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Photos: Moments By Moser

Lately it seems, diverse artists and their recordings have far different backstories than the ordinary, “Hey, let’s make a record and see if it sells” (e.g. veteran Bat McGrath’s latest). A few nights ago, I caught Erica Stone at her unusual debut CD-and-more release party for Antidote where, ironically, Stone’s CD got tangled up somewhere in production or shipping and was unavailable at the party. Like a seasoned performer, that little glitch seemed to be the last thing on her mind.

Fittingly held at Analog,* probably Nashville’s most unusual venues, because “unusual” applies to many things where Stone is concerned, not the least, the reason that sent her on a hiatus from music for about a decade, just about the time when she was a pen click away from a label deal. That reason is fully explained in her pageturner book Gray, A Story Of Loss, released almost in tandem with her CD Antidote, and was available at the party.

Stone and her band, Brian Bunn (guitar), Josh Reedy (keys and guitar), Jackson Epply (bass) and Chris Kimmerer (drums) came to play, and play they did. They recreated half of the CD, interspersed with Stone’s short anecdotes of what had been occupying her time (Semi Spoiler Alert: The girl went to Africa, and it wasn’t for the same reason Toto did. She was over there, trying her best to rescue orphans from a hellhole known as Sierra Leone.). Her songs are well crafted in both music and lyrics and her themes are far more universal than you what you would think.

In spite of the drama and horror show she encountered in her several African trips, the songs I heard are hopeful and musically quite interesting. Although her musical tone is quite different from Leonard Cohen’s, she did paraphrase him when she spoke about the cracks letting the light get in as part of her muse. I am now looking forward to hearing all of Antidote and telling Elmore readers about it in the very near future.

—Ken Spooner

*Re: Opulent and unusual Analog. I first heard of this venue when Tommy Emmanuel and John Knowles played it in February. John told me the acoustics were spectacular for what they were doing, and the YouTube vids of their performance certainly bear that out. What was eye opening, is the decor and atmosphere that goes along with this intimate venue. Sitting in its balcony, I did find that bass tones masked the vocals somewhat, considering Jackson Eppley was using a compact sized bass amp. Overall, Analog is a very comfortable and visually pleasing environment to catch live music. See it for yourself HERE.