The Swell Season.

It's a well-known fact throughout the music business that Nashville is one tough crowd. The biggest, most-profitable and prolific acts hesitate before adding this town to the long list of tour dates printed on the back of the t-shirts sold at their merch table. Other acts bite the bullet and reluctantly commit to playing here--but only for the sentiment of crossing one of the historic venues, such as the Ryman, off their list of things they do before they die. And then there are those who refuse to play here.

And it's because Nashville isn't really Music City anymore. It's Music-That-Makes-Money-Fast-With-Little-To-No-Risk-Regardless-Of-The-Quality City. 

Or, in more simple terms: Nashville is jaded with a capitol jaded.

And to say that I don't belong in that group would be a lie. And understandably so. Songs are my livelihood. And my paycheck. And in order for my horrendous, I'm-more-likely-to-find-Ed-McMann-on-my-doorstop-or-get-struck-by-lighting-twice odds of getting one of my songs recorded to improve to just one-a-million odds I have to think about the following:

• is my song closer to 3:00 than 4:00? and gosh if it's under 3:00 that's even better!
• have i used the same word twice anywhere within the song?
• will high school girls relate to this?
• is it realistic that a mother of 3 who drives a Honda minivan in Missouri will like this?
• have we ended the first chorus in under a minute?
• is it too country for Jessica Simpson to record?
• is it too youthful for Martina McBride to record?
• is it too honest?
• is it too religious?

So you can see how over the course of time, I could easily fall into the trap of disregarding what music is really supposed to be about. The hearts behind the people behind the song.

And--thanks to Swell Season--I was reminded of that Wednesday night. If you're not familiar with this group, the movie ONCE  may ring a bell. They are a duo from Ireland that starred in a wildly popular, almost cult followed movie about two singer/songwriters that blew up here in the States last year.  Aside from the mysterious uncertainty of this duo's relationship with one another, there is an intensely captivating musical chemistry between them (Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova) that just draws you into every last note and lyric. Some of this is obviously due to the character development in the movie, but most--and by most i mean 90%--of what makes the Swell Season remarkable are their hearts.

My husband said it best as we were driving home from the concert--still somewhat drained from such an emotional experiece--when he said that "if the eyes truly are the window to the soul, then those two are beautiful people." 

And here is where I come to my point. As I sat with my eyes closed in the front row (yes, front row!) of the Ryman this week with tears in my eyes, I was reminded that music was intended to communicate our hearts and our passion and our hunger for life; to move us and to unite us in ways that could not be done with spoken words. [Not to be less than 3:00 so a radio station has more time for advertising.] And watching a room full of jaded, seen-and-heard-it-all Nashvillians rise to their feet and give ovation after ovation for a couple of Irish songwriters, I realized that good music was possibly the only weapon strong enough to reach this tough crowd.