Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
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Wanna go? Just tell us the name of Hoge’s latest CD. First correct commenter gets two tickets. Please include your first and last name in your comment so we know who to tell the Grey Eagle to hold tickets for.
In May 2010, two weeks after a thousand-year flood devastated parts of Nashville, TN, Will Hoge and his band drove 14 hours back home to perform a single song on stage at the historic Ryman Auditorium. He’d been invited to perform the finale of a nationally televised benefit concert stacked with high-profile artists like Keith Urban, Keb Mo and Brad Paisley. But as a native son of Nashville and a true home-town rock star with an extraordinary ability to connect with a crowd, Hoge’s powerhouse vocal on “Washed By The Water” proved the perfect climax and well worth the long haul.
Truth be told, Hoge has sold quite a few albums on his way to regional and national fame, and he’s been moving people on stage for well over a decade. It’s what he does. He’s an artist people see over and over again, because every show is unique and gripping. His songs, while not cheerful on the surface, have the cathartic power of the blues for their recognizable human situations. And then there’s the voice – like a human Hammond B3 – clear here, rough there and drenched with dynamics and soul. He’s blazed brightly without going off the rails and he’s grown as a songwriter. He’s survived and thrived through endless miles in vans and busses, landing and unraveling a mainstream record deal as well as a life-altering scooter accident. If, as we read in Rolling Stone and elsewhere, Nashville has finally landed on the national rock and roll map, Hoge has been there all along.
His new band was built around a distinguished and fortuitous partner (his “rock and roll uncle” he says), former Georgia Satellites frontman Dan Baird. Baird’s greasy deep-South guitar proved a potent match for Hoge’s thrilling vocals, and the opportunities for Hoge multiplied. A board tape from an on-fire night at Nashville’s Exit/In became Will Hoge’s first solo recording, and soon he was touring heavily, opening for major acts and playing clubs and colleges around the Southeast. Atlantic Records picked up his first studio album Carousel and released the follow-up Blackbird On A Lonely Wire in 2003. He continued to make several EPs and live projects that showed Hoge was as prolific as he was talented on stage.
Around 2006, Hoge was invited to add his name to the wall of fame at the Exit/In, a rare honor for a “local” rock act. He placed his plaque up there alongside, well, nearly every legend in recent American music, during a sold-out show. “I still have people who come up to me and say I was there the night you put your name on the wall,” Hoge says. If you’re from here and know how hard it’s been for Nashville rockers to break the inexplicable ceiling imposed on them by god knows what, that night back at his home base club was better in some ways than winning a Grammy.
Kevin, that is right. Sending you an email now. Enjoy the show!
SEVEN
Number Seven.
Is that right?
-Kevin Reese 🙂