Music City Roots feat. Jim Lauderdale, Buddy Miller, 18 SOUTH, The Church Sisters, Mike Farris & Shawn Camp: at The Loveless Cafe + Barn (Nashville, TN) Wed. November 21, 2012

Music City Roots feat. Jim Lauderdale, Buddy Miller, 18 SOUTH, The Church Sisters, Mike Farris & Shawn Camp

Live from the Loveless Cafe

Nashville Scene Critic's Pick …

See Article: Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale To Play Music City Roots Tonight at Loveless Cafe

Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale are two names that need no introduction in Nashville circles. Both are critically lauded songwriters and producers — their combined canon of credits includes Brooks and Dunn, Dixie Chicks, George Strait, Dwight Yoakam, Carlene Carter and others — not to mention major architects of the burgeoning Americana movement. Though they have appeared on and contributed to each other’s respective records numerous times over the past two decades, it’s rather shocking the pair have waited this long to team up on a duets album — Buddy and Jim. The set was composed and cut over a three-day period, but it draws on two careers of stellar session and songwriting experience. The album boasts a sensual, rusty country-rock luster, and standouts like lovesick album-opener “I Lost My Job of Loving You” and the creeping boogie of “South in New Orleans” exude a bright, gritty shimmer. Trad-country cuts like “Lonely One in This Town” and “The Train That Carried My Gal From Town” benefit immensely from the record’s spontaneous vibe. And as a contrast, confessional, tear-in-beer ballads like “That’s Not Even Why I Love You” and “It Hurts Me” tug at the heart strings with a tender vice grip.

—ADAM GOLD