Country Legends Pack the Bluebird for Tin Pan South

The CMA Songwriter Series kicked off NSAI’s 24^th Annual Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival Tuesday night at Nashville’s fabled Bluebird Café, with a set featuring Country Music Hall of Fame members Bill Anderson and Bobby Bare, writer/producer Buddy Cannon, and writer Barry Dean. The show was both a celebration of the songwriter and of this year’s 50^th anniversary of the CMA.

The quartet held court during a packed (as always) Bluebird show that not only featured hits written by the men, but the stories behind the songs, as well as anecdotes and remembrances that had the crowd howling with laughter. Anderson, writer of classics from his own “The Tips of My Fingers” to Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss’ “Whiskey Lullaby,” hosted the round. The show would end up featuring five songs each from Anderson and Cannon, six from Bare, and only four from Dean, who humbly gave up his last song of the night to get another one out of Bare, whose legendary status he clearly respected.

Dean recounted how Cannon had helped him get his first cut as the producer of “Moving Oleta,” the Dean original recorded in 2003 by Reba McEntire. Dean performed that song, as well as “Pontoon,” his #1 co-write for Little Big Town. Cannon performed his Vern Gosdin classic, “Set ‘Em Up Joe,” as well as his George Strait hit, “I’ve Come to Expect It from You.” Anderson sang “Give It Away,” his co-write with Cannon and Jamey Johnson that was the 2007 CMA Song of the Year. And all three men sang harmony with Bare when he performed his 1963 classic “500 Miles.”

Anderson led the crowd in a singalong of his novelty song covered by the late Roy Drusky in 1967, “Peel Me a Nanner,” after recounting how Cannon once referred to it as “the worst country song ever written.” And when Anderson remarked that he had a BMI award on his wall for that song, Cannon quipped, “Well, that shows how easy they are to get.” The last song of the evening, the one that Dean ceded to Bare, was the Tom T. Hall classic “That’s How I Got to Memphis,” which was the standout performance of the show.

Of course there was a standing ovation when the men unplugged their guitars to call it a night. While at least eight other clubs around Nashville were featuring writers and artists for Tin Pan South, this CMA Bluebird show, especially in light of Merle Haggard’s death, was a reminder of how important the work of such legends is, not only to lovers of country music, but to the music industry and to anyone who supports the arts in general.

Visit the American Songwriter website again on Monday for a recap of all of the week’s Tin Pan South activities from Nashville.