Classic Country Is Well-Represented at the 2018 Nashville Boogie
Classic country fans and throwback rockabilly cats descended in throngs upon Nashville’s Opryland Resort and The Nashville Palace on Memorial Day weekend to participate in the annual Nashville Boogie presented by Muddy Roots. Dubbed a celebration of mid-century American culture, the event included five stages over four days in three separate venues featuring over 50 acts, as well as a car show, fashion show, record convention, and other associated events.
Though the Nashville Boogie is considered one of the biggest rockabilly events in the United States, country music was well-represented at the festivities too. This year most of the country acts appeared at The Nashville Palace—one of the last places you can find true country music within Nashville’s city limits year round. Zephania O’Hora, Dallas Moore, Nashville’s Tommy Ash and others helped to represent the country side of the mid-century sound, while The Farmer and Adele and others represented the Western Swing side of things.
Other notable performers on the weekend included California’s Deke Dickerson, who was backed by Marty Stuart’s Fabulous Superlatives, including “Cousin” Kenny Vaughan and Chris Scruggs. Also taking the stage was legendary Sun Records recording artist Narvel Felts, who was backed by The Rimshots who came all the way from Wales to perform for the event.
Another big takeaway was Celine Lee who mixed classic country covers such as “Harper Valley PTA” in with rockabilly songs from her upcoming album, and also helped introduce the Nashville Boogie crowd to newcomer Tammi Savoy whose been performing with Chris Casello recently.
There were many other great performers and moments at the Nashville Boogie, and apologies to those not covered here. Thanks to Kevin Smith for the reporting, and for the fabulous pictures of the performers below.
May 30, 2018 @ 3:54 am
Glad to know rockabilly roots are still appreciated in TwangTown. A splendid variety of cool musicians and artists, with performances by many new faces. Narvel the Marvel still rocks! And Marty Stuart’s Superlatives can back any rockabilly and country artist with fantastic musicianship. Good to read some coverage of this event. Thanks!
May 30, 2018 @ 5:06 am
I just saw a video on YouTube of Celine Lee and Tammi Savoy. Looked like it was took on a cell phone so quality wasn’t that great, but they sounded really good.
June 7, 2018 @ 12:53 am
I managed to get a good one, Instagram compressed it a bit, but check it out @photosbyana_j
May 30, 2018 @ 6:12 am
Man, seeing Narvel Felts get a mention here really makes my day!
May 30, 2018 @ 7:32 am
And I see John England and The Western Swingers were on in The Nashville Palace as part of the line-up too. My favourite band in Nashville!
May 30, 2018 @ 10:37 am
Great photos, Kevin!
May 30, 2018 @ 12:12 pm
Thanks Aka! Such a cool festival. Real country is always a part of it. Narvel Felts got massive appreciation from the crowd. Nice to see younger folks into him. Ohora was exceptional, like hearing early Haggard in terms of quality songwriting and band. Tommy Ash is really something, great original songs and a killer bakersfield sounding band. Shes one to watch for sure. Deke played some obscure tunes from Wynn Stewart, Red Simpson, Jones and Paycheck and of course Martys band was super! Dallas Moore really amped it up, a blend of honky tonk and southern rock. Something for everybody.
May 30, 2018 @ 6:18 pm
Thanks for this! Great to get some ideas of new (to me) artists to check out!
June 1, 2018 @ 5:44 am
Zephaniah O’Hora gives me hope for the future of music in general. Pretty cool story how the album was crowd funded. Hope to see him perform one day.
June 1, 2018 @ 11:13 pm
Had a blast playing this killer event
June 3, 2018 @ 10:48 am
Deke Dickerson is so damn cool.