Nashville's spirit inspires collaboration of songs, stories, art
Music, writing, art — a "more than worthy way to spend a life."
At least that's how local writer, producer and commentator Craig Havighurst feels. And in the creative incubator that is Nashville, his sentiments reverberate in crowded bars, in intimately lit galleries and —earlier this week — in the aural gem that is Belmont's McAfee Concert Hall, where a collection of Nashville's vocal, visual and novel talents gathered for a one-of-a-kind project performance debuting the anthology "Based On."
"I have never seen anything quite like it," said Havighurst, who hosted the event.
"Based On" — an anthology of short stories, songs and art prints — comes from local literary champion Chuck Beard, owner of East Side Story bookstore in East Nashville.
For more than two years, Beard has produced a bimonthly storytelling series at his bookstore. The series showcases Nashville authors sharing original prose and matches them with Nashville musicians playing and talking about an original song. The participants round off the performance with a conversation about their creative processes and ties to our city.
The vibe is inspired and inventive — but, as Beard points out, it contains nothing tangible.
After series after series slipped by, he realized he wanted to capture that spirit — and raise the bar — by having various musicians and visual artists use an original story by Nashville authors to inspire them beyond something they normally do.
And so "Based On" was born. Now there is a verifiable book and a CD that document the works and give us the chance to curl up on the couch with a good story and good music, paired in perfect harmony.
Beard wanted a great spectrum of styles and notoriety when selecting his contributors. There are New York Times best-selling authors, aspiring and self-published poets and novelists, and everything in between. The musicians cross a similar range. And the visual artists, whose work is printed on pages throughout the book, do a variety of mediums: printmaking, batiks, illustration, painting and photography.
The idea generation for the project began with the authors and their stories. Beard gave each writer two rules: Write an original short story between 5,000 and 10,000 words, and include Nashville in a scene or setting at some point. Any genre of story was welcome.
Once the stories were complete, he gave each one to a different musician to read and be inspired from. The only rule there was to write and record something original based on whatever inspired the songwriter about the story — it was totally up to the musicians involved to use story names, lines or anything they chose.
As the creativity continued down the chain, the visual artists were given the task to make a black-and-white image of what inspired them in whatever medium they wanted to use.
The idea of this type of artistic collaboration hooks me. I love the genre-crossing creativity and the freedom to be inspired by a single phrase or theme while also having the singular mandate of including some part of Nashville. For the more than 30 involved artists and authors, our city was a "nurturer and a muse," Havighurst says.
Some parts of the collection swing heavily to our sense of place, a song centered on the Cumberland River, a story based in a Nashville laundromat. But not every story or song is laden with hometown references; some simply allude to a location or a product of this place, such as the aging musician on the road.
No matter how deep the reference, the process keyed in on one significant theme: "There is something incredible about this place," says noted author Robert Hicks, who wrote the afterword for "Based On." And, he adds, it's satisfying to see how "extraordinary people can be when given a chance to be in a place like this."
We are a storytelling city, saturated with authors, visual artists and musicians doing great things. Right now in Nashville Beard believes he could make an entire set of books and produce CDs for days. But, for the moment, his tangible piece of our city's storyline stands at one. And he is thrilled with it — and he wants to share it with the city that inspired it.
"I think this collection of people involved in this edition is a superb snapshot of Nashville here and now," he says. "So people can read and listen and feel what Nashville is about at the moment, whether they live here or not."
Reach Jessica Bliss at 615-259-8253 and on Twitter @jlbliss.
'Based On: Words, Notes, and Art from Nashville'
Contributors to "Based On" were selected in a similar fashion to what curator Chuck Beard has done for his bimonthly series, East Side Storytellin', meaning he thought about the styles and people involved and came up with a gut feeling of "who would be the most interesting together to make something extraordinary."
"There is no formula," Beard says, "but it always tends to work out just right."
Authors:Chuck Beard, Paige Crutcher, Tony Earley, J.T. Ellison, Cary Graham, River Jordan, Ariel Lawhon, Betsy Phillips, RashadthaPoet (Rashad Rayford), Victoria Schwab, Shawn Whitsell and Tommy Womack. (Introduction by Craig Havighurst /afterword by Robert Hicks)
Musicians: Kyle Andrews, Boom Forest, Carolina Story, Michael B. Hicks, Griffin W House, Phil Madeira, David Mead, The Coal Men, The Lower Caves, The Rough & Tumble, Tristen Gaspadarek and Brooke Waggoner.
Visual artists: Adam Baker, Cory Basil, Carl Carbonell, efharper (Emily Harper Beard), Michael Mcbride, Barry A. Noland, Rebecca Sloan, Julie Sola and Ian White.
All proceeds from the book will benefit the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville. Printed copies are available at East Side Story (1108 Woodland St., Unit B, Nashville) and Howlin' Books (1702 Eighth Ave. S., Nashville).
East Side Storytellin' 62
The bimonthly storytelling series produced by East Side Story's Chuck Beard continues next month with author Amy E. Hall (amyehall.blogspot.com) and singer Lauren Farrah (www.laurenfarrah.com).
When: 7 p.m. July 7
Where: The Post (1701 Fatherland St., Nashville)