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June 06, 2006
Nashville – June 2006 - Day 3 Continued
Sunday Evening, June 4 - On Sunday evenings the Bluebird Café hosts the “Sunday Spotlight” featuring up and coming artists and songwriters, followed by the “Writers Night” which has been hosted for the past 17 years by Jeff Pearson.
The Writers Night consists of 10 songwriters invited by the Bluebird to perform three songs each. This is followed by a 30 minute set with the featured writer, who on this night was Gerald Smith, of “Hee Haw” fame (I knew I should have watched that show!).
Rachel Williams was the featured Sunday Spotlight artist.
This was my first opportunity I had the chance to hear her perform.
She’s only 20, but she has the stage presence and moves of a seasoned performer, (she started young!) and is developing into a fine songwriter.
After her set came the weekly writers’ night. Sheryl was performer number 8.
She sang “Love Shows Up”, “Red Hat”, and “Who Could Ask for More Than This.”
It’s amazing how quickly 15 minutes goes by when you are on the stage at the Bluebird!
Now I thought she was outstanding, and was really starting to connect with the audience by the time of the third song.
Sheryl did not think she did that well, but I’ve always believed that if you are a musician and performer of quality, you will almost always give a good performance, no matter how you feel.
Of course, coming up and doing three songs, without a sound check, in a potentially stressful situation such as “playing the Bird”, makes it nearly impossible to get comfortable. Indeed, we always see a performer or two who is visibly nervous in this situation, even to the point of observing their hands shaking a bit.
But everyone made it through, without any “train wrecks”.
One thing that’s makes the Bluebird such a coveted venue is the legendary attentiveness of the audience. This is truly a songwriters’ room. No competing with cell-phone yakkers, arguing couples, noisy unsupervised kids, or whirring blenders and hissing cappuccino machines.
The audience is paying attention, and it’s always interesting to see the reactions that the various songwriters receive from the audience members.
I would roughly categorize the various audience member reactions as:
1. Wow! Why isn’t this person a star!?!?
2. I could listen to this person all day. Who is she, and where can I hear her again? I realize that this artist may never become a mainstream star, but I would like to know more about her.
3. Wake me when he’s through. I will clap out of sheer politeness.
4. Uh, OK, of all the songs I’ve heard, that was one of them. How did he ever get in?
5. This person needs professional help, but I liked what he did!
I think the reaction to Sheryl fell firmly into category 2.
There were a couple of writers who fell into category 1 (they were young and female).
There was one fellow who combined comedy and songwriting, was definitely hilarious, and unquestionably a category 5.
There were a few songwriters in category 3 or 4, but unfortunately (fortunately?) I can’t remember their names, or their songs.
There were several category 2’s, and we made sure to get their names and contact information.
Posted by leon at June 6, 2006 10:55 AM