Troubadour Afton Wolfe has generously shared his road adventures with Glide in the past few years. The self-described growler and howler is one of the hardest-working songsmiths out there, with a must-have discography. Wolfe recently attended Americana Fest two weeks ago and shared with our readers what really happens for an artist during that week in Nashville. Last week we shared part one – this week Wolfe takes us to the links, taverns and more.
Don’t feel sorry for me. I live here. I get the opportunity to see so many great shows seven nights a week in this town, and I have to limit myself to two great shows a week, which becomes a malleable guideline most weeks. AmericanaFest is special, though, for many reasons.
Before I even lived in Nashville, in 2003, my band Dollar Book Floyd came to Nashville from Hattiesburg, Mississippi to play an early party at Radio Café at the corner of Woodland and 12th. The Lipstick Lounge was still there then, but otherwise, Nashville (and especially East Nashville) was a completely different place. We didn’t go out anywhere else in town, and there was nothing to do in East Nashville then. We didn’t know what Americana music was.
We got invited there by the now sadly-defunct Jackalope Records. It was a cool show, but we didn’t fit in at all. C’est la vie. Two notable things stand out from that show – Johnny Cash died just before we got to Nashville, and the whole town felt sad. I wrote a song about it (and the memory of someone I knew more personally who passed away around that time); maybe it’ll be released sometime. The other thing was that Two Cow Garage played at that Radio Café show, and they were really awesome and really cool.
A few months later, Dollar Book Floyd was sadly defunct, and I had moved to Nashville. I didn’t go to another AmericanaFest; I wasn’t playing “Americana” music, which was code for the old-timey country, folk, and bluegrass then. The genre has expanded immensely – for better and worse, depending on who you ask. I am agnostic about the definition, more as the word has lost … well, definition. But when I moved to Nashville, I was playing rock music – playing venues like The End, Exit/In, and Mercy Lounge.
I moved away from Nashville in 2013, and when I moved back in 2017, I found that almost every one of my favorite new bands was playing at AmericanaFest, and I went. I’ve been every year since, and I’ve made deep friendships, had life-changing experiences, and played and seen great shows with and to great crowds of people who really care about Music.
Now, twenty years later, I look forward to the event that first brought me to East Nashville to play my songs. This year, however, I was just too busy to do anything more than my assignments, so I’m going to tell you about my week. AmericanaFest starts long before the conference. The whole week leading up to it, there are artists, managers, publicists, agents, and most importantly – fans, trickling into town and checking out the venues, having meetings, and seeing sights. So, my AmericanaFest started early too.
I started Saturday night prior to AmericanaFest, playing the lovely Suzie Chism’s Y’allternative Night. It was a fun warm-up party at one of Nashville’s coolest live music dives, The Underdog, which is a relatively new spot, but it’s already become a must-hang. Lots of really cool people played two or three songs, including Suzie herself, my friends Kristen Englenz, Van Darien, Seth Renfrow (professionally known as Slouch), and other great songwriters.
Monday, still two days before AmericanaFest, I played with my friend Elray Jackson at his residency at The Bowery Vault, another amazing venue in East Nashville. This was after stopping by Jaan’s House to shoot a video session for No Depression with the band. The Bowery Vault, if you irresponsibly have never been, is a vintage clothing store by day and an intimate songwriter paradise of a music venue by night. I can hardly describe it in any other way than the word “necessary.” The environment there is very conducive to trying things out, so I played a couple of brand-new songs. I think they went ok, but they’re not ready yet. You’ll hear more about them when they are. Go listen to Elray, though. He writes really great songs.
On Wednesday, I met up with Dave Bernal, a friend, musician, and radio host, to do an interview with him for his California Country Radio Show at The Russell in East Nashville. I have Country roots for sure, and I suppose “California Country” is akin to “California Sober.” Genres are minimally useful tools. In any event, we had a great conversation, and it was great to see him.
My next assignment was on Thursday. After shoehorning a short shoot for an upcoming video release (“Lost Prayers” from my forthcoming Ep, The Harvest), I was to perform at a day party hosted by 18/88 Media and Charlotte Avenue Entertainment. I discuss that in pretty great detail HERE. But, if you only have time to read this article (I get it, there’s a lot to read), it was a wonderful time at another new spot, The Eighth Room (where Douglas Corner used to be). Highlights included playing with my full band – Daniel Seymour, Seth Fox, Chad Stuible, and Chris Benelli, Jaimee Harris opened her set with a stunning version of David Olney’s classic “Deeper Well,” Parker Milsap being a powerful and sweet genius, Marina Rocks blowing everything away, and Jake Ybarra sturdily playing a brilliant honky tonk set in an L.A.-style nightclub in the middle of the afternoon. It was an achievement by all that put it together, and they have my gratitude.
The next day, I got to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time – play in Chuck Mead’s Annual Shelby Bottoms Up! Golf Tournament. The event was coordinated by Mr. Mead and 14-inch Fringe maestro, artist manager, stage manager, and gentle giant Mark Gonzales. I filled in as a fourth on Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge’s team after I got lucky and someone didn’t show up. It was Dee’s owner Daniel Walker, Greensky Bluegrass Dobro genius Anders Beck, and Rob. You don’t need to know any more about Rob than that he’s a badass golfer, and he was almost wholly responsible for our team not being in last place. We used 3 or 4 of my shots, which was more than I expected. Chuck and Mark’s team won the whole thing, which is suspect for sure, but that’s for Dillon Warnek, who was probably the best golfer out there that day, to complain about. We weren’t in the running; we just weren’t last. I’m not going to tell you who was last.
Saturday, I had an assignment out at Dee’s – Magnolia Roads’ Hoedown and Backyard Campfire Jam. I got there early to enjoy the end of the Black Oak Artists showcase and saw some really great sets, including Van Plating, Trapper Schoepp, and Alice Wallace. Then, the two-stage Magnolia Roads event kicked off, and Emily (Hansen) always put together a great bill. David Newbould, Allen Thompson, Mike Miz, Erin O’Dowd, Tim Easton, and more – all on the acoustic stage. Inside was killer, too, and I was blown away by Boo Ray’s set, featuring guitar work by Mike Miz, amazing harmonica riffing by Stephen Tanner, and Boo Ray working it like a pro with truly great and dynamic outlaw country Music. Jon Latham and Andrew Leahey went back-to-back with killer rock-n-roll sets (because remember, rock is Americana now – and I agree 100%) to close out that party.
But wait – there’s more! After all that – still at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge – and remember I’ve been there since 2 pm – at midnight, Daniel Walker, Daniel Seymour, Jon Latham, Allen Thompson, and many more, put on a tribute to Jimmy Buffett – “Deesburgers in Paradise.” Now, I have to confess that I spent a lot of my time in a bowling alley when I was young, and only the cheesiest Buffett stuff would get played there nonstop. So, it took a while for me to come to appreciate the genius of his other works (though I’d read two of his books and really enjoyed them). But I do appreciate the man (nobody did life any better than Mr. Buffett, just objectively speaking – the dude won) and have grown to love much of his catalog. I stayed for about an hour of that, and I learned later that it went on til 2:30 am. My friends are crazy, and I love them.
That was a great way to end AmericanaFest for me. I did continue my tradition of sleeping very late on Sunday, feeling the FOMO from all the cool parties that went on that day, but that’s really what Nashville is for, a music lover, which I am: a constant swing between elation at some once-in-a-lifetime musical experience – either on stage or in the audience – and regret/guilt for missing some other amazing performance and experience.
AmericanaFest is just a condensed version of that. You can’t be everywhere yet. Looking at you quantum physicists.
