The other night I watched the documentary, It Came From Detroit, and several things struck me.Â
1) Third Man Record’s Ben Blackwell and Ben Swank both make appearances, so if you ever questioned their Detroit roots, this film will absolve those doubts.Â
2) Watching this movie and substituting “Nashville” whenever they talk about the wealth of talented musicians doing it for the love of doing it but also curious to have a taste of success is an incredibly easy headspace to fill. It’s remarkable how many parallels there are between the scene in Detroit and the scene here – the difference being, of course, that we’ve not had our “White Stripes” to catapult the entire city onto the national radar.
But, then again, maybe we’re just too in it to be able to see it. Nashville is on the tip of everyone’s tongue as a “hip” place and we’ve had more than our fair share of indie successes. Maybe we’re on our way into the backlash or maybe we’re on our way to a new level of musical breakouts.
Or, more likely, we’re on our way to having more great music emerge from our fair city and, commercial success or not, we’re one of the finest places to live if you want a diverse music scene.