Two excellent Nashville concerts this month

First was Paul McCartney, a voice from my 1960s (a decade that I remember all too well), and Mindy Smith, who did a tenth-anniversary live rendition of "One Moment More."  It was my first for Mindy, fifth for Paul. Mindy was clearly nervous at the beginning, fearful, she said, at performing these "old" songs. I sent her positive vibes; hopefully they helped. Of the singer-songwriters who come and go (and casual readers of this lowly blog know that this is my current bag, and has been for a while), Mindy Smith is one of those rare performers who would motivate me to drag myself to Nashville and pay for valet parking at some toney wine-establishment-frequented-by-millennials kind of scene (even if they do have wine on tap). Back in the day, I was an evangelist for Ms. Smith. I've turned more than one person on to her unique aural presence (even an agnostic who professed to hating her for recording "Come To Jesus," but later recanted after hearing the whole CD).  More than once I've wondered: how could this Long Island New Yorker express such authentic Americana?  But then, Gillian Welch is from New York also.  Perhaps there's something about New York that predisposes musicians to be un-New Yorkish and to seek authenticity where it is most easily found. Hey, even Mike Doughty is covering John Denver now.  BTW: "Come To Jesus" was the final song of her encore.  I suspected that it would be her finale, but I didn't know how the millennial crowd would respond. I needn't have feared; this was Mindy's crowd... It merited the last of several standing ovations.