Doors 8pm, Show 8:30pm
$30 adv / $35 DOS

Pat McLaughlin is a quintessential maverick, right down to his pointed shrugging off of all the moniker implies. The revered, if a bit enigmatic, singer, songwriter and guitarist has spent years honing his layered style. Dedicated only to the pursuit of a new groove or an old feeling, his songs rehash the sights and sounds of a reformed nomad with roots in Iowa, footprints in San Francisco, New Orleans and Chicago, and a home in Nashville.

McLaughlin's compositions have been recorded by a jaw-dropping array of artists including John Prine, Taj Mahal, Dan Auerbach, Bonnie Raitt, Yola, Marcus King, The Bahamas, Phoebe Bridgers, Tanya Tucker, George Strait, Steve Wariner, Gary Allan, Alan Jackson, Josh Turner, Tricia Yearwood, Mandy Barnett, Sierra Hull, Sierra Ferrel, Don Williams, John Anderson, Robert Finley, Gibson Brothers, Brandi Carlile, Nanci Griffith, Jamie Hartford, Shawn Camp, Ricky Van Shelton, Robert Earl Keen, Britti, Early James, Brit Taylor, Boy Named Banjo, Ian Tyson, Eric Church, Hayes Carll, Rag’n’Bone Man, Shannon and the Clams, Traveling’ McCourys, Kim Ritchie, Dee White, Brett Eldridge, Kendall Marvell, Al Kooper, Subdudes, Tiny Town, The Brummies, Miles Kane, Aubrey Peeples, Vince Herman, Nat Myers, Nathaniel Rateliff, Kurt Vile, Delbert McClinton, Tim O’Brien, Lee Ann Womack, McKinley James, Matt Warren.

Gary Allan recorded Pat's "Songs About Rain," and Josh Turner recorded “Firecracker,” securing yet two more BMI Country Awards for McLaughlin. An in-demand studio musician, Pat's guitar "chunking" finessed projects by Neil Diamond, Jamie Hartford, Rosanne Cash, Julie Roberts, Don Williams, Al Cooper, John Doe, Cowboy Jack Clement, Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) and many more.

As further testament to McLaughlin's skill, Pat was called on to play acoustic guitar for the Rick Rubin produced Johnny Cash American recordings. Pat McLaughlin frequently finds himself working alongside legends. A regular collaborator of John Prine, Pat was a 2 time nominee at the 2018 Grammy awards for the songs “Summer’s End” and “Knockin’ on your Screen Door,” both recorded by John Prine. In 2019, he was once again a Grammy nominee for “Far Away Look,” written with Yola and Dan Auerbach. In 2020 Pat took home the Grammy for “I Remember Everything,” recorded by John Prine. Rolling Stone called McLaughlin "a tasty, rootsy gem," while he prompted the Tennessean's Peter Cooper to spout poetry: "Groove and soul, slink and stutter, groove and soul, wisdom and pain, groove and soul."

In 2006, McLaughlin released Horsefly, again featuring the co-production credits of McLaughlin and Kenny Greenberg. Loose but focused, the tracks ebb and flow seamlessly, offering wry observations on life's satisfactions and misfires. Melancholy honey and sweet desperation swap stories, while unadulterated happiness sweeps in as well.

Today, McLaughlin finds himself immersed in the Nashville songwriting scene. However, the true magic happens when Pat regularly brings down the house playing live gigs with his jaw dropping band, “The Men In My Life” (Kenny Greenberg, Steve Mackie, and Greg Morrow). "No one since Dan Penn has better mixed '60s soul idioms with country music sentiment," proclaimed the Chicago Sun-Times. "Pat McLaughlin is an American treasure."
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With a music career spanning more than 40 years, David Ferguson has engineered landmark albums for Johnny Cash, opened a recording studio with John Prine, and shared a Grammy win with Sturgill Simpson. Now the Nashville native has become a compelling recording artist in his own right with Nashville No More, his debut album on Fat Possum Records.

The self-produced project gathers an exceptional cast of friends from the city’s Americana and bluegrass community, while the track listing is simply a reflection of songs he likes. Some selections are familiar, but others are landing on a record for the first time. And even though Ferguson (better known around town as “Fergie”) says he recorded these songs as a way to pass the time during the pandemic, Nashville No More nonetheless carries him out of the control room and into a deserving spotlight.

“I always knew I was going to be in this business, always,” he says. “I think I knew I was going to be a recording engineer when I was about 15 years old. I've loved music all my life, but I never really listened to the lyrics of a song until I was in my 20s. I was just listening to the music, the whole thing. I guess I started noticing lyrics in my mid-20s, trying to figure out what a good song was then.”

That revelation coincided with a dream gig working for the legendary producer “Cowboy” Jack Clement, who hired Ferguson as a teenager to run errands. Ferguson heard about the job from the owner of the Old-Time Picking Parlor, a long-forgotten club and guitar repair shop in downtown Nashville. He took the job without knowing about Clement’s crucial role in establishing artists like Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Charley Pride. He stayed on for decades, engineering and producing records for newcomers and icons alike.

“I loved it. That was the best job in the world,” Ferguson says now. “A really good job for a young guy with very little education. ‘Cowboy’ gave me a chance.”

Those professional relationships followed him to his own Music Row studio called the Naughty Pines, a small, rented room where he produced demos and kept the door open for Cash, who liked to stretch out on the small couch. In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, Cash enlisted Ferguson (with producer Rick Rubin’s blessing) to engineer multiple sessions for the American Recordings series of albums, capturing modern classics like “Hurt” and “The Mercy Seat.”

John Prine, whom Ferguson remembers as “a great hang,” was another regular presence at the Naughty Pines. But when an adjoining tenant constantly complained about all the cigarette smoke, Fergie had no choice but to relocate. So, he and Prine launched a new studio they named the Butcher Shoppe, due to its unassuming location next to a former meat processing plant.

Many prominent Americana artists recorded there, including Tyler Childers, Margo Price and Sturgill Simpson. Fergie picked up a Grammy when Simpson’s A Sailor’s Guide to Earth – recorded at theButcher Shoppe -- won the 2016 Grammy for Best Country Album. But once the entire property was sold in 2020, the Butcher Shoppe became yet another casualty of the New Nashville. “We were there for a long time, about 15 years, and it was nice to have,” he says. “All good things come to an end.”

Not to be deterred, Fergie moved all of his recording equipment to his home studio, located on an acreage far from the city limits, and started cutting songs.

He recorded two of the tracks years ago, after singing them at a wedding. Others are by steadfast songwriters such as Guy Clark, Stephen Foster, Lee Hazlewood, Gordon Lightfoot, and Ian Tyson. Notable Nashville songwriters like Roger Cook, Pat McLaughlin, and Allen Reynolds are represented as well, with a pair of songs from his late friend, Charles Cochran.

Throughout the album, Ferguson’s baritone conveys sincerity, not to mention life experience. The timbre of his vocal is believable whether he’s singing the wistful “Four Strong Winds,” or a love song like “Nights With You.” Meanwhile, the irresistible “Chardonnay” could have been a huge hit for Dean Martin back in the day, just as “Knockin’ Around Nashville” will satisfy longtime country listeners who still miss the piano and pedal steel.

Nashville No More also stands as a testament to Fergie’s love for bluegrass music, particularly on “Early Morning Rain.” He lights up when remembering the two years he played bass during the final stretch of Jimmy Martin’s career. In addition, Ferguson won a 2013 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album as an engineer on the Del McCoury Band’s The Streets of Baltimore.

Bluegrass listeners will easily pick out the all-stars in the credits of Nashville No More: Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Béla Fleck, Sierra Hull, Ronnie McCoury, Justin Moses, and Tim O’Brien, to name only a few. Will Oldham guests on “Fellow Travelers” and “Looking for You,” while Hull and Price sing exquisite harmony on multiple songs. Ferguson shares guitar duties with players like Dan Auerbach, Mark Howard, Billy Sanford, and Kenny Vaughan.

Nashville No More brings a long-held family dream to fruition, too. Ferguson’s maternal grandfather moved to Nashville in the 1950s to be a singer and bandleader. But he put his musical ambitions on hold to help his daughter raise her children, including Fergie. Indeed, some of Ferguson’s earliest memories are being cradled in the family’s rocking chair, hearing his mother sing – and it’s fair to say that he’s been drawn to special voices ever since.

Pat McLaughlin and David Ferguson

Pat McLaughlin and David Ferguson