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AmericanaFest 2024 Kicks Off With BMI Showcases: Wyatt Flores, the Hanseroth Twins, Kade Hoffman, and Emily Nenni
A milestone was reached by the Americana Music Association at this year’s AmericanaFest 2024 – the twenty-five year anniversary of the organization’s founding.
This go-around, arguably the top two lineups for the opening evening for AmericanaFest were the official kick-off on the BMI rooftop and all things Mary Gauthier at the City Winery, a tribute lineup followed by Gauthier’s performance spotlighting her 1999 album Drag Queens in Limousines.
The official kick-off party on the BMI rooftop factors in as a top draw for participation during the opening evening of AmericanaFest from year to year.
The BMI rooftop showcase launched Billy Strings in 2019 and has provided early sneak peaks of the Heavy Heavy, War and Treaty, Brett Cobb and many other artists.
There are always tough choices to be made about the AmericanaFest 2024 schedule. On the one hand, Gauthier is a trailblazer in Americana and folk music circles. It’s no easier a choice, if you’ve seen Gauthier with some frequency because of the who’s who in Americana music providing a unique take on her songs as a tribute in the earlier portion of the program.
On the other, if you’ve been unable to catch a performer with rising popularity, who is headlining the BMI rooftop, it’s a tempting release valve. Imagine taking a trip to Denver during the summer and discovering Wyatt Flores playing shortly after a departure flight and earlier show dates in the spring not working out to attend. Flores’ appearance on the BMI rooftop relieved the scheduling exasperation from earlier this year.
Flores was among a strong slate of nominees for emerging act of the year at this year’s Americana Music Association Honors and Awards. The other nominees included Kaitlin Butts, Charles Wesley Godwin, The Red Clay Strays and Jobi Riccio.
Before the Flores headliner, a few artists performed shorter sets.
The Hanseroth Twins
If you’ve ever attended a Brandi Carlile concert, she is flanked by twins Phil and Tim Hanseroth on stage. The twins started out the musical evening, teasing their forthcoming album, by performing two songs for the Americana faithful.
The Seattle-based duo started out with a song about childhood titled “Broken Homes.” It’s a heavy-hearted song capturing a crowd lightened by splendid temperatures and calming breezes six floors up looking out into the Nashville skyline. Normally heat and the weight of humidity prevail even as summer is soon to give to fall in Music City.
The Hanseroths have a solid reputation as songwriters, counting co-writes with Brandi Carlile on “The Joke” and “The Story” as well as seven co-writes with Carlile on Tanya Tucker’s comeback album from 2019, While I’m Livin’ which won a Grammy for country album of the year. Their songs have been covered by artists such as Adele, Dolly Parton and the Avett Brothers.
The final song is a dedication to their babies. “Remember Me” embodies hopefulness for their future, with this lyric line for evidence – “Let the goodness in your heart show the way.”
The Hanseroths received a warm reception from the crowd.
Americana week displayed the talents of some Oklahoma artists. Kaitlin Butts and Key Pomeroy are two notable examples and two others performed for the BMI rooftop kick-off.
Kade Hoffman
Oklahoma artists for the rooftop event include the next performer in the BMI rooftop lineup, Kade Hoffman, and later, Wyatt Flores. Hoffman’s first two songs in the set are from his four track EP titled Relics which released a week earlier.
Hoffman’s sound is prairie-infused Americana and complements artists such as Colter Wall and Riddy Arman. Hoffman completed a few show dates opening for Colter Wall earlier this month.
“Tired of Waiting” and “Lady Luck” are slower tempo numbers stripped down to acoustic for his solo set. If you give his recorded music a spin, you’ll hear Western campfire fiddle on “Tired Of Waiting” and regret and longing in his vocals on “Lady Luck”.
Hoffman’s final song in the rooftop set is lost love on the prairie, “Bonfire Blues.” The song was released at the end of 2022. The crowd 9f hundreds was largely in respectful, listening room mode, focused on Hoffman’s performance as they also were with the Hanseroths.
Emily Nenni
A familiar face was next to perform for the rooftop party. Emily Nenni’s return to AmericanaFest 2024 comes after a firecracker showcase performance at Musicians’ Corner in Centennial Park last year.
Nenni occupies the Honky Tonk sector of the musical universe infused with cosmic guitar licks.
“Get to Know Ya” strikes a chord of vocalized enthusiasm from the crowd. It’s from her 2024 album Drive & Cry.
Nenni deploys self-deprecating humor on the next song “Useless” by saying the song is about her. It’s from her 2022 album On the Ranch. She returns to the album with a leading bass line for “In the Mornin'” a song which speaks of an independent woman.
Jangling guitar from Jack Quiggins changes up the vibe with “Don’t Wanna Cry” from Nenni’s debut album in 2018. Quiggins gets a little jam out session next on the title song “Drive & Cry” from this year’s album. There are swaying movements in the crowd.
Feel-good country washes the crowd on “Rootin’ For You” with the lively instrumentation and catchy melody.
Nenni then dives into the Terry Allen cover “Armadillo Highway” she recorded. This cover song completes her recent album. Nenni is visibly enjoying her time on stage.
“Bad News (By No Means)” closes out the set. This song appears on her 2020 EP Long Game. She’s now revved the crowd up for more involved expression.
Given harder times before her more recent album, Nenni is enjoying the musical space she occupies, and it shows. She’s saying she’s glad she can come out on stage and perform. Her previous album On the Ranch literally reflects her working on a ranch in Colorado when the idea of touring seemed a distant hope.
Not to go unmentioned, Nenni’s backing band, Teddy & the Rough Riders, are the recipients of Austin, Texas’ Ameripolitan Awards for “Best Honky Tonk Group” earlier this year and their new album was released on Oct 11. REVIEW: Teddy & The Rough Riders “Down Home”
Wyatt Flores
Among any music genres, roots-oriented singer/songwriters have been on the rise these last several years. Zach Bryan is a prime example.
One of the newest to catch fire is Wyatt Flores from Stillwater, Oklahoma. Red Dirt music originates in the Stillwater area and Flores’ sound reflects Oklahoma Red Dirt and country influences.
Attendees of the BMI rooftop kick-off were treated to a 12 song set. Flores starts out with a song about the challenges of a touring musician. His vocals and a steady guitar strum start out. Then the full band of six are instrumentally in full force with banjo and fiddle having some standout moments.
“Who have I become?” is the existential question Flores asks on this song “Orange Bottles” (from 2023’s debut Life Lessons) and one he worked to answer back in February.
Maybe readers have heard some musicians talk about struggling with “imposter syndrome” which involves self-doubt by an artist relating to the growing audiences they attract.
Flores took a brief pause in the tour schedule to sort through his personal struggle and stated publicly he’s easing up on the drinking as well. Flores has publicly spoke of feeling numb and it’s reflected in the lyrics: “I’m so dull, I can’t tell if I’m alive.” It’s great to see Flores performing on the other side of these challenges.
A switch is made to a slower tempo with “Running Out of Time” from his 2024 recording Half Life released in the spring. Fiddle leads the song and as Flores sings, fiddle and banjo are remarkable to the arrangement. The crowd brought a loud crescendo of cheers to the band’s effort.
Then the band jumps into the title song from their fall release Welcome to the Plains. It’s a rocking autobiography from his life in the Oklahoma plains.
There are moments of intense fiddle play. Some guitar grinding closes out the outro.
Flores returns to Half Life with the title song. It begins with a piano introduction. It’s a reflective song on living. There’s a dance between instruments. Electric guitar yields to acoustic. Fiddle takes over and electric guitar returns.
A subtler song is next with “Holes” from 2023’s Life Lessons. The lyrics speak to hard scrabble living with subdued steady guitar picking accompanying Flores’ voice. The other instruments enter with gentle play.
Then the band dives right into the next song. Back in July, the Castellows released “Sober Sundays” featuring Flores and he takes up the song with his band.
Flores follows with a single release from 2022. There are pleasing fiddle hoe down moments on “Please Don’t Go.”
Then intensity returns with Flores going directly into the next song, the lament “Oh Susannah.” The story involves trying to save a woman and the attempt was out of place. As we hear in the lyrics, “I was the problem only trying to be the cure.” The last moment concludes with a bowstring pull for closing effect.
The first moments of fiddle and acoustic on the next song provide some Americana deja vu. It’s a cover of Jason Isbell’s “Traveling Alone” with great three-part harmony on the chorus from the Flores outfit. The whole performance does justice to the original song.
Complementary fiddle and guitar whine initiate a twangy “Milwaukee.” A slower tempo yields to moments of quicker tempos for a catchy song.
With the drum intro you know something louder is coming. And there are some little funky beats bouncing in the transition to this next song. “Don’t Wanna Say Goodnight.” It charges up the crowd. it’s a banger and would be incomplete without the fiddle work throughout the song.
The closing song “West of Tulsa” starts with crashing cymbals. It’s a tale of lost love, or more specifically, an imaginationship. They meet at a tavern, afterwards they go to a cheap motel and she leaves before he wakes. He is left wanting. There are moments where fiddle, electric guitar and keys get a spotlight in the song arrangement for marvelous effect.
Now an Americana contingent witnessed the tales from an artist living in the Oklahoma plains. And again, the organizers involved with planning this successful BMI rooftop kick-off for AmericanaFest show they continue to labor with purpose.
Hats off to everyone who have raised the Americana banner and carried it forward during these twenty-five years!
Find more information here on his website, along with tour dates: https://www.wyattfloresmusic.com
Enjoy our review of Wyatt Flores new album here: REVIEW: Wyatt Flores “Welcome to the Plains”
by Brian DeSpain