The Ghost of Nashville
Hindsite is 2020
202 started with hopeful thoughts for many. Premature hopes would be dashed on the proverbial rocks as 2020 tumbled down the cliff. It moved ever more rapidly to becoming the worst year in recent history for the entire planet.
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About the song
The Ghost of Nashville is about how Nashville suffered one of the earliest big blows of 2020. In the early morning of March 3, a deadly and unpredicted tornado ravaged Northern and East Nashville.
In East Nashville, where Kenny Schick, and his wife, Sabine Heusler-Schick run Basement 3 Productions, a music production company. Many of the businesses that made East Nashville vibrant (including a very popular music venue, The Basement East) were torn to pieces, just a few blocks from the Schick’s ‘compound’.
Tragedy
On the heels of the tornado, the whole planet went into lock down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nashville, is a town where music, entertainment, tourism, and restaurants make it a destination. It is a town full of musicians who rely on gigs and touring they immediately felt the full impact of the shutdowns. Black Lives Matter protests and riots had Nashville unravel quickly as opposing ideologies and contrary opinions clashed.
Musicians and the music industry that gives Music City it’s identity, an industry who’s employees often struggle to eek out a living even in the best of times, hangs on the verge of extinction in Nashville, and many wonder if the clubs, the artists, the hotels, the restaurants will survive. Even before all this, concerns of the rapid growth and rising housing costs had threatened the survival of an already challenged music industry, and the charm and history of Nashville.
A lot of Questions
It is with this whirlwind of thoughts and fears that Kenny Schick penned the song, The Ghost Of Nashville, a tribute to his hometown of just 3 years. Schick and his wife had fled the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of the highest costs of living in the country had gutted the once thriving community of artists. Nashville was growing quickly, but this place called ‘Music City’ was on a downhill trajectory. Economic growth alone could potentially devour the very industry that attracts so many to Nashville.
‘The Ghost Of Nashville’ leaves listeners with lots of questions,. Schick hopes it inspires thoughts and new ideas that will lead to preserving the heart and soul of Music City.
