It’s quiet here. Not a lot of action on this street. It’s a tidy neighborhood. They call it Old Hickory. That’s an Andrew Jackson reference. This house I’m staying in is about two miles from The Hermitage. That’s Jackson’s place. About twenty years ago, I came to this area of Nashville to play the Bluebird’s Writers Night. I didn’t know anything about Nashville or Writer’s Nights or Andrew Jackson for that matter. I asked a man at the Gold Rush Bar if he knew anything about The Hermitage. He said: “That’s where the Jackson Family lived.” I said: “like Tito and Michael and Jermaine Jackson?” He walked away. 

Nashville always seemed like a place for other people to me. It’s fashionable nowadays to say how much you’re influenced by country music… how it was a big part of your childhood. If you play the wooden guitar and sing songs, then at some point, some feel like they must talk about the Grand Old Opry and your mother’s Dolly Parton records. Ehhhh… Not me. Nashville was a vague idea. I knew there was music there and legends and outfits and such. I liked Billy Joel and moved on to James Taylor. I had read somewhere that George Jones had covered James Taylor’s Bartender Blues. If I was playing a cover gig in a bar and someone asked for a country song, I would play that. Two birds with one stone. 

Anyway, I am digressing on this 70-degree night here in Old Hickory. Really, most of what I learned about Nashville and songwriters and the Bluebird Cafe (that’s that famous little place where Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift and all the big ones got noticed or found songs to sing. What it really was and remains is a room for songwriters to share their songs. A place for song makers. A home for song lovers), and all of that came from the 1993 River Phoenix film “The Thing Called Love.” I developed a pretty good little crush on Samantha Mathis, who starred in the film along with a very young Sandra Bullock, who I have developed a very good crush on currently. The story took place in and around the Bluebird Café. Everybody seemed hopeful. The outfits looked cool. Everybody had songs. At one point, even the great Oklahoma songwriter, Kevin Welch was seen in the film playing himself. I had met him at the Milltop in Saint Augustine, Florida, about a year before that. It was like I met someone from Hollywood who was tuned into something even deeper.  I have developed a pretty good little crush on his songs that remains ongoing. 

I made my way down to Nashville for the first time with Brother Chris in a van with Pete Szymanski and his bass to a gig at a small coffee shop near the Baptist Hospital where country stars often pass away. (“everyone in town is very upset by the admittance of Lynn Anderson to Baptist Hospital…we will dim the lights on Broadway this Saturday night in her honor”) I don’t remember the gig. I do remember the Gold Rush bar across the street. I also remember going to Tootsies, where Hank Williams used to take his drinks and Willie Nelson used to get paid with a bowl of chili. I remember that Chris bought me a T-shirt. That was nice. 

When I came to my first writer’s night at the Bluebird in 2008, the feature act was a woman named Bridgette Tatum. At that moment, she was the co-writer of the number one song on the country charts called “She’s Country” that a guy I had never heard of named Jason Aldean had recorded. She was pretty high-spirited and gave me a good, slightly drunken speech about moving to Nashville after she heard my song “Bottom of The Bottle.”  A guy in a baseball hat asked me if I had a copy of another song of mine on a CD that he could have. A pretty girl about my age also started to talk to me at the same time. I told the baseball hat guy I would get to that in a second. About 16 minutes later, the bartender from behind the little bar at the Bluebird shoved me from behind and asked me if I was “an idiot.” He told me the guy that asked me for a CD of my song was country music star Tracy Lawrence. He also told me that Tracy Lawrence was getting into his truck in the parking lot. I ran outside to give them the CD, but he told me he had “lost interest.”  When I came back inside, the bartender decided he wasn’t gonna serve me anymore. Welcome to Nashville he said. Ouch. Still, I considered it a great night.

Anyway, I’ve been back to The Bluebird many times to perform. I have a lot to say about what a special place it is, but also what a special place Nashville is. I have come to love it. Maybe we can talk about that later.

Tomorrow, I’m heading over to Abbie Gardner’s place here in town to sing a few songs as we prepare for some shows in Arizona later this month.

The next day, I will be in Texas. I will share the stage for a week with Walt Wilkins. He wrote a lot of songs for other people in Nashville. He had all the publishing deals, long afternoons at Bobby’s Idle Hour on Music Row, co-writes and placements, drinks with Guy Clark. He has taught me a lot about the difference between the music industry and authenticity.  In fact, his picture is hanging in the Bluebird. I’m not sure he even knows that. Again, we can talk about this later. 

The sun is going down here in Old Hickory. A Southwest West jet is flying overhead, leaving town. Maybe on board is another country music hopeful who got their ego bruised and is on their way back home. I hope they turn around and come back one day soon. It’s a good way to live. It’s the kind of thing where songs come from. 

TOUR DATES

3/12 at 7 PM CT Marc Douglas Berardo and Abbie Gardner Live From Nashville, TN on YouTube
3/14 at 2:30 PM Austin, TX 3rd Coast Music Not SXSW at the NeWorld Deli
3/14 at 8 PM Austin, TX Not SXSW at Stiles and Switch BBQ with Walt Wilkins
3/15 6:30 PM Austin, TX - Peggy's Porch Party with Walt Wilkins 
3/16 at 4 PM Salado, TX - Barrow Brewing Company with Walt Wilkins
3/22 at 8 PM Dallas, TX - Poor David's Pub with Walt Wilkins
3/23 at 5 PM Amarillo, TX - Barefoot Productions Presents MDB at Chalice Abbey 
3/28 at 7 PM Safford, AZ- Music At The Cottage Bakery with Abbie Gardner
3/29 at 7 PM Fiddler's Dream Coffeehouse with Abbie Gardner
3/30 at 6 PM Cave Creek, AZ - House Concert with Abbie Gardner, Eddy Roswell
4/02 at 5:30 PM Prescott Valley Public Library Auditorium, AZ MDB with Abbie Gardner
4/05 at 7 PM Tucson, AZ - Tucson Folk Fest with Abbie Gardner 

MDB
Nashville, TN
3/11/2025