Brother, Sister Hazel Is A Great Band

Friday, March 12, 2009 To have been together for as long as they have, the Gainesville, Florida-based band, Sister Hazel, sure seem to be "Happy" to still be together and playing great music. We caught up with the band once again (this was Rob's fourth time seeing them and Ashlee's second) at The Wildhorse Saloon down on busy Second Avenue in downtown Nashville. Since it was a Friday night, we hopped on the late afternoon Music City Star train leaving near our house in Lebanon and rode it downtown so we both could imbibe a bit and not worry about driving. Unfortunately, the latest return train leaves Nashville at 9:30 PM which wasn't of any use to us since the show didn't start until 8 PM and Sister Hazel didn't take the stage until 9. So we arranged for a car service to take us back home a little after midnight. We did this last year during the Crawfish Boil: http://collagebarrage.blogspot.com/2008/05/twist-em-pinch-em-suck-em-chase-em.html and it worked out great. This time was even better because we got a much better rate for the car service using Metro Livery. Nice clean sedan, polite and safe driver. Money well spent. http://metrolivery.com/ After getting off the train we had an early dinner at Big River Brewery and enjoyed their new Irish Red Lager they had on tap. The rain held off for our short walk over to The Wildhorse. Doors opened at 6 and we showed up arond 6:45 and their was a line to get in the place. It moved quickly at least and we found a table on the main floor and Ashlee was introduced to the wonderful taste of Newcastle Brown Ale (she's given up wine for Lent and it's opened quite an avenue for discovering the great taste of well-made beer - wonder if she'll ever go back?). Opening for Sister Hazel was Michelle Malone who we thought was trying a little too hard to look and sound like Sheryl Crow, but after a few songs it was evident that her sound was actually a little harder than Crow's and not half bad. We abandoned our table when Sister Hazel took the stage and moved on to the main floor within just a few feet of the stage. The band's latest album release was an acoustic set of their greatest hits and crowd favorites, but it was evident after just a few seconds that this was NOT going to be an acoustic concert. The boys took off running and never looked back for an hour and a half of their best songs like "Your Winter" - "Swan Dive" - "Beautiful Thing" plus a great version of The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does." They closed the show with their amazing power ballad "Champagne High." This was the first concert that either of us had seen at The Wildhorse and we were impressed. Nice large venue, good acoustics and great sight lines from all over three floors. We opted to pay a few more dollars for a "meet-n-greet" with the band backstage after the show and weren't sure what to expect. Would it be a long wait and then an assembly-line-like procession with a quick intro and autograph opportunity?? Nope, it was a real meet and greet in a nice roomy lounge backstage just a few minutes after the show with the guys just mingling with the fans taking pictures, shaking hands and signing autographs. We met each of the band members, Ken, Ryan, Drew (who looks a lot like our friend, Kevin Swinger), Jett and Mark. They each signed a "Chasing Daylight" CD jacket of ours and posed for a few pics. The Wildhorse also had a staff photographer on site taking pictures of fans with the band that they post to their website and let you download for free. A very impressive and enjoyable overall experience. Looks like we will have to visit The Wildhorse again if the right opportunity comes along. After our brush with minor stardom we still had about 45 minutes before our car was scheduled to pick us up, so we dodged the raindrops once again and walked over a few blocks on Broadway to check out The Big Bang - a dueling piano bar that we had heard good things about....we heard right...man, what a fun place!! They were in full swing when we got there banging out one great sing-a-long tune after another. The place is small but there is plenty of seating. We have definitely got to get back down here and spend more time at this fun place!