In a town pre-labeled Music City, with its deep, rich history rooted in country music, it can often be difficult for outsiders to see the real city beyond the bright lights over Broadway or the country music flooding from the honky-tonk bars and/or Music Row. From the inside out, it can also be just as easy for young artists to get pigeon-holed into corners and pre-labeled before reaching their true potential. What many people who live away from here right now can’t fully understand or put a finger on the pulse is that Nashville is quickly becoming something much more than bedazzled jeans, cowboy hats, and line dances. There are loads of painters, poets, writers, singer-songwriters not country-based, and everyone else creative all over the place planting their artistic roots here, from the West to the Historic East Nashville. Lucky for us, one artist in particular that seems to encompass all of the above is leading by example and just so happens to be a home-grown local.
Sure, the critically acclaimed, published poet Matt Urmy may have originally been born in New York City before moving to Nashville shortly there after. Sure, the praised singer-songwriter rising up the musical ranks Matt Urmy may have left Nashville for neighboring Knoxville after high school graduation in order to find his voice and a profound appreciation for the positive changes in his hometown before returning with a pen in one hand and a guitar in the other. The point is that Matt Urmy is about as authentic of an Americana artist as you’ll ever come across and as shown by his latest recordings and public endeavors, he’s just getting started.
I met up with Urmy in the Café of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts recently; just down the hall from the Lobby where he’ll be performing this Friday, May 6th, from 6-8pm, and in the very room where he is scheduled to perform on Friday, May 20th, also from 6-8pm. I’ll let Urmy mostly speak clearly for himself and his art as you can see for yourselves in the video attached to this story, but I must say that it really was quite an honor to sit with such a humble, multi-talented artist on the brink of widespread success taking time out of his busy life to promote two performances that were nearly a month away at the time of our meeting.
I quickly learned from reading about Urmy online and then listening when face to face that Urmy is different than a lot of people making music waves in Music City. Urmy is not only his own promoter, the writer of all his music (and published poems for that matter), a one-man band and musical force winning the hearts of new fans by the minute and respect from stars he once grew up holding in the highest esteem (as I’ll get to soon enough), but he truthfully lives his art every day and night that he practices and preaches.
Urmy’s latest two creations eloquently culminate everything he’s learned while on his personal journey up to this point and allow everyone else to discover themselves while jumping onboard his bandwagon. Both projects have already captured the hearts and minds of a lot of locals since their recent conceptions. The projects I’m speaking about are the Renaissance Rodeo Show and the album Sweet Lonesome.
Sweet Lonesome, the title of Urmy’s most recent CD, is a very special project indeed. From the striking lyrics found in every single song that paint individual stories that both stand on their own and form a beautiful collection of sounds together, to guest appearances from personal heroes and legends Jonell Mosser, Mary Gauthier, and Ashley Cleveland, to its recording at the legendary Quonset Hut at Belmont University that was home to the recording of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” among other big recordings, Sweet Lonesome is a compilation of experiences and tales from a very special time period called now.
The second major project you should know about involving Matt Urmy is the Renaissance Rodeo Show that he conceptualized, organized, and co-hosted with another talented musician in Jonathan Sexton. The first Renaissance Rodeo Show went down this past November with the help of such distinctive singer-songwriters and voices as the aforementioned Jonell Mosser, Scott Miller, and the legitimate legend Cowboy Jack Clement (who is also currently producing some of Urmy’s other recordings this year), and was an instant success. It was a unique experience where homage was paid and honor was shared between some of the biggest stars around with the brightest young talent on the rise. The concept of the show most likely was derived from one of Urmy’s most popular songs to date called “Renaissance Rodeo.”
Renaissance Rodeo was a song that Urmy recorded a few years ago and released on the internet by himself. Originally driven to write the song because of an overwhelming feeling towards how our culture in this city and country was responding to a lot of big things going on around the world such as floods, economic turmoil and war, Urmy combined spoken word and song in a way that really touched a lot of people around the world. Seriously, while creating Renaissance Rodeo from inspiration and cultural awareness into something very tangible for others to experience and to relate to, many people from all over wrote back to him letting him know it spoke to them and all of that really confirmed his initial beliefs that there is some sort of major cultural and world rebirth currently happening … the next big thing since the cultural revolutions of the late 50’s and early 60’s in fact.
Again, if you live close to Nashville and/or are in tune with the fact that something special is going on right now, right here with creative people moving here from all over, you can sometimes actually feel the dynamic energy about this place.
Urmy stated, “Typically big questions are what drive major cultural events. And more often than not, art provides the answers or at least gives inspiration to find the answers. There’s a lot of affluence and money here [in Nashville] that gives people time to create. There’s also a lot of poverty that gives attention to creativity. The combination is something pretty amazing.”
There is a lot of attention to our city these days for a lot of good and potential reasons. Matt Urmy is definitely one of those reasons and people that are helping others see this energy and how to make something real into something really special. He combines music and art with his words to awaken your own feelings and beliefs from within during this time of major awakenings.
It’s only appropriate that I’m writing and you are reading this right now as Urmy is about to showcase his talents at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts this Friday and later on another Friday later this month. If you would also like to get in touch with this dynamic energy that Nashville, the Frist Center, and Matt Urmy always exude, I suggest that you definitely take time to sit and listen … and bring a friend or two that you think would enjoy it or is possibly in need of a good old fashioned awakening as well.
Matt Urmy is not just a musician and poet, he is a Renaissance Man. With more music around the bend and more shows (whether it be the next Renaissance Rodeo Show coming later this year or a house show to be announced soon enough near you) wherever the wind blows, these are very interesting times indeed. NOW sometimes feels like a different kind of awakening. Many people are looking for answers to the big question like “What’s next?” I’m not too sure that I have a definitive answer for you at the moment, and I know that when/if I do figure it out that I’ll let you know for certain, but I have a feeling that Matt Urmy might just be one of the few people to help point us in the right direction. The least I can do now is point you towards him. Stop by the Frist Center this Friday and later this month and you can ask him whatever questions you’d like.
much love,
examine this... 