“The Hook” Has Successful Test Run, Sets Next Show Sept. 29th
Monday, September 29th will be the next installment of “The Hook”—a songwriting showcase featuring established songwriters, and ANYONE else who wants to sign up for an opportunity to perform their unreleased song in front of an audience and film crew. The event is FREE, and open to both songwriters and anyone who wants to listen to some great songs.
The show will take place at Eastside Bowl in Nashville at The ’58 room from 7:30 to 9:30. Those looking to sign up to perform should get there at about 7:00 and bring their guitar if possible.
September 1st saw the final test run of The Hook, and proved this bird can fly. The show started off with Alabama-born and Nashville-based singer/songwriter Victoria Camp. She turned in a killer version of her unreleased song “Jonesin’.” Camp is just the kind of songwriter The Hook looks to highlight as she pays her dues performing nightly on Lower Broadway, and preps her debut album. Camp also helped kick off the very first test run of The Hook at Joelton Hardware north of Nashville during CMA Fest in June.
Along with turning in a stellar performance, Victoria Camp also officially became The Hook’s first “Golden Patch” winner, meaning she can come back any time and perform a song on the show. Songwriters earn that distinction when they turn in a superlative performance and song. Victoria Camp has done that twice now. It’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world gets clued into her talent.
Victoria Camp would not be the only one bestowed with the Golden Patch honor on the evening. Country music artist Jami Grooms appeared and performed his song “The Night I Killed Myself.” With a title like that, Jami Grooms had to deliver, and that’s exactly what he did. It was one of those songs that The Hook was founded to find out in the wild. According to Grooms, the song been on “hold” by numerous big performers. Hopefully someone eventually cuts it and brings it to the masses.
Cody Tinnon might be best known as the bass player for the Stillhouse Junkies, but he’s in the midst of launching a solo singer/songwriter career and just recently moved to Nashville. These are the kinds of just-to-town songwriters The Hook hopes to give a platform to. Tinnon performed a great tune called “Treeline” about having to scramble down the mountain during a lightning storm. Of course, the song is also a strong metaphor, and Tinnon walked away with a silver patch.
Songwriter Paul Orehovec who performs under the name Poor Life Choices played a song about the unfortunate scenario of having a husband or boyfriend wanting to fight you after a show because the wife or girlfriend becomes smitten—apparently a more common scenario for performers in Nashville than you might think.
Afton Wolf performed the song “I Deserve To Be Forgiven” that earned him a silver patch. He has a new album coming out on November 30th called Ophiuchus for when the Sun enters the eponymous constellation Ophiuchus. He delivered one of the more involved and entertaining performances of the night.
Other performers included Joel Shewmake, who performed an unreleased song called “Wildflower,” inspired while doomscrolling on TikTok. Nashville via California songwriter KP Hawthon also performed ahead of the release of her most recent album Til The Glitter End, and Elise Meschery who also acted as the “wrangler” on the night performed “Love Can Build a Paradise.”
Along with the live show, a full production crew was on site to capture all the moments. Though the video portion turned out excellent, the audio presented some challenges. But that’s okay; that was the reason it was a test run. Perhaps at some point in the future the audio can be cleaned up for release, and the full show can see the light of day. But now all the kinks have been worked out for September 29th when the pilot episode will be shot.
The Hook is hosted by Kyle “Trigger” Coroneos and songwriter Caitlin Cannon. For more information on The Hook, visit savingcountrymusic.com/thehook.
September 22, 2025 @ 6:31 pm
Joel Shewmake? Cuts by Brad Paisley, Cody Johnson, Brent Cobb?
Great guy, great writer.
September 22, 2025 @ 7:40 pm
Yeah, we put out the call for amateur songwriters and got a bunch of ringers. There are worse problems to have.
September 23, 2025 @ 12:36 pm
I’ve got some songs I would like to play, if this is a legit deal. Most of the time these things are overrun by folks that already have publishing deals and people recording their songs. I can’t drive to Tennessee to sit on my hands and watch professional songwriters perform while I get the brush off because I don’t know the promoters of the event. It’s a long way from East Central Alabama. This appears to be that kind of thing, otherwise y’all would not be asking for a website address.
September 23, 2025 @ 1:08 pm
Hey David,
I certainly can’t recommend you drive up from East Central Alabama to attend this. But if you did, you would be more than welcome. Perhaps wait until the next time you’re in or traveling through Nashville and see if it will coincide with a future show. Also, if everything goes well, we are planning to take this thing on the road.
What I can assure you is the deck is not stacked. When we say this is open to everyone, we mean it’s open to EVERYONE. Anyone who wants to sign up and get on stage is eligible. If there are more sign ups than time, we can’t guarantee we can get everyone up. That is why folks are given a number and drawn at random. But who plays is who shows up, with the exception of maybe one or two performers who are selected before the show as regulars.
Also, nobody is asking for any web addresses, at least not here. Nobody is prescreened or anything of the sort. That would be completely against the point of this whole thing to throw the barn doors wide and give everyone an opportunity.
September 23, 2025 @ 5:58 am
Where can we watch the full show?
September 23, 2025 @ 7:06 am
This was just the final test run. We’re shooting the pilot episode on September 29th. We did have the film crew there just to work through any kinks that might come up. One did in how the audio did not turn out like any of us wanted on the video. The audio in the room was great, just not for the video. We’re going to try and fix it and perhaps release some of the performances or the whole thing in the future if only for posterity. But for now we’re just focusing on the pilot episode that barring any unforeseen circumstances, will be released in full.
September 23, 2025 @ 6:16 am
Joel is a pretty big name. I had done an interview with song writer Jason Matthews somewhere around 2014 or so. Had asked him who to look out for that we may not know yet and Joel was his answer.
September 23, 2025 @ 8:32 am
Basically Kill Tony for songwriters? Nice!
September 23, 2025 @ 9:14 am
Oh shit,
Coroneos looks more outlaw than I do.
September 23, 2025 @ 10:53 am
Everybody come down to the Eastside bowl on September 29 to witness a wonderful new show featuring singer songwriters and interesting musical commentary
September 23, 2025 @ 3:12 pm
Glad to hear this thing has been so far, so good. Congrats!
September 23, 2025 @ 8:07 pm
Congratulations on a successful event, Trigger. This is such a great concept for a show. These are the times I miss living 30 minutes from town. I will have to schedule a trip around one of these events sometime.
September 24, 2025 @ 9:39 am
Congratulations Trigger!