m a guy that is forced to have musical ADD in order to keep finding new stuff, me listening to an album for a few weeks is quite a compliment.  Beyond saying that, I’m just going to tip my hat to a bit of the review from Nashville Scene’s awesome D. Patrick Rogers.

Sonically, the tracks on Field Days’ 2010 release, Projector, are sweet, delicate and melodically conventional. But lyrically, Damphier’s narratives are candid and sharp, peppered with diverse characters and the sort of existential self-examination you’re bound to get when you lock a smart dude in a bedroom with an acoustic guitar and a couple of percussion instruments.

Alright, it’s time for you to get back to work, so hit play on the tune widgets below to get a sneak preview of what you are in for tonight, and then head over to The End’s website to grab tickets.  Reminder, these are the openers, so make sure you aren’t too fashionably late.  You also get to see Nashville artist, Milktooth, as a headliner!

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