I learned something really early on in my friendship with Nashville’s newest Americana-folk buzz band, Judah & the Lion: When these guys play a show, people show up en masse. When I booked them for a showcase in January, I had no idea what to expect from the show. I had heard their first EP, First Fruits, and enjoyed it, and had heard buzz around Belmont’s campus, but on that warmer-than-usual mid-week night in January, nothing could have prepared me for the 250+ people that packed into Red Earth Trading Co’s pop-up shop in Hillsboro Village for an old-fashioned big tent revival. After curating nearly 30 shows over the first year of Cause A Scene, we had our fair share of bands play our shows. Judah & the Lion on that night seemed to transcend them all, with a sound and performance that made it seem impossible for that show to really be one of the very first shows they had ever played.
Since then, I’ve seen them garner quite a bit of attention and well-warranted praise from their latest EP, Sweet Tennessee, with the six-track album rising to #1 on iTunes Singer/Songwriter charts and breaking the Top 25 overall on the same platform. This week, Judah & the Lion released their brand-new video for the title track of the album, and it seems to simply reinforce the magic that this band has on stage and the fact that wherever this band plays, crowds tend to show up and fill the room. It’s a trend that shows no signs of changing anytime soon.
If you’re in Nashville, there’s a few chances to catch the band live, first at the Americana Music Festival in mid-September, again at Musician’s Corner in Centennial Park on October 12, and finally in November opening for Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors at the Cannery Ballroom. Something tells me that the vast majority of the fans and friends in this video will be at all three.
– Larry Kloess
