A Nashville Sunset – Franklin Theatre

The Franklin Theatre, Nashville, TN July 26th, 2024

No blog is interesting if the person writing it is always sunshine and roses. Entertainers are the worst at transparency as the majority of them are too opportunistic to ever be that honest. I’ll try to maintain my commitment to authenticity here. But I still abide by the lessons of my mentor Brenda Lee.  She always told me, “Be kind to everyone you meet, because you meet the same people on the way up as you do on the way back down.” So in the spirit of that eternal proverb, my simple preface to this post is…it’s not you, it’s me.

If selling tickets to a show in a major city isn’t hard enough, entertainment cities are the worst challenge of all. Most bookers in LA, NYC or Nashville have such a high opinion of their venue that they practically think you should pay them to perform. In addition, the U.S. mindset of purchasing music based almost exclusively on social currency is nowhere better exemplified than in an entertainment city.

The way to play any of these three cities is to be a part of the community that city is known for.

New York City. I love you. I belong to you. You belong to me. And I can’t wait for my next kiki with you. I may not book here often, but it’s only because it’s the most expensive city on a tour and it pays the least of any venue on the tour. But I know one thing. If I’m there, my theatre family shows up and we have a love fest. 

LA. I lived there. I’ve played there. But I do not actively seek bookings here. It has the same issue as NYC in that it’s expensive and the venues pay so little. But you also have to consider that everyone in LA is in the business. Therefore, most people are consumed with their own career goals too much to really see other shows, unless their appearance at your show is a good look for them. That’s just a cornerstone of the culture and economy there: self-promotion culture. Which I support healthy self promotion! No shade! It’s just a swim upstream. And I’ll add, this is likely the one city most motivated by social currency when making their social calendar, so if you’re not #trending, you may have a difficult time getting people to commit.

But Nashville. Oh, Nashville. 

Talking about not being a stranger to your culture and community, I’m eighth generation Tennessean on both sides. My great grandmother picked banjo with Lester Flatt on her back porch in White County, TN. I’m a Belmont graduate. Any of those three things would definitely put me in the in-crowd, right? A little? Explore commonalities?

I’ve tried to cultivate an annual audience in Nashville for years. Less and less people come. There’s a social currency hurdle, like LA. But when I decided to bring my Broadway concert to Franklin Theatre, I just knew the local theatre community would come out! 

Didn’t show. Didn’t care. It’s a country music culture through and through. Admittedly, Franklin Theatre barely if at all promoted my show to their patrons. They don’t have to sell my show – they’re very well funded. About sixty people came. Lovely people both on staff and in the audience. But I officially fatigued of my efforts to make Nashville happen. So with that, I cross that city off my list for good. Like I said, it’s not you, it’s me. 

It was a good show. I’ve done better. I shortened it to one 70 minute act. There were a few ladies at the Franklin show who the following month came to my Broadway show at the Princess Theatre in East Tennessee. They were stunned at the difference in their experience.  A full house of exuberant theatre lovers getting a two-act concert stuffed with a ton of songs they had never heard me do before. They were so excited to feel the electricity of that house. And were taken back by the contrast in experience.

When an audience really connects with how I am being of service to them through music, you can’t force me off the stage. I will bleed for them. 

And looks like no blood will be spilled in Nashville.

Remember that proverb I started this blog post with?

Brenda’s right. Be kind. And we always are no matter the circumstances. I pride myself on that.

But a proverb I would share with the generation behind me is this.

Go where the love is.

Just learn to go where the love is. It’s that simple.

You may wanna remind yourself of that sometime. 

Below are a couple pictures backstage at the Franklin, a soundcheck photo and my picture with a couple of friends who came.