Nashville Night in Buchanan

One of the really cool things about living in or near a small town is the community spirit. Most weeks there is a fund raiser of some sort. We've gone to meals to fund missions and bake and yard sales to help out families with medical problems. Last night it was a fund raiser to help the Food Pantry. There are a lot of people in Botetourt that live paycheck to paycheck and an unexpected expense that can mean a little belt tightening to us may mean no food on the table for them. The Food Pantry fills a real need here and helps a lot of families.

So when our neighbor, Rose called and told us about a fundraiser we thought it was a good idea. We love the historic Buchanan Theater and there was to be a concert there called Nashville Night in Buchanan. Now I love country music and thought it might be a pleasant evening with friends for a good cause. It turned out to be so much more than that.

There were four young men up on the small stage with guitars and stools. (Well, one man complained of being 35 and creaky. Seriously? Suck it up buddy. You are in the prime and it goes downhill from here!) It was not a polished performance with light shows and pyrotechnics. It was four hot young songwriters from Nashville that had come here with a friend from Buchanan, Matt Ramsey. (Hometown boy makes good and comes back to help the local Food Pantry.) They were relaxed and easy to listen to and when they forgot a lyric they laughed and hummed and kept on going. Matt Ramsey pointed out that if you remember all the words to all the songs you wrote, you weren't writing enough songs! They had all collaborated in different combinations with each other on songs and went down the line picking a favorite they had written. They told funny or touching or just plain interesting stories on the songs and what they were thinking when they were written. Quite a few of them were currently being produced with top performers and it was fun to get a sneak peak of some wonderful new songs. It was so good.

The four young men were Matt Ramsey, Trevor Rosen, Matt Jenkins and Josh Osborne. Remember those names. I am the type of listener that likes to read the liner notes on an album. OK. THAT ages me. Are they still called albums? Nonetheless, I like to see who wrote the song or who played what instrument. Now I will have some more names to look for.

After hearing of their writing retreats and some of the collaboration that goes on in the Nashville music scene, I think that following these young men would be a better reality show than that of the Kardashians. Let's hear about some talented people making good decisions for a change. Could a show about the positive work? I don't know, but I sure would like to see someone try that. Wish I knew Ryan Seacrest.