Having spent the previous night at The Grand Old Opry with a number of established artists, tonight would be spent with artists who maybe have dreams of one day being asked to step into the magic circle. The Oak Live is an upstairs venue well away from the hustle and bustle of the main strip of bands playing covers on multiple levels of the same building, competing with bands doing exactly the same in the building next door and the one across the road, making an incessant cacophony of noise. The venue is full of tall square tables with high legged chairs, it is fair to say that the atmosphere is quite lively, the acts really have to earn the attention of some of the watching audience. The event is free, not even a tip jar yet the quality will be extremely high.
This is the fourth songwriters round of the evening and #TEAMw21 have already seen the tail end of one round, and another complete round go by.
What has drawn us here is a chance to see Macartney Reinhardt live, someone #TEAMw21 have championed for some years now, our aim is to see if she can deliver live all of the promise that her released work has shown so far.
As the assembled acts take their place, Macartney is to the far left as you look at the stage, she is quite tiny and with the other artists all seeming like giants, it only adds to making her appear more petite. Her outfit is one that we have seen in her publicity photos, long black boots, and shorts.
Adjacent to Macartney, a tall gent with blonde hair perhaps even longer than Macartneys, is Casey Daniels, the only one of the male performers wearing his cap the correct way round!
Next was a fireman come singer Cam Bogle, he had a definite presence and a voice that would rattle the foundations, which made at least one member of #TEAMw21 go a little weak at the knees. Making up what would become a most formidable quartet was Thunderstorm Artis , The billing had him planned for the previous round and with minutes to go it looked like he was not going to make this one either. Sporting what we in the UK might call a bit of a Christmas jumper, he had big glasses and a matching smile ,an early lazy comparison would be that he was giving off Breland vibes. Even while waiting though, a little pre show research showed that he had been runner up on The Voice and was more than an artist in his own right.
The first round would open with Macartney playing “Word Gets Around”, a nice circular song that sees events change as the lyrics unfold. Sitting cross legged on her stool, the first thing that struck us was the power in her voice, she may be tiny in frame but her ability to project was great. Her guitar playing also confident, no need for an additional guitarist as we have seen some performers require.
As the songs lyrics start to turn in her favour there’s a slight change in her delivery, as she details the plus points of her new boyfriend as opposed to the cheating one, In a little bit of stage craftsmanship, Macartney would leave the final line
“I’m better off without you“
just hanging in the air for a few seconds, letting the audience fill the gap with a sterling round of applause.
Second up in the round was Casey Daniels, purveyor of some introspective singer songwriting with “Nothing Left To Loose”, which seemed to reflect back on a love lost. It came packed full of tiny little details.
Third on the opening round was Cam Bogle, an indication of the depth of his voice came from his spoken introduction, where he explained that he’d moved to Nashville 2 years earlier. His song about dating his Landlady “What’s Already Gone” was a little cracker – he would joke that the relationship lasted as long as the lease but either way he got a good tune out of it,
“I know you're wishing we can turn back time
Get back to the days that I'd called you mine
We fell outta love, we should've known, this never felt like home
Girl it's time for you stop holdin' on to what's already gone”
The final lines delivered in a mega low bass voice.
Hawaiian born, Thunderstorm Artis, revealed himself to be happily married, he would close out the first round with “Don’t Let Me Let You Go” which had a gently picked guitar intro leading onto verses with the lyrics rapidly fired out and a chorus that let Thunderstorm move to a powerful, soulful rasp of a delivery that was highly impressive
Round 2 would see Macartney Reinhardt play another of her singles “Hey Girl”, a song with a delightful melody in the verses leading to a chorus which afforded her the opportunity to truly grab the audience’s attention with lyrics that seemed to get louder with each line. A sign of the impression that it made was that the tune was still rattling around in our mind, a few days later. Finishing with a little guitar outro and a broad smile, our faith in Macartney was well and truly being rewarded.
Casey’s second song “Bad Habits” was a slower strummed affair about loving things that you shouldn’t.
With lines like
“I sold you a promise that I could not keep”
it was passionately delivered
"My love for you is just a bad habit” repeated being the final lines.
Cam Bogle’s second was a strumming intense affair, “No Control” his voice unlikely as it sounds seemed even deeper this time round. Thunderstorm would close out the second round, doing his introduction while playing guitar, explaining that this was as if he was talking to his 16 year old self. It was an optimistic song, “Better Things Are Coming For You” pointing out that no matter how bad things may seem, the bad times will eventually pass. At one point Casey would add an additional guitar line, Thunderstorm would look over, acknowledge and smile. By the time he finished, we were all a little uplifted and the room felt like a Voice recording session!!
All too soon we were in the final third round, Macartney as ever would lead out with another of her singles, “High Horse”, and once again the room reverberated to her powerful vocals. The word horse on the
“Giddy up on that High Horse”
line was delightfully extended and seemed to endlessly swirl around the room. This completed a trio of excellent performances and was received with an extended round of applause.
Casey Daniels final song was a storyteller song, “It Starts With A Drink”, full of drama, his voice rising in volume and becoming raspier on this intense rendition.
Cam Bogle would close out his contributions with “Walking Out The Door”, his 2021 single about falling out of love yet wishing the best for the person. Sung in a slightly softer voice than his previous efforts, a rare thing in Nashville, a good term break up song.
Finishing off a pretty much faultless hour of tunes was Thunderstorm Artis “To My Last Dying Breath”, another song that went from an initial soft delivery to a full on vocal blockbuster, with a big extended note. The sentiment of just being there to lean on rather than being needed as a fixer, was a lovely thought on which to close out the round and indeed the evening.
A splendid evening spent watching eleven artists giving their all, learning their craft and hoping that they might just get noticed - well tonight some of them most certainly did
