East Nashville 'More Music From The Other Side Vol.3' Red Beet

There's a thriving community of songwriters and musicians living in the low-rent section of town know as East Nashville. It has little to do with the big machine that consumes artists up there on Music Row. It is an inter-active network that produces some of the best music coming from the town known as Music City. It offers a varied and mixed stew of music that, in truth, has as little to do with traditional country as has much of Nashville's mainstream releases. Rather it is a haven to the art of the below-the-radar singer/songwriter. Volume 1 was a double CD that was produced by label founder Eric Brace, as is this volume. A few of the artists from the initial set are also featured here, something to do with the transient natute of the working troubadour. Among those who appear on both are Kieran Kane, Stephen Simmons, Kevin Gordon, Tom Mason and Tim Carroll all of whom contribute some of the best music on offer. Some of the songs are unreleased, like Elizabeth Cook's On The Wire, which is a little different from her usual output being rockier with a distorted guitar backing that offers a wider view of her talent. Given that the songs on such compilations are not usually the best song from an artist's album, understandably, it is a perfect vehicle to use an used track or to give the listener an idea of what an artists music is like in the main. In that light it makes you want to check out artists you may not have heard before. Artists like Matt Urmy whose Renaissance Rodeo has a Todd Snider sense of wordplay and underlying humour. Nashville treasure Phil Lee opens and closes the album with tracks from his So, Long It's Been Good To Know You and if you don't know Phil Lee then this is a good way to check him out along with 18 other East Nashville residents. No matter where they've come from. Say hello to antipodeans Audrey Auld and Anne McCue. Check out Red Beet and its other release at www.redbeatrecords.com and for links to the sites of the artists featured here.You won't be disappointed.