Country's Eric Durrance opened the fall CMT Tour.
They don't call it Music City and Guitar Town for nothin', as most locals well know, and on Monday evening, June 22, The Nashville Palace will once more add to the city's established reputation as the place to be for country music.
Located at 2611 McGavock Pike, The Palace, as it's known in these parts, plays host to Writers' Night with James Breedwell each Monday beginning at 5 p.m. And this week, between 6 and 7 p.m., recording artist Eric Durrance will take the stage to play a trio of original songs with the aid of his bassist, Jeff Jenkins.
The pair, along with the rest of Durrance's five-piece band, were just openers for Jason Aldean on Saturday night, June 20, in New Berlin, Ill., where they set a new attendance record at the venue they played, with between 12,000 and 14,000 in attendance. (Lady Antebellum had just set a new record at the same locale, with more than 10,000 in attendance, only to have it broken the same week it was set.)
Saturday was far from Durrance and company's first show with hot-ticket Aldean, however. Many country fans came to know the Florida-born singer-songwriter in fall 2008 following the No. 70 chart debut of his Angels Fly Away CD and subsequent add to the CMT Tour headlined by Aldean.
During that tour, which wrapped in late November, Durrance saw his album's title track score at country radio and his fan base jump by more than 30,000, thanks to the music lovers who took in the Aldean tour, and in the process, found favor with Durrance's sound.
Jeff Jenkins, Durrance and Jason Tucker at CMA fest.
Fast-forward six months, to the recent CMA Music Festival on June 11-14, and Durrance and band members Jenkins and Jason Tucker, keyboards, were busy signing hundreds of autographs for fans who discovered the band via their recent touring or through Durrance's popular music video in honor of his current CD's second single, "Turn It Off." The popular clip, with the aid of fan votes, ascended to No. 17 on the Great American Top 20 Country Countdown earlier this spring.
Meanwhile, with many are just discovering Durrance as a country artist, it's likely he's also well on his way to making name as a songwriter, too. As evidence, the 30-something player's already the co-writer on rising country star Jake Owen's just-released cut, "Eight Second Ride," which debuted at No. 44 last week.
That tune, in fact, is on tap to be one of the songs Durrance plays during the June 22 writer's night at The Palace, he said, in a June 19 interview with Examiner.com.
"We're definitely gonna play the song me and Jake wrote," revealed Durrance of the acoustic-only outing. "I haven't made a final decision on the other two songs that we'll play, but we might play 'Angels' just because its a great song to play acoustically."
As for why one who's reached the success level that fledgling model Durrance's managed to score in just one year would care to play a songwriter's night, the answer's quite simple, really.
"It doesn't matter how far you manage to make it in your career, because the song is still king," shared Durrance, who penned more than 300 songs while preparing to cut his last CD. "Showcasing the songs is important, and by playing a song for people, you can get a better reading on what you should or shouldn't put on an album."
In fact, he continued, "Sometimes you may write a song that you think is great, just the best thing, and then if the audiences don't react in kind, well, maybe that song isn't what you first thought it was. And then sometimes you may play a song that you aren't really sold on and the crowd goes nuts for it, so playing songwriter nights is just a good way to let a song shine and see what happens."
Eric Durrance at the 2009 CMA Music Festival.
Also performing during the free Monday-night writer's event this week during the 6-7 p.m. hour will be tunesmith Lonnie LeVelle, who has a track on the newest release from Rounder Records artist Alecia Nugent and her Hillbilly Goddess CD.
A native of Richmond, Calif., LeVelle was a writer for Magic Mustang Music for three years, but recently created his own publishing venture, Stuck In My Head Music.
LeVelle said he grew up loving country music, thanks to the early influence of his mom, Judy, a singer who played on the USO circuit. Then ultimately, he made the move from California to Nashville, he said, for one basic reason: to learn.
As for why he's remained, "The fact that I’ve already invested half my life in (songwriting) is the main reason," he said, laughing. "It's too late to turn back now. ..."
In addition to Nugent, LeVelle also has a cut on a forthcoming album by Austrailian artist Rick Cabbalo that's set for a fall release.
Planning to go but need more info?: To learn more about the weekly and always-free Writers Night with James Breedwell, please contact The Nashville Palace--the place where country superstar Randy Travis washed dishes before landing his big break--at 615-889-1540. For directions to the venue, click here.
For more info on Durrance: To view videos of Eric Durrance performing, simply scroll down. To follow Durrance on Twitter, access http://twitter.com/ericdurrance. To preview more of Durrance's music, visit www.myspace.com/ericdurrance.
Related articles: Interview with Eric Durrance, Country music's Eric Durrance scores with debut, lands CMT Tour,
Eric Durrance performs an acoustic version of his first country hit, "Angels Fly Away."
Eric Durrance, along with two members of his band, perform an acoustic version of his second single, "Turn It Off."
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