Though many patterns could be recognized in the array of promotional flyers on the either side of the entry door at East Nashville rock venue, The 5 Spot, one not posted enough over the past year, but hit the trifecta of occurrences needed in order to establish a pattern: the 5 Spot has hosted an incidental collective of a particular Murfreesboro soul: 5 Spot Hot Dad Bod Rock. 

These groups of men set up from all up and down Middle Tennessee’s Interstate 24. Men ranging from career-oriented to comfortable-in-brotherhood and fraternity. They’re content on processing for mental well-being, or to just to get sht off chests in an age-old, healthy catharsis and therapy. -Or simply for the passion and love of music and audience that Men stacking enough testosterone to shift crowds demand -or even still chasing the dream of a locality using studio musicians. They’re the entropized amalgamations of previous area bands while maintaining some of, none of, or all of their past in order to be any, all, or none of this at the same time.

They can usually be caught at any given small-town roadhouse; or hip, town’s square bar or back road brewery hours before the show to prep and/or day drink, but they’re simply groups of dudes/people that work well together and have a good time, which is really all we can fckn ask for these days and ages, and for whatever collective slew of reasons.

Over the past year, though, the ones originating in Murfreesboro, years ago, are making a resurgence, collecting at Nashville’s The 5 Spot, which is a shockingly similar stretch down Main Street from the courthouse as found in Murf., just a little longer of a trip. 

Some local bands have appeared in the album review sections of Murfreesboro’s staple monthly, The Murfreesboro Pulse –edited by local chiefs, Bracken Mayo and Steve Morley- within the last year, and have coincidentally collected, in review, the latest albums for an incidental collective of 5 Spot Hot Dad Bod Rock. 

The earliest reviewed within the last twelve months, Patrick Johnson’s PJ and the Bear, who’s upcoming full length is the last of these albums in the works -PJ and the Bear’s self-titled, debut EP caught a review in The Murfreesboro Pulse, August 2023 edition:

“With the vocal veracity and emotion of a Southern Dave Grohl and Aaron Lewis mixed with the songbird characteristics of an Avett Brother with a little extra rasp, Murfreesboro area guitarist Patrick Johnson and his Southern roots-rock/trucker-gospel quartet—whose not afraid of roadhouse country and blues and who sure as hell isn’t afraid to play it silly—released its debut EP, PJ and the Bear, with a sound suitable for playing as beer bottles thrown by a crying woman at the back of the bar break against chicken wire.     

It’s a solid EP. 

Starting off the 5-track experience, “Home to Stay” combines the Bear’s beginning bass and hi-hat drive with a rough lead guitar hook, and then an unexpected Wurlitzer electric piano howl gets audiences hucking bottles. All together, this wall of sound protects Johnson like chicken wire wrapped around the stage as he sings If I keep my wits about me this won’t be my last and lonely ride. 

The thematic notion of PJ and the Bear touches on some grown-up material, processing the strength it takes to get out of a painful relationship once optimism fails, and what it takes to make a man ready to leave. It’s PJ’s introspection—he knew that woman’s soul—and the lyrics continue to deal with the process, hurt and wisdom involved in ending a relationship. 

“Done with Me” stands as the EP’s slow rocker, heartfelt with Johnson’s goosebump-inducing wails. And punching an old upright piano hard enough to hear it through a band’s crescendo is appropriate for any roadhouse standard; here it’s accompanied by Patrick’s piercing You’re done with me again / Say we finally reached the end of this failed experiment / If you don’t want to break you gotta learn how to bend / So I’ll take one more to the chin / Just say you’re done with me again. 

PJ and the Bear’s honky-tonk “slow dance” song “It All Comes Back” displays the Bear’s lead guitarist on the lap guitar as Patrick uses a whammy bar on his own riffs in a cool blend of guitar sounds. The bridge is where there’s a little silliness, with the Wurlitzer and fiddle dueting as strange bedfellows within the roadhouse drama. This is also where Johnson gets Avett-y in vocal style, but overdoes his rasp elsewhere. 

“I Won’t Be There” has an influence of Tom Petty’s “Refugee” through and through. The backing vocals double the lyrical punch as the Wurlitzer, now with a vibrato effect, screams fillers like Tom Petty hired John Linnell from They Might Be Giants to key a blues number. 

“Thorn” is the ultimate relationship song of the EP’s referring to a woman, present but gone, as Patrick shakes his head, No, I wont hold this against you / You’re out of your mind / Searching for something you knew you’d never find / Smelling your perfume will be something I can no longer abide / And I thank all the ways you found to be a thorn in my side, while each part of the Bear stretches out a solo—a fast-licked mandolin, a disciplined, straightforward guitar solo, and then the final, sweet keyboard solo that leads into a minor key outro. This one is very rich in production with Johnson’s rasp eloquently placed, accompanied by a crying fiddle. 

“Thorn” seemingly leaves you exactly where the album’s subject matter intends: down in the dumps, and with a vagueness that doesn’t pinpoint who’s to blame; PJ’s wise enough to keep it that way. It’s that kind of “Dammit, nothing but screwed by someone, again” feeling we all grow to know, but PJ and the Bear does pop as a wonderful softening of hurt. 

PJ and the Bear has been out there touring around Middle Tennessee and Alabama with its next local show at Mayday Brewery (521 Old Salem Rd.) on Saturday, Aug. 12, [2023] joined by Murfreesboro feelgood staple, Mize and The Drive. The show starts at 6 p.m., so be sure to be there to poke the Bear [Event already passed].”

Folk & Proper caught up with PJ at the 5 Spot after a show, October 28, 2023: 

F&P: Did you swallow an amplifier? 

Patrick Johnson: No. 

F&P: Are you sure? 

PJ: I’m postive 

F&P: That was fckn incredible 

PJ: THank you. THank you 

F&P: I love this album like it’s nothing. 

PJ: Awesome. I’m glad to hear. 

F&P: You said (on stage) you were getting on the road. Are you just going somewhere else [specific, like a single location, or a road trip]? 

PJ: No, actually what I meant in that particular case is we’ve gotta get down the road to Murfreesboro, to go home, but we are looking to go out. I think we’ve got something lined up in the Midwest –I think we’re headed Midwest in April, I think, and then down to Louisiana in August. Like that, and a few things down the way.  We’re actually supposed to be playing with Cowboy Mouth at something called Fool’s Fest, down there. I think it’s -that’s actually the end of April. Not Midwest. Midwest is August.  So, we do have some stuff coming up, and hadn’t all solidified, yet, so…. 

F&P: Cowboy Mouth would be pretty fun. Last time I saw them was at Starwood before they demolished the hell out of it, and [Fred LeBlanc] got up –and he’s crazy as hell- and ran… 

PJ: -Ran out in the middle with his snare drum, right? 

F&P: I dunno if he had the snare drum with’m, but he went into the middle of handicap section and found the people in the wheelchairs to shake and scream, “why aren’t you dancing?!” (we laugh). 

PJ: I saw them open for Bare Naked Ladies at Starwood –because they did a bunch of arena tours with them, and [LeBlanc] banging his snare drum. We actually went down this year to Fool’s Fest and talked to them, and that’s how things came to be. 

F&P: Well, man, I’m loving watching this, you coming together and getting out there. 

F&P: I saw you –I was out –The fckn first bass thump of Amigo’s Muddy Roots [2023], I saw you back there [Patrick was roadie-ing for Amigo the Devil for a night, helping Amigo’s band/Patrick’s local Twin Oak Recordings brethren-in-rising]. Jason’s bass, I could see it come out of the amp, and Carson’s first kick drum. 

PJ: Yuuuup. […] It was such a whirlwind of a weekend… People were saying bye to’m so I jumped out of the way. 

-Jonathan is guitarist 

-PJ & The Bear plays Kimbro’s, too, 7-9 slot. 

PJ: Got an EP coming, too. We’re not –we’re going in the studio, probably, November, December. Maybe, even, January, but then we should be locked in. We got a full record ready to go.  

F&P: Full record, as in EP songs + new songs? 

PJ: Full record (nodding his head up and down). 

F&P: I’m excited, dude.  

PJ: Should be great. I mean, you heard a lot of it tonight. The two new ones are out there, and a lot of the stuff -though you’ve probably heard it if you come to the other shows- is not on that first record, so… We’ve got a couple already in the can for the next record, and we’ve got another six or eight that we’re pulling together for it…”

–F&P caught up with Patrick at The Boro Bar & Grill, May 11, 2024, after another gig of his (Patrick is also a third of Murfreesboro’s perennial, Full-fledged Metal staple, Aye Mammoth):

F&P: You’re playing the 5 Spot, the 16^th [event already passed]

Patrick: Yes. Thursday. [event already passed]. 

F&P: And you’re recording day was a month ago (Instagram post on PJ’s Instagram) -was the 14^th of last month [April]… When? 

Patrick: Yes?! 

F&P: -When, and where, and why and how? And when? When?! 

Patrick: So… 

F&P: WHEN?! 

Patrick: The when is it coming out? 

F&P, nodding yes, pulling earplugs out: I should’ve been yelling, trying to make that joke a second ago [before pulling my earplugs out]. You guys blew my fckn eardrums out, so I can’t hear a word you’re saying [Turning to Phil Stem and Micah Loyed]. […] That was a sick set.  

Aye Mammoth heartily laughs. 

Patrick, about PJ and the Bear new album: I’d say it won’t be out until the end of the summer. It’s only about half done. 

F&P: Rock and Roll. You playing the The 5 Spot up until then? Would you do a release there? Not even thinking about it, right now? 

Patrick: Ah… [pondering], I’m not even thinking about it, yet. I’ve only got, four…like, four in the can. It’s gonna… Someone’s gonna have to record a couple days here, and then there’ll be another one who can a couple days, here. Everybody’s schedule is crazy. 

F&P: It’s a “when can,” now, and then it’ll be in the can. 

Patrick: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.   Everybody in the band, now, has gotten in demand, and so they’re starting to do other shit that gets in the way, so all the shows are good, but when it comes time to record, getting all the people, it’s been kind of a problem. 

F&P: The other members have families, and that’s the stuff you’re talking about? 

Patrick: Yeah, that and Jimbo, who plays bass with us, he does a lot of session work, and stuff like that. And then Sly, he’s the keyboard player. He does shows because keys are in high demand. And then, our drummer has got a family. He’s the one with the kids, and all that kind of stuff. 

F&P: You get together when you can. 

Patrick: Yup. So, we play all the shows, but then to get together when we’re not playing shows –to, like, record, and all that […] we’re starting to get that ball rolling.” 

The past couple of months, PJ and the Bear has been running around The 5 Spot (“Hey, everybody. […]  We’re gonna be going on at the 5 Spot, in Nashville. […] Our good friend Mary Hull is sitting in with us, and John Latham’s gonna open tonight with an acoustic set at 6 pm. It’s gonna be a great time. Come on out. It’s cheap. It’s good music, and it’s The 5 Spot. Everybody loves the 5-spot.”); then Hernando’s Hideaway, over in Memphis, with The Eastwoods; there was a weekend festival at Hop Springs; Brackins Blues Club in Maryville, TN; and the Sequatchie Valley Brewery, as far southeast as you can get in Middle Tennessee (actually Eastern TN). 

Keep an eye on PJ’s socials at instagram and facebook for any upcoming announcements, and “for more on PJ and the Bear, visit pjandthebear.com or find the band streaming on Spotify,” The Pulse says.   

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Seemingly, the elder statesmen of the collective, Mize and the Drive began in Murfreesboro circa 2009 as a group of tight knit friends that’d become family over the course of the soul and funk quintet’s tenure, hi’s, lilts, and all.

From the April, 2024 edition of The Murfreesboro Pulse, the area, long-running staple, Mize and the Drive, finally put out an anticipated third full-length almost a decade after their last, Robin –and a lot of life in between- with their newest release, Louis and the Short-Time Angels, whose title almost says it all when it comes to such an incidental collective of 5 Spot Hot Dad Bod Rockers:

“Twelve and a half years since its debut, Irene, with only the release of Robin (2015) in between, longstanding Murfreesboro funk and groove outfit Mize and the Drive has released its third full-length, studio album, Louie and the Short-Time Angels, out of Nashville’s Welcome to 1979 Studios. 

With finessed earworms and off-the-chest lyrics, Louie runs a testament to Mize and the Drive’s “local, staple band” evolution over space and time, touring from Ohio to Georgia over the years and appearing locally at The Roosters (both Red and Blue), The Boro and Wall Street—even contributing to bowing the second floor of that downtown Murfreesboro restaurant and bar, as anyone who has attended a good show with a large crowd during its era of hosting local bands in its upstairs space has experienced. 

The release holds true to the band’s Coldplay-meets-Funkadelic musicality and feel, blending groove and ambiance, and its vocal stylings, which nod to Jason Isbell and Incubus’s Brandon Boyd. 

Mize and the Drive recorded Louie and the Short-Time Angels as “live” as possible, steamrolling through eight songs in two days, without overdubs, according to the group. 

A tearjerker is softened by the well-rising, disciplined arrangement in “Mason’s Song,” while, inversely, a calming atmospheric ambience in “Doppelganger” is hyped up to a saxophone-funked “Won’t Get Fooled Again”-type intensity, showcasing saxophonist Alex Stevenson’s capabilities duetting with skilled funk-bass placement or soaring guitar solo work. Yes, while riffing in the realm of jam-funk, Mize and the Drive’s real talent lies in the intertwining breaths of the various members building and crescendoing with one another in the moment in these live-recorded arrangements. 

“When I look over and I see Nate crushing the bass, and Cody killing it, and Alex doing the things he does, and Dan hittin’ the rhythms, it’s so therapeutic. It’s therapy that’d be priceless to try to even pay for it all. These guys keep it going, for sure,” frontman Lee Ramsey says. 

“Premeditated” delivers a more ominous lyrical approach from Ramsay, but the flowing song structure and the smooth sounds of his backing brothers’ groove easily lighten the track in the moment. It’s an emotional roller coaster, but therapeutic for both the listener and band members, as Mize jam-reverses emotional polarity on its drive. 

And that’s just the first three songs. 

“Delorean” is back from the Irene album, and reworked, if you’re into this kind of time travel. Take me back . . . 

Find Mize and the Drive’s Louie and the Short-Time Angels on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. The band plans a vinyl release for the album scheduled to coincide with its appearance at Mayday Brewery (521 Old Salem Rd.) on Saturday, April 20 [event already passed].

Mize and the Drive‘s Louis and The Short-Time Angels press release, written by Mize and the Drive frontman, Lee Ramsey (~2/28/24):

Eight songs, two days, without overdubs. We did something somewhat similar with our first album Irene, mainly because we didn’t know any better. This time around, we did it intentionally. We wanted something live and in the moment. As a band, we always sound best when it’s organically together. We also wanted to capture the moment, where we are right now. REAL, AUTHENTIC, this is us. We are older. I don’t know about wiser, but at least more, shall we say,  “experienced”. This album captures a lot of those experiences we were dealing with as the songs were written. Anxiety, a growing rejection of the mundane in favor of finding our next adventure, and unfortunate yet unavoidable loss in many forms. Neil deGrasse Tyson mentioned that dogs provide an example of how to live in a way to make every day count. Along with that example, they also provide emotional protection through companionship on our journeys. The gray hairs come quicker than should for both of us. They leave us always too early, empty from the leaving, yet enriched from the love shared. This album is dedicated to Louie and all of the “short-time angels” who spend their time by our sides. 

Folk & Proper got a chance to sit down with all of them, that night, for a conversation twelve years in the making, and past due [on my part], but covered similar ground:

Dan Jarnagin, drums: The best story of how it happened was, so me and Cody were playing in this band, and it went fckn went south, or whatever –it stopped- and Lee decided he wanted to come over to the house and –up in some attic- and we played this song, “Antiedam Rd.” I’d never heard it before. And, so he starts doing it, and I took a video of it, and I sent it to Cody, and Cody’s like, ‘yeah, man, I’m on my way,’ and it started from there. Like, I was bummed out about not being in a band anymore, especially with him (points at Lee), because he’s, like, been the person I’ve played with, forever.  

Lee Ramsey, vocals and guitar: We played together a lot. 

Dan: Like, I thought it was over, and we put these songs together and did it in my attic, and… 

Lee: We’ve played 21 years, dude (in realization). 

All: Yeah. Yeah.  

Lee: I was 19.  

Cody Malak, lead guitar: Fckn’ A. Wow.  

All, randomly together: “David used to…,” “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”  “We start from the first album, Cody….” “We probably need to censor some of that [laughing].” 

Lee turned to F&P: Thank you for being here.
 

Alex Stevenson, Sax: That’s the thing for us, is we like playing local music, being a local band, supporting the local people.  

F&P: Supporting the local scene. 

Lee: I think there is something to that. There’s a power to it that, it’s a shared experience that makes it in the moment. Like, you can go somewhere else to see something and do things, but when we play –from the place we play in- it’s like everybody’s got that shared experience and we’re all coming together. 

Alex Stevenson: Everybody can feel at home. 

Lee: Which is pretty cool. 

Alex: Yeah. 

Dan, from back: It’s family! 

All together: “It is family!” “It’s family, and it’s home,” laughing. “…and its now  

Alex: Whether you like it or not, it’s family. 

Cody: It’s like, you’ll see us getting sht-eating grins on our face. Sometimes and I’ll look at him, and I’ll -it’s… yeah, you know when its happening, ‘Oh, man. There it goes,’ when it’s happening, and its good. May never see that again, but I love it. 

Lee: Do you have a favorite song that you’ve picked up on? 

F&P: I just like y’all’s sets. I need to look a little more through the albums for when I get asked questions like that –to be like, ‘it’s this one,’ ‘it’s this one’ (snapping), but I’m a Spotify kid that doesn’t order premium, so when I hear it, first, I’m like, ‘that one (snap).’ You guys can get me dancing, quick as hell, and I’ve got memories with you, through and through. 

Lee: It’s funny how you see that interaction –me looking up to see you- seeing you enjoy it, helped me out a lot. It got me going, too. 

Alex: It carries. Yeah. 

F&P: Is that your definition of ‘The Drive?’ -I’m just throwing them out there. 

Alex: ‘The Drive’ is a momentary thing.  

F&P: Its all of it… 

Alex: It’s everything. 

Lee: So, I think for me, like, ‘Mize’ came from –Irene came from, when we formed was the same time -it was transitioning times, and I was losing people in my life. Irene is my grandmother, and Mize is their name. That’s where it comes from. And then, the ‘Drive,’is the way that these guys allow me to take those things I’m dealing with and trying to process and focus it and put it in a way that’s musical.  

“When I look over and I see Nate crushing the bass, and Tony killing it, and Alex doing the things he does, and Ben hittin’ the rhythms, it’s so therapeutic. It’s therapy that’d be priceless to try to even pay for it all. These guys keep it going, for sure,” Lee Ramsey said. 

F&P: Original Members the whole time? 

Lee: It’s fairly close. We changed members a couple of times, but Nate was with us, and he had a kid -stepped out for a little bit, but he’s back with us, now. For the most part, we’re pretty close to the original members. 

“For the most part we’ve had the same five members for the past six plus years, but there have been a few changes,” Lee added later.

“Ben Wencil was a founding member and really had a lot to do with co- writing a lot of songs from our first album Irene. Tom Seymour has played bass and keys for us off and on. And Maddie Denton (violin) was with us for about a year while we recorded “Ash Hearts”. She has absolutely blown up recently with East Nash Grass and Dan Tyminski, so we have been cheering her on!!”

F&P: Everybody still in Murfreesboro? 

Lee: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 

F&P, agreeing: It’s been a trip. How’ve you been? 

Mize and the Drive, in unison: Good. Good. 

Lee: Doin’ well. Just trying to enjoy moments and getting new experiences along the way. 

F&P: Playing your asses off. [Lee,] you still in teaching? 

Lee: I’m still in education. Not in the classroom anymore but, a little different. 

“I’m no longer in the classroom (promoted) but still in education. I don’t mention that with band too much and try to keep the two worlds separate as much as possible,” Lee said. 

Dan: You want to know something interesting? When they left practice the other night –or rehearsal, as Cody likes to say… 

Cody: It’s not practice. It’s rehearsal. 

Off unison, a few of them: It’s rehearsal (jumbles together). 

[…]

F&P: Everything sounded wonderful, [and] by God, if you guys aren’t a tremendous influence on the Murfreesboro live scene -a driving force for the last twelve years- and even before that, a couple years, getting it together. About half-way through the first song [Oct. 28, The 5 Spot], I was funked away, so nothing’s changed about that, [and it] pulls people into Nashville [,too]. 

F&P: What’s the touring situation like? How far out are you playing? How hard is it just to get you guys together for a show like this? 

Lee: So, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes (laughs).  I think we’ve played as far out as Columbus, OH, and as far south as Atlanta, GA, and everywhere in between. Knoxville, Chattanooga. 

DJ: Watch out for Cookeville  

Lee: I think the thing, when you talk about Murfreesboro, though, is mentioning the people there that are welcoming, opening, and want to have that experience as well. We talk about Ozzy at Mayday. We talk about Kevin, at The Boro. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for those guys, as well, and just the good times and the experiences we had. 

Dan: To get free rein of Mayday Brewery –they just say, like, ‘all right, it’s your night. Come on a play a show…’ 

Alex: Come play a show. It’s yours, y’know, yeah (and other agreeing mumbles). 

Alex I think the hardest part for us is five people who have normal lives, but we love the music. We love playing together, and it’s like, ‘hey, can we make a show work on this weekend, or Thursday night, or that Friday night, or whatever? 

Lee: We’re old, now.  

Alex: Yeah. 

Lee: We have careers, and stuff to balance all of it. 

Alex: But, I think that’s kind of, like… (nodding yes). 

DJ: But I think is the great thing, too, is we’ve all advanced enough in Murfreesboro, we have the liberties to take off when we need to take off, and do the things that we need to do when we need to do them… At least, I like to say I do (Alex Tumbleson, Dan Jarnigan in grumbly voice: ‘Yeah, man… Thursday and Friday off [background chuckles]). 

F&P: I’d say that’s a mature band. You guys have gone through the ruckus of being new, you know each other well enough. That’s a good, relaxed band. 

Lee: Mature is easy to say for us when you see, like, this Santa Clause mustache going on (er’body chuckles). […] But, I think it’s also cool that the songs that we’ve playing for that long, we mix it up. Tonight’s mostly songs that’s going to be on our next album.  

Alex: Yeah. New stuff. 

Lee: There were songs we played for quite a while, now, and those songs take different meanings when we go through life experiences and different stuff that happens as well.  

Dan: We’ve literally written songs on our backs in the bonus room, and it’s raining outside and everybody’s in trouble, everybody’s wife hates them, and a song comes out, like “Long Way Down,” man. 

Alex: “Long Way Down.” That’s a good one. We haven’t heard that one in a while. 

Dan: That’s just like the epitome of –that’s just doing what we do, and Tony starts hitting [a] little thing, and Lee starts saying something, and it happens, man.  

Dan: Yeah, we’re still in trouble when we go home (all laugh) 

Lee: But we have a new song! 

Dan: We have this thing, man. 

AT: We’ve got new songs that we have never played, and that we’ve never played in their entirety. It’s like a little lick, or its a line, and we hit it every now and then, it feels really good, but we want to come back to that. It’s just a progression. Every step of the way is considered moving forward. 

F&P: Would you consider that the definition of  “The Drive?” (a few ‘pfwhews’ among them). 

Alex: Oh. I’m just -I never really think that hard at it. 

Lee: I think they’ll have their own definition, and I’ll have mine. I think mine is I get to spend time with amazing musicians. 

Nate Deese, from back: -I’m just glad they invite me to play with them every time, I mean. 

-Mize and the Drive are made up of Lee Ramsey on lead vocals and guitar, Alex Stevenson on tenor sax, Cody Malak on lead guitar, Nathan Deese mans the bass, and Dan Jarnagin on the drums.

Mize and the Drive have been running heavy in-state, this year, touring the warmer weather-to-hot, hot heat through Mayday Brewery (521 Old Salem Rd., 37130), Knoxville’s Preservation Hall, with guitarist J. Micheal Stockton (mean slide, Jerry Douglas-style), The Corner Lounge, with Small Wars (Knox punk, digital bandcamp); Murfreesboro’s Seasons Lounge; and Hop Springs, with local blues fingers, Joey Fletcher Band.

Coming up, “Two big weekends coming up in July! We’re pumped to be back in Knoxville with @smallwarsmusic at @yourcornerlounge [The Corner Lounge, 37917] on 7/20! Show at 8 PM and no cover! We’ll close the month out with @jojoboro [Joey Fletcher] at @hopsprings on 7/27. Doors at 6 PM with music starting at 7 PM. $10 in advance, $15 at door. Tickets available at the link in our bio! #murfreesboro #knoxville…” -Mize and the Drive’s Facebook page.

Connect and catalogue for Mize and the Drive’s can be found through their social links at FB, Twitter, Insta., Youtube, and Spotify, as well as their WordPress at Mize & the Drive (mizeandthedrive.com).

For a glimpse all the way back, The Pulse published an article of a Mize and the Drive live show at Murfreesboro now done, The Blue Rooster, where Puckett’s is on the square, now, but sans interview at the time: Mize and The Drive Rocks All Wednesday Night Long and Then Some More on the Weekend – The Murfreesboro Pulse (https://boropulse.com/2011/07/mize-and-the-drive-rock-all-wednesday-night-long-and-then-some-more-on-the-weekend).

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Back in the February, 2024 edition of The Murfreesboro Pulse, Nashville-natives, Malibu Blackout caught some words about their newest album, The Nights Were Wrapped in Gold:

“As a Middle Tennessee-based band unafraid to crank it up, the hard-edged riff-rock quartet Malibu Blackout completed a machine-hum-loud full-length debut with the late 2023 release of The Nights Were Wrapped in Gold, amplifying The Black Keys’ power-duo sound times two while starting to drift into the electrifying territory of The Raconteurs. 

The uniqueness of the album lies in everyone seemingly crowding the mics, all with brutalizing drive in a dense wall-of-dude-sound while lyrically regretting a breakup. The power players’ duetting dynamics reach a crescendo, possibly accidentally, in unexpected parts of the song at times (making for a good Rage Against the Machine-type overdrive in “Momento,” at least). 

More showboating from Malibu Blackout—Adam Blum (guitar), Chris Husak (vocals/drums), Cory Johnson (vocals/guitar) and David “Woody” Woods (bass)—is established in a roll-call-solo section of the coincidentally titled and introductory track “Watch Yo Step,” with all band members appearing to energetically join together on vocals, performing seemingly non-sequitur lyrics. 

The dudes spread out into a Western-styled rockabilly sound in “Big Sky.” As a dark-toned rockabilly rhythm holds up the riff-rock drive, a rasping, yelling vocal rises up with grim imagery like Worn soles, cracked palms pester me now / High noon, buzzards circling around. 

On the other hand, “Void” taps into an upbeat dance punk intention, pop-rocking heartbreak’s guilt with the careful, blame-avoidant lyric You won’t like this forever / I just want to keep you safe / I just want to relate / We’ll always be bound together / There’s not just one of us to blame, which saves face, showing wisdom in them bones as the world genuinely and complexly works in a way where it’s somehow possible for all of those emotions (guilt, pop-rocking, heartbreak and continuing a different form of love) to uncontrollably flood together. It’s quite a testament masked here. 

Find Malibu Blackout’s The Nights Were Wrapped in Gold across the icons on Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, iHeart Radio, SoundCloud and at malibublackout.bandcamp.com. Find more on the band and social media links at linktr.ee/malibublackout. 

Malibu Blackout’s next live show will be Feb. 10, 2024, from 6–8 p.m. at The 5 Spot in East Nashville with special guests The Country Punks, possibly a good “date night” for any couple-turned-old friends, continuing on. Tickets can be found at tunehatch.com/shows/26006000. 

Folk & Proper caught up with Malibu Blackout at their Portal show in Louisville, KY, March 2, 2024:  

Cory Johnson, lead vocals, guitar, IT manager: So, Pandemic happened. We had an EP we started recording in ‘20. We still decided to record it and release that fall, y’know, but we weren’t playing shows. I had my son in June of ‘21 -so, then it was like, then that happened, and it was, y’know, just trying to write and keep playing, but weren’t really that active on the scene, or anything. But, yeah, I was going through our Instagram, and those damn inboxes and how they segregate’m. I didnt’ know we were getting some in another inbox. I looked back in the last year, and somebody messaged us about playing in Louisville. That was two years ago. Here we go, I’m playing dumb, ‘Yeah, we’ll play! (laughing) And we booked. 

F&P: What are you guys up to? 

Corey: It’s definitely a passion project where it’s all, like, we all have our full-time jobs, y’know, where we’re -really the way it started, we were all in and out of bands in our twenties and early thirties. Mostly twenties. I think we were in our early thirties when we first started it, and it was like a commitment. We don’t care about shooting for the moon, or anything. We want to be a collective that plays music. We’re best friends. We’ve played music in and out of other bands together, already. Let’s do this until we’re in our 70’s, because we just enjoy it, and don’t have any expectations. That’s kind of been our philosophy. 

Andy Blum, Malibu Blackout’s Tom Morello: Can I leave the merch table? 

Cory: Get back in there (laughing. we laugh).  

Chris “Hurricane” Husak, the drummer: We’ve actually played The Boro, once.  

Cory: Yeah, then were actually in Sleep Study and Haunted Device together. I was bass, and he was drums, and there was a rhythm section. Then we had Calvin together. That was our main band after we grew up […]. We’ve known each other since we were ten. 

Chris, drummer: We were a grade school band. 

Cory: Yeah, grade school band. Had Calvin in our mid-twenties for a minute, then, yea. 

Chris: See, my old show, Dead Town, used to do show with their band 

Cory: Get over here, man. 

Andy: Hi, I’m the newest member.  

F&P: My name is Bryce, I work at the Pulse. Good to meet you.  Hell of Tom Morello you’ve got going on. I love the sht outta that. 

F&P, to all: I was gonna bring that up a second ago, that you all came from different backgrounds to form sort of a super-group, and Tom Morello was in one.  

Andy: I can go further and not cut the end of my new strings, if you want… 

F&P: It was the way you had the cord plugged into your guitar, dancing around. You look good, man. You look good. 

Woody Woods, bass handler: We’re looking to book a show in Murfreesboro, what would be the best venue for our type of venue. 

F&P: Wallstreet. Liquid Smoke. Level 3? Whisky Dix? Hop Springs, if not in trouble. House shows, like Crossroads and The Bunks, Graveyard Gallery [and] West Main St., right next to it [middle two, last sentence, shut down].

Cory: Is it still –I’m an MT grad. I went there in ‘03, and then on and off, and I finally graduated in 10, but is it still pretty much suitcase style where the best night would be Thursday night? 

F&P, repeated what said, but making sure not missing one… Mayday. 

F&P: So, what got you guys playing at The 5 Spot? 

Cory: Back when I was a freshman in college, I got into my first band in college –My Relationship with Gravity, with my, now, brother-in-law, and we played a show at The 5 Spot. I think Todd Sherwood was running the place back then in ‘03, or ‘04, or whatever, and I’d known Todd, basically… I don’t even know if I know his face, but we’ve emailed each other so many times, you know what I mean? And so, it’s like, I’ve always just kept up with him. He’s, like, one of my old –only contacts left from being around the past twenty years. Whenever we play Nashville, it’s either 5 Spot or we’ll try playing at The Basement, or something. There’re good rooms for our size, and I definitely like it. 

F&P: If there was a spot like the Basement in Murfreesboro, that’s where I want to go (then the door opening muffles my explanation of that sweet Basement ambience).

Cory: I feel like we can hold more people in than out at that 6-8 slot, honestly, and that might make somebody stick around until 11, y’know? 

F&P: What did you guys think of The Country Punks? 

Chris: Oh, I love them. 

Cory: We’ve known them –Oh, Chris is tighter with them, but yeah, we used to play with them back in bands Deadtown and Calvin. 

Chris: And Justin [Webb]. […] Yeah, we played a bunch of shows with those guys, We Were the States -his band- back in the day. They were a good band. 

Woody Woods: That night we played it was like pouring rain that night (door opening faded him out). 

F&P: New member of the band. Same age? Younger? Way younger? 

Andy: I’m 40. A couple years older, now (he looks 22), but I’ve know Corey almost twenty years. It was just kind of a thing. 

Cory: Honestly, he was golfing, and I’m like, -Dude… I feel like I was trying to wet that –grease that –wish that on you, and we didn’t really start playing music again for a while. We ended up having. 

Andy: The night that I moved to Nashville, I got a retail job, and that’s how I met Corey, and I was going to SAE over there on Demonbreun, and wanted to do the production/producer/engineering sht.  Didn’t fckn give it a shot. Joined the Marines. Got out, and then ended up moving back to Nashville. Yeah, we just kind of, like, over the years chatted about playing together. It just kinda worked out they were wanting a rhythm guitarist. 

Woody Woods: They started, and then took a pause because of the pandemic. 

F&P: That’s similar to The Country Punks, but theirs was more like six years.

Cory: ‘Cause we did our last two DIY, and I’m just like, it’s all at my house and I’m kinda just going nuts with it at this point. So, I’m ready to.  

Cory: Man, I know going way back to your original question, like, we’re just taking it where we just, like, we had a goal meeting to start this. That’s how old we are.  

Andy/Morello: we had spread sheets (laughs) 

One of them about Morello: This guys a pro. 

“So basically, our own goal, right now, is what can we do right now that’s realistic. A couple of us having kids, y’know, and [Malibu Blackout] being a passion project. We want to play, at least, a dozen shows, probably two Nashville proper shows. We already played one, and then we’ll do one probably, like, later –late fall. We’ll do The Basement, or something, and then get another ace in the cup. That’s our plan this year. […] Yes, we love it. No expectations, but we have goals,” Cory said.

F&P: Check the Basement East, too. First person to walk up to you mistakenly coming in on an off night is the person to talk to. 

Cory and Chris: They still require you to bring your own PA at The Boro? 

F&P said “yea,” [they don’t, now, since several years ago, but] they all cheered. 

Cory: Yeah, my PA is, like, my dad’s old Eliminator speakers that’re this tall apiece. Every time we played it sounded good. I loved the Metal head scene that was in Murfreesboro going.  -Little blonde dude that climbed the rafters, and he would be in a speedo with a big fckn studded belt, or something? 

Chris: Destroy Destroy Destroy.  

Corey: We were at a house party where that guy did a full lap dance.  

Corey: It could be the weed, but I don’t know. Talking to you right now is bringing me those old Boro vibes. It’s such a good community. It’s been a decade since I’ve lived there, and when you meet, like, the good Murfreesboro folk. It’s a good place, dude. 

The night of the Portal, Louisville show, March 2, 2024, Malibu Blackout played with Rattlesnake Pasta, Night Parade, and The Sleevens.

Malibu Blackout has an upcoming show with Erica Case and Justin Webb & The Noise, July 26 2024, at Inglewood venue, The Underdog, right next to the American Legion, Post 82 on Gallatin Pike.

Malibu Blackout’s re-mastered The Nights Were Wrapped in Gold is available across the icons, with their full catalogue at bandcamp, as well as a Youtube channel. Check out their linktr.ee, which has All of this in one spot, through their Facebook page (Malibu Blackout), and Insta (@malibublackout) for further details.
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Now, it was a night at The 5 Spot featuring local indie rock, and seemingly, super group, Malibu Blackout, with guests, The Country Punks, February 10, 2024, but due to missing such a coincidence, F&P had to travel both space and time to Louisville, up top, as well as May 2023, to Nashville neighborhood, Inglewood, to the Legion Post, No. 85, for the Country Punks’ Psychic Says premiere show.  

Also, in the March 2024 issue of The Murfreesboro Pulse, Nashville-local band, The Country Punks were covered with words on their newest release, Psychic Says:

“For every four out of five “country punks” now walking around Nashville in agreement that Lawrenceburg, Tennessee-based alt-country/indie rock quintet The Country Punks reached a 15-year evolutionary pinnacle with the release of their third studio album, Psychic Says (released out of DistroKid in May 2023), there’s still one banging out hooks on an old Casio keyboard at 3 a.m. screaming “it still ain’t good enough!” 

A brainchild of frontman Ty Gang, The Country Punks have honed a sound that resonates with colloquial weirdness—a fascination with The Strokes’ first Rolling Stone articles, a Lou Reed-leaning vocal style and guitarist Tyler Hill’s Chuck Berry/Albert Hammond Jr.-inspired riffs. The group of hometown friends have spent the past 15 years punching out song arrangements, transplanting their distinct musical vision from the late-aughts Murfreesboro scene to Nashville, and going on to record Psychic Says in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. 

Time itself is ready for change / In the next life you’re gonna shake that thing, frantically opens the album, with Gang delving into existential paradoxes and drawing inspiration from biblical concepts to navigate self-imposed races against time, somehow balancing all of that with the Punks’ uptempo pace, some “oi, oi”s and soothing strings. 

Psychic Says traverses honky-tonk numbers and surfer jams, each song sounding as if it were recorded in the back of a Blazer or inside a barrel. 

But another lyrical paradox comes soon enough in “Peroxide Blonde,” as Gang explores the modern curse of selling one’s soul while seeking love. 

The standout track “Put a Record On” channels the spirit of Leonard Cohen, while Psychic Says’ answer to “Free Bird” is an eight-minute version of “Pills in My Pocket,” which was a two-minute version on the 2010 Country Punks debut E.P. that started this whole endeavor. 

Find Psychic Says by The Country Punks—in addition to Gang and Hill, also made up of children’s book author and Perry Countian Justin Webb on rhythm, Will Pettus on bass and Brock Benson, formerly of Murfreesboro’s Pee Pee Skin, on the skins—on Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music and iHeart. The Country Punks’ recent sporadic live performances have included engagements at American Legion Post 82 in Inglewood and East Nashville’s The 5 Spot, and the band has possibly, slowly formed an alliance with several other Murfreesboro-area bands; more to come on that scene soon.” 

Folk & Proper caught up with Country Punks’ lead guitarist, Tyler Hill, outside of the Post No. 85 in Inglewood, the night of their Psychic Says album release party:

Tyler Hill, lead guitarist, Country Punks: I actually hate shows. 

F&P: Do you really? 

Tyler: Yeah, yeah. Once I’m up there, it’s fine, and I enjoy it. It’s just the anticipation, prior. 

F&P: I haven’t seen you guys in ten years. 

Tyler: It’s all our friends, y’know. This place is so cool. I did –when I drove up here, I got a little more calm. This place is cool.  

Tyler: We recorded at Muscle Shoals. Muscle Shoals Sound. The second location is called [Cypress Moon Studios], now, but it’s the second location of Muscle Shoals Sound.  

F&P: Did you [organize] it? 

Tyler: Ty and I started working on songs, like in Covid, just cause we were bored. Then we would record demos –I’ve got, like, a Logic downloaded, so we could make these demos. We let people listen to them, and they kind of liked them, and I was out of school, and they just kind of booked. We tried to go record a record with another guy that was a fckn asshle and it just wasn’t working. We just kind of –it just wasn’t working. We ended up sending to the old members of the band, ‘hey, would you guys be, like, interested, in like, doing this, because Will’s got three kids, Brocks got two kids, and Justin’s got two kids, and so we just started kinda practicing and then [booked with —– at Muscle Shoals?] and recorded it in Muscle Shoals in two different sessions. 

Tyler: For Muscle Shoals, pretty much the pandemic was all over, for the most part. 

Tyler: We did four songs the first time, and five the second time. And then we’re able to actually mix two from the other recording sessions, so it wasn’t a total loss. 

F&P: Will have anything to do with [that?] He produced the first one, right? 

Tyler: He –yeah. In the studio, he was super helpful. From a production standpoint, he was doing that, he was doing this. Our production engineer was really good, too.  

Tyler: In the studio, there’s no –its all, like, analog stuff. There’s no internet,  so we would have to go into the studio and like, since we had no internet, like digitally hit some tracks, then make notes, and send that back, but Brock [Benson, original Country Punks drummer] played guitar. One of those ripping solos, that’s Brock. 

F&P: Congrats. 

Tyler: I don’t mean to sound –but Ty even said neither one of us would have done it had we known how fckn arduous it was gonna be. 

F&P: It’s that grit, man.  

Tyler: Yeah. I mean, we went through –we call them cooling off periods, where we’d just not talk about this for a month. 

Tyler: I’m here with my wife. You haven’t met my wife! 

Country Punks frontman, Ty Gang, walks up:  

Ty Gang, lead vocalist, Country Punks: I’m gonna do a full podcast of the story about this whole album. Gonna be the history of the Country Punks. We’re gonna need, like, the world history, or whatever. It’s a long fckn lot of sht, and the recording of this had a lot of drama. 

Zane, Ty Gang’s lawyer friend chimes in: I keep hearing these vague descriptions about fights, but I can’t get out of him what actually happened. 

F&P: They have to have “cool off” periods. 

Ty, gets a weird look in his eye. 

Zane: Yeah. Maybe. 

Tyler, laughs: Our cool off periods. 

Zane, to Tyler: I’m gonna have to ask you what happened, because he won’t tell me. He just… 

Tyler: Nothing. 

Zane: These vague generalizations of, like, fights, but… 

Tyler: Wouldn’t you say it’s like the most minor sht? I mean, just the most minor sht, but turned into… 

Ty: It’s so passive aggressive, you intuitively know it’s time to back away. 

F&P: Hey, that shows maturity when you can recognize that stuff.  

Ty: True, though, right? 

F&P: You’re the winner in that case. 

Country Punk, Ryan Kennedy walks up: As bad as I’ve seen them fight, you’ve never seen them on a tennis court. You’re like, waitaminute… 

Zane: I’ve heard about that. 

Ty: That’s a whole ‘nother level, man. 

Tyler: Tennis is the worst. 

Ryan: I think you guys are, like, deep in your tennis phase. 

Ty: They say that tennis brings the worst out of me, personally, but I think it brings out the worst in people in general.  

Tyler: It brings out the worst in me. When I play sports, I become McEnroe, unusually. 

Ryan: And not the good part of McEnroe. 

Ty: It’s supposed to be a gentleman’s… but yeah, it’s really not. It’s a fcking boxing match with a ball and a racket.  

Zane: I just –I want, like, four or five rackets to the side so I can keep… 

Tyler: Oh, yeah, there’s nothing more satisfying than smashing a racket. 

Ty: I, like, threw the racket way, and actually threw it way awkwardly then I meant to, and it went way over the fence and into some lady’s field… 

Ty: Tyler! […] I pissed and threw my racket and it hit Tyler in the crotch one day. 

Tyler: It did. I got hit with a racket one day. I also hit a ball at Ty, one day. We didn’t talk for a while.  

Ty: It’s a year… I guess it’s the two-year anniversary –it was Memorial Day weekend. I hit a ball over the fence and had to go get it, and I had all white on. And I had to get out of the car, and I’m like, ‘I’m not getting out of that car. Let’s just open up a new can. He says, ‘what do you mean open up a new can? Get the fckn ball.’ 

Ty: I’m like, ‘I’m wearing all white. Man, I’m not getting dirty, and we just got into this huge fight, man 

Tyler: My dad just came out, and I’m like, ‘Your pants are gonna get dirty?! 

Ty: We used basically our old songs, and we had rocks off, I guess. Uh, other Wisconsin. Had a dude playing saxophone  

Ty: Feels good. We’re playing 10-11 songs.  

Ty: Like, its so many gd words. Like, it’s a lot of words, period, because I write a lot of words, and now I don’t have that elasticity where I can memorize a lot of words.

F&P: Pnuemonic devices? 

Ty: The other day, you hear randomly, -like some words will come to me and I’m like, ‘where the fck did that word come from?’ I never do it twice, though. 

Zane: I would say that’s my whole life. 

Ty: I’ll be with somebody and say there’s like 75 words in my bank that I can pull out one time in my life, and that happens all the time, but then later on I can’t remember it. 

Ty: We’re doing a cover song.  

Ty: I just want to look for cues. Like, I write the songs for cues –I’m inside the song. I know the symmetry of it. From outside the song, I can’t see the symmetry of it.  

F&P: You gotta come in from the top instead of from the bottom up. 

The Country Punks lineup that night included Nashville’s The Brothers Moore suite, which usually includes three extra bands with different combinations of The Moore Brothers, but this evening, it was only Ballerina Jones with Brian and the Middle brother opening for Country Punks, including Ben Moore sitting in on the bass.

The Country Punks make resurgences when can based on availability, grit, and the day’s conversation, and recently, they’ve been playing Buffalo River Resort, with Skinny Molly and Sydney Mays. As stated in the Malibu Blackout section, there’s an upcoming show Justin Webb & The Noise (Justin Webb, a member of the Country Punks) will play with Erica Case and Malibu Blackout at Nashville’s The Underdog, right next to the American Legion on Gallatin Pike, July 26, 2024.

“The new album is live everywhere,” when you ask a Country Punk.

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Making the fifth spot in 5 Spot Hot Dad Bod Rock’s incidental collective is Murfreesboro lone-wolf Rick Danko, Roland Justice, who has been making another push in appearances, this year, not only turning Woods Viking Barbershop on Murfreesboro square S into the new Bluebird Cafe, but as well as getting some aggression out at the 5 Spot, recently, sharing a bill with Shane & The Moneymakers, playing the hits from his latest, Monophonic Love, (there are multiple) along with some newer in the works.

Justice’s latest passion push from 2021, Monophonic Love, was covered in the Murfreesboro Pulse, January 2022:

“Nashville-area singer-songwriter/acoustic guitarists are plentiful, and Murfreesboro’s Cincinnati-area-transplant of “Nashville Cat”-ilk Roland Justice has added another straw to the camel’s back with his third full-length studio album, Monophonic Love, a solid production of 11 alternative-Americana originals that each get progressively better.

By the time listeners get to the eighth or ninth tracks, they may realize Murfreesboro’s John Salaway and other area songwriters have some friendly competition as area ears may embrace earworms like “Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine.”

Monophonic Love, composed over a four-year period, seems to draw from the usual Americana influences: The Band’s Rick Danko and Levon Helm (“Ghost,” “First of April”); Bruce Springsteen (“Paradise Road”); and Jeff Tweedy/Wilco (“Homecoming”) to establish the album’s overall modern Murfreesboro Americana, dancing-in-the-kitchen sentiment.

Alternatively, Justice blends fat saxes and Billy Gibbons blues riffs in the roadhouse mash “Built for Speed.” Here, though, he gets a little carried away, screaming I feel like a motherless child, a tired cliche not unlike the current overuse of the term “cakewalk,” as time has “telephone gamed” the meaning of such phrases.

The album’s opener, “Come and Get Your Happiness,” plays with a dark, ethereal mood reminiscent of Neko Case. This can potentially bewilder listeners at the beginning, setting an expectation soon upended by the second track, the earthy and nostalgic “Homecoming.” After a full listen to the album, however, “Come Get Your Happiness” reveals itself as simply one of many influence nuances that keep the flow of Monophonic Love ceaselessly interesting.

The album’s autobiographical lyrics tap into roots-level themes: a young man’s pursuit of an ambition to become a songwriter in Nashville, devout love progressing to marriage through country sweet-nothings, and the Americana staple of a nostalgic familial homestead, states away, where a beloved father makes the best influence.

Monophonic Love’s tracks are seemingly ordered by an increase of lyrical integrity and sentimental value. You can hear the difference when you get to “Ghost,” co-written with fellow Cincinnatian Victor Shtrom. Then, the album just gets better, sweeter and more progressively thoughtful in familial sentiment through the remaining songs, solely written by Roland. Perhaps, Shtrom lit a fire under Justice.

The only thing separating Roland from what Nashville wants in its Cats is a heavy accolade, such as a Grammy.

Fans of well-crafted and diverse roots-based music will join me in thanking Justice for genuinely adding to Americana with such nuances as heard on Monophonic Love.”

Find Roland Justice’s Monophonic Love at rolandjustice.com; hard copies of the album are available on CD and he has a 12-inch vinyl.”

Justice’s resurgence/this year’s push has included quite the brewery residency with appearances at Cedar Glade Brew, Middle Ground Brewing, Panther Creek Brewery, Hop Springs, and Mayday Brewery, with appearances at Murfreesboro’s warm weather, “Lunch on the Plaza,” season, as well as events at Murfreesboro private venue, The Warehouse. It wouldn’t be surprising to find him busking a corner anywhere between, if the suns out.

You can find more on Roland Justice, updates, contacts, and future performances on his social sites at Facebook (Roland Justice Music), and Instagram (@rolandjusticemusic, and his linktree, there, that has all of this in a pretty package, linktr.ee/rolandjusticemusic). Those spots, too, for any announcements on Woods Vikings BarberShop’s up and coming Friday Local Musicians Corner.
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Extra:

And as always, taking the concept above and beyond with unadulterated Murfreesboro talent, pushing the fives to sixes when needed, and with very little clue how many of these kids out here are his, Nashville’s Richie Kirkpatrick, formerly of Murfreesboro house-legend, Ghostfinger, has been post-Ghostfinger’d, pop-up, party trio-quartet, Ri￠ hie [Richie with a cent sign, or RIcHIE] since 2011, with both his acts engrained in our blood enough to land him an opening spot at The Protomen’s 20th anniversary apocalypse at Madison’s The Eastside Bowl, April 27th, 2024 in which RiChie was straight-up Richie Kirkpatrick again for a room full of people he grew up with.

Richie’s reasoning for continuance can be found simply enough in the titles from his releases under RIcHIE with a cent sign for the c, which has become as straight-a-forward how-to, lyrically, on how to create an immediate and spontaneous rock scene for the likes of anyone even closely liking anything that comes out of Nashville, and with his steeping in country, rock, and parties, there’s some going, fighting, and winning to be had.

There’s an article in the Pulse about Ghostfinger containing an element of theirs that, when included, better defines the reasoning of The Pulse’s current scoring system, for anyone curious (Believe the Legend: Ghostfinger’s Reunion Show Set for May 13 – The Murfreesboro Pulse). It’s how these guys effect other’s lives, as well, like a socio-journalism, and any surrounding serendipity included along with the way and on top of the musicality, vocality, lyricism, and production value. 

RIcHIE’s been active this year rocking out some guitars made at the bench, and on stage with that cool glitch tap effect he has, now, on the 4/27 guitar – and onstage around the Eastside Bowl, The 5 Spot, and Chattanooga’s Cherry St. w/Justin and the Cosmics (not Webb).

RIcHIE’s next appearance will be at Brown’s Diner on 21st and Blair, next to Friedman’s Army Navy Store (about to close for good! Get your cheap retractable batons and slapjacks!), July 17, 2024 with with Jeffrey Novak, and Country Westerns.

Richie can be found at their socials on Facebook (RIcHIE), INstagram (@sweetbabyrichie). Richie’s full catalogue can be accessed through the bandcamp pages of his singles over the last 14 years, starting with “Welcome to My Dreams,” at WELCOME TO MY DREAMS | RI¢HIE (bandcamp.com) (https://myrichie.bandcamp.com/album/welcome-to-my-dreams).

The 5 Spot is located at 1006 Forest Ave, Nashville, TN 37206, and can be reached by telephone at (615) 650-9333.