Sometimes, despite the inherent awesomeness of our fair city, people do move away. For various reasons: love, work, adventure, pavement. The lovely singer-songwriter Alva Leigh moved away for all of those things, taking her sweet sounds to the streets of London, a city I became enchanted with many years ago visiting my brother, who lived in an old apartment in Belsize Park.
Alva moved to the UK from Nashville a few months ago, but not before recording a farewell tribute to her (now former) town. Simply called In Nashville, it’s a five-song EP featuring covers duets with Natalie Prass, Matthew Perryman Jones, Daniel Ellsworth & the Great Lakes and more. You can download it here, via Noisetrade – for free. You can also follow her London adventures on her very pretty blog.
I love Natalie Prass and Alva’s dreamy version of of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.”
As her EP is a tribute to the city she left behind, so is her Nashville Five…Alva Leigh’s Nashville Five ::: The Things I Miss the Most About Nashville
1. Working at the International House of Fleming, the studio of producer John Painter, where I tracked the first Alva Leigh record and the one coming out in early 2013. It’s like my home away from home.
2. Stopping in Local Honey to browse on my walk home from work. I remember when Local Honey was a 7×7 room above Grimey’s. I’ve been collecting vintage favorites from her since I moved to Nashville in 2005.
3. Taking a walk in 12th South/Belmont – I will miss picking up a Paleta, walking thru Sevier Park, turning up Cedar Lane (my favorite street in town), turning right on Belmont Blvd. and ending at PM, drinking Japanese Old-Fashioneds with my friends.
4. Complaining about day-jobs at Corner Pub (Green Hills over Midtown definitely) over a bucket of beer and a basket of cheese beans.
5. Having happy-hour in the communal courtyard at Sterling Court Apartments (next to PM). I lived there for the last few years of my time in Nashville, and somehow, all of my best friends from Belmont scored apartments there as well. When the weather was nice, we’d meet in the courtyard after work for drinks. We’d stay til dark, invite each other over for impromptu dinners and hang out til bedtime. I don’t think I’ll ever have a place like it again, and I guess what I miss the most about Nashville: my friends.
Photo by Andrew White
Lockeland Springsteen 