Acoustic anticipation

When I moved to Nashville in 1996, a big motivation was learning that so many of my musical heroes lived here. After a short time, I found that was more than just an abstract satisfaction - that I could see masters like Jerry Douglas or Bela Fleck playing in all kinds of special shows in town in various ad hoc gatherings that I'd never have heard without living here. This coming Friday night will be a case in point. The NCO has conspired with artist-in-residence Darrell Scott to pull together a group that will put Nashville's unparalleled talent pool on display, while presenting them with the kind of challenge that will bring out their best.

I'm talking about the first show in the NCO's Acoustic Cafe season series, a Friday night spectacle at Grace Chapel in Leiper's Fork, TN, a few miles out of Nashville. I'll be blogging about it all week, but I wanted to sketch an overview of these players, so that you have a sense of what a special show this is going to be. Darrell Scott we've written about, and many know him as a great singer and songwriter, but he's also an amazing guitarist. Also on guitar is the multi-award winning Bryan Sutton, whose played with Ricky Skaggs, the Dixie Chicks and more bluegrass greats than you could list. I interviewed Bryan late last week about what it's like to work as a studio player in the musical community of Nashville, and his answers will be posted to Uncovered this week.

While it's not technically acoustic, the pedal steel guitar is a fundamental part of Nashville's musical legacy, and guest artist Dan Dugmore is among the very best at this very difficult instrument. On fiddle, the NCO will have Stuart Duncan, a full-time member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band and an all-around master of the instrument. Pretty impressive for a guy raised in California. The rhythm section is downright profound, with Kenny Malone on drums and Viktor Krauss on bass. Malone is a studio veteran known for his uncanny time and his subtlety - he's the ultimate less-is-more drummer. And Krauss, brother of the famous Alison, is a composer and recording artist on top of his duties on bass for Lyle Lovett and Bill Frisell.

Each is bringing in a piece of music they've written to be arranged by Don Hart and played by the group with the NCO String Quartet. As usual, time between completion of the parts and performance is going to be tight. Monday morning, most of the guest artists will gather at Darrell's house for an intital rehearsal, and we'll be there with video for the Uncovered site. Posted already is Paul's overview of the show and the kinds of pieces the artists have proposed.

We'll be following the evolution of Viktor's piece, called "Hop," in some detail. It's the opening track of his new album, and when he and Hart met to talk over how to translate its rather digital soundscape into an acoustic string arrangement, we were there with audio. Highlights from that conference will be on Uncovered before long. If you're interested in how Nashville's best contemporary instrumentalists think through making new music together, register for Uncovered and see and hear first hand. And if you have any questions for the artists, please by all means shoot us a comment.