penny & sparrow | Cause A Scene Music

Communion Club Night returns to Mercy Lounge tomorrow (Thursday), May 15th. This month, enjoy the breadth of styles from eight bands hitting their touring stride. The camaraderie will be palpable with our first three bands deep into a dozen dates together, and the others routing through spirited road calendars of their own. As per usual, doors open at 7:00 PM and music will begin promptly at 8:00 PM. Get your tickets here for $9.50 in advance or $15 DOS.

Here’s the rundown: Neulore comes out strong, boasting muscular, modern folk with expansive and cinematic peaks. The Nashville natives scored a deal with the music supervision titan Alexandra Patsavas’ Chop Shop Records (Twilight, Grey’s Anatomy) earlier this year, but haven’t forgotten their roots.

Pulling themselves up to rarified radio air, Bootstraps create polished, ethereal anthems centered on Jordan Beckett’s raspy vocal. The band’s larger-than-life sonic is enveloping, emotive, and sure to stun the live setting.

Los Angeles’ Busy Living brings a unique energy to the bill with effortless harmony surrounded by pop quirk. The quintet recently beefed up their sound with the help of Spoon’s Jim Eno, who produced two tracks (that we know about) at his Public Hi-Fi studios in Austin.

A familiar friendly face on the Nashville scene, Courtney Jaye’s latest set of breezy, classic country-tinged tunes made American Songwriter’s Top 50 Albums of 2013. NPR’s Ann Powers crowned her Dusty Springfield’s spiritual daughter. Somebody buy a round of box wine.

Landing somewhere between The Donnas and Grace Potter, Oregon native Cooper surrounds herself with an entourage of singers, dancers, and horns to become Cooper and the Jam. The fiery redhead brings blues, burlesque, and bravado to her latest Motown Suite.

Shifting gears, we ease in to the haunting, ethereal ballads of Penny & Sparrow. Expect a big year from the Texas duo, whose super-glued vocal layering a la Civil Wars and Swell Season has landed them on major festivals and the Billboard Heatseekers chart.

Kansas City smart-rockers Me Like Bees specialize in angular riffs and intricate rhythms with mechanical precision. With a nod to Modest Mouse, MLB have invented an equally fresh recipe for alternative music that sticks to your ribs.

We arrive at last to Daniel and the Lion, who have been making warm folk pop from Baraboo, Wisconsin for years, but broke nationally with YouTube covers. Just last month, they were asking fans on Facebook to help book shows, and in June they will open twenty-three dates for Counting Crows. It will be a treat to see these shining examples of persistence and humility under their own white-hot spotlight.

– Whitaker Elledge

Strap yourself in for another night filled with fantastic music brought to you by Cause A Scene, this Thursday evening at The High Watt on Cannery Row. Leading the night’s stellar lineup is a band who is quickly making a name for themselves in a city that is wrought with a dense population of talent and sound. Based in Austin, TX, Friendly Savages has spent the two short years that they have been making music together constructing a sound that seamlessly blurs genre lines, mixing influences that pull from folk, rock, blues and even classical. Their full-length debut, O, Joshua!, released earlier this year, was a true testament to the bands reach as songwriters and performers, quickly climbing to #3 on the iTunes singer songwriter charts. Suffice it to say, we at CAS are excited to host these boys here in Nashville.

Filling out the night’s bill is another Austin, TX outfit Penny & Sparrow. Making their second Cause A Scene appearance, this talented duo has a reputation for blowing a CAS audience’s hair back. Former roommates Andy Baxter and Kyle Jahnke played their first Nashville house show in East Nashville a this past summer, and while it was only a few months ago it is easy to say that they could not have returned quick enough. Jahnke lays out simply orchestrated rhythms with a lone acoustic guitar providing the foundation for Baxter’s strong and haunting vocal melodies resulting in a distinctly original musical identity that draws influence from The Swell Season, Bon Iver, Mumford and Sons. Their 2013 full-length release, Tenboom, is a compilation of 10 tracks that displays a rawness and maturity that is truly refreshing in a scene that is often muddled with mediocrity.

Brooklyn-based Wilder Maker will also be sharing the stage. This band’s size (10 members to be exact) may lead one to assume that their sound is large and excessive, but it is in fact the contrary. Despite their numbers, Wilder Maker’s music is the sort of bare bones of Americana music that boasts raw and stripped down instrumentals and lyricism. The band released their second album, Year of Endless Light, just last month.

Topping off the evening will be Traveller, the new project of local singer songwriter Mikaela Hamilton. Traveller made their live Nashville debut back in July at a CAS house show. We are thrilled to have them back again, on a larger stage and playing alongside a group of immensely talented craftsmen. Traveller’s first single “Animal” is due to release via NoiseTrade later this week.

Don’t miss out on what is sure to be another raging CAS night at The High Watt, full of stellar talent and kick ass music. Get your tickets here for $10 in advance or $12 DOS. Doors open at 7:00 PM and the music starts at 8:00 PM.

– Christian Lerchenfeld

Friendly Savages- ‘Her Locket on a Chain’

Penny & Sparrow- ‘Heroes and Monsters’

Wilder Maker- ‘Float Us Through the Barroom’

Archives For penny & sparrow

Show Preview: Communion Nashville May Club Night – 5/15

Show Preview: Friendly Savages, Penny & Sparrow, Traveller and Wilder Maker – 10/17