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.

 

WATCH VIDEO AT END!

 

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.

 

A year ago today, we arrived in Nashville.

Though we’d talked about it a bit over the last several years, it was actually a pretty spontaneous move—a decision made just a little more than 2 months before our departure.

Photography by Kenny Schick – Kenny Schick is a Music Producer, engineer, singer songwriter & professional photographer, living in Nashville TN (from the Bay Area CA)  (see more photos here)

A stressful year in California and ever rising rent costs in the Bay Area, an exodus of musicians and artists, and a desire to be around people, who like us, make their living creating music in one form or another, all pointed us out of town. Along with an accident that resulted in us replacing our old Honda Civic with 300,000 on it with a newer, bigger car that would actually make it to Tennessee, and our amazing friend Chris who let us store our stuff in an empty building at his new place, we found ourselves in a position to make a big decision to give Nashville a shot.

Since Sabine and I met online in 2006 discussing music on what is now the ghost town called MySpace, our lives have been about big decisions: from my move to Australia after 8 months of emails and phone calls resulted in us falling in love, to her move to the US in 2008  to continue our relationship, to our 2 month drive/tour across the US immediately upon her arrival (interestingly centered around a gig I got at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville), to our deciding to use my decades of experience as a musician/producer to start our own business, Basement 3 Productions.  Sabine has been an essential ingredient in helping me take thoughts and ideas that might otherwise remain in my head and make them reality. As such, she made me realize that making this big move, like most  big moves, was totally doable.

So on December 2nd, 2017, we packed up our car and left California, and on December 5th, we arrived at our first place in South Nashville near Berry Hill. We’d found it online, and the pictures were quite a glamorized version of what we actually moved into—LOL. We stayed there for the terms of our 6 month lease, and we enjoyed the urban meets rural neighborhood, but we made the move to the ‘hip’ part of town, East Nashville, as soon as our lease allowed, upon finding a house with a separate building for our studio.

I’m proud that we were brave enough to just go for it, especially given we are not 20 something, or 30 something…or….. well…. we did it!

 

Everyone asks what I think of Nashville. I have enjoyed that it is indeed music-centric. We’ve seen a ton of amazing music, eaten great food and made wonderful new friends. I am intrigued by the weather – how cold it gets in the winter, and how hot and humid it gets in the summer. I love all the summer wild life—lightning bugs, tons of butterflies and other big flying critters, and plant growth like I’ve never seen—it is literally a giant green house. I adore the summer lightning storms. Unlike California, there is no watering lawns—just fighting them back—there is visual growth within one day. Nonetheless, I still miss the even, mild temperatures of the Bay Area, of course.

I have surely had an adjustment period, all the while keeping super busy with all my fabulous California artists. I am thoroughly enjoying working and creating music in my East Nashville studio and am excited to dig deeper into the scene here. We’ve really enjoyed hosting California artists and our home/studio is always open to out-of-towners as well as locals! I am eager to keep my focus and see what this musical jewel called Nashville has to offer, and equally, what I have to offer Nashville.

We’ve met some amazing musicians here and try to incorporate as many as possible into our work. Sabine and I are immersing ourselves in the culture and the music of Nashville. We are about to release a new album as our Duo ArtemesiaBlack called Gravity – some songs inspired by our new city – and are curious to see what our second year in Music City will bring. All in all, I’m proud that we were brave enough to just go for it, especially given we are not 20 something, or 30 something…or….. well…. we did it! It’s quite an amazing adventure. We are very excited about the artists we will be working with in the coming year!

 

Some of our favorite Nashville acts!

Singer Songwriters Derek Hoke and Jake La Botz played The Basement September 23, 2018. Anana Kaye and Irakli Gabriel …. played at Dee’s Cocktail Lounge October 5, 2018.

Photography by Kenny Schick – Kenny is a music producer, engineer, singer songwriter & professional photographer, living in Nashville TN (from the Bay Area CA)  (see more photos here)

Contact Kenny if you would like High Rez photos without water marks

  • Derek Hoke - The Basement Nashville 9_23_18 - Photography by Kenny Schick
  • Derek Hoke - The Basement Nashville 9_23_18 - Photography by Kenny Schick
  • Derek Hoke - The Basement Nashville 9_23_18 - Photography by Kenny Schick
  • Derek Hoke - The Basement Nashville 9_23_18 - Photography by Kenny Schick
  • Jake La Botz - The Basement Nashville 9_23_18 - Photography by Kenny Schick
  • Jake La Botz - The Basement Nashville 9_23_18 - Photography by Kenny Schick
  • Jake La Botz - The Basement Nashville 9_23_18 - Photography by Kenny Schick
  • Mike Drew & Kenny Schick at The Basement Nashville September 23, 2018
  • Anana Kaye - Dee's Cocktail Lounge Nashville October 5, 2018 - photography by Kenny Schick
  • Anana Kaye - Dee's Cocktail Lounge Nashville October 5, 2018 - photography by Kenny Schick
  • Anana Kaye - Dee's Cocktail Lounge Nashville October 5, 2018 - photography by Kenny Schick
  • Anana Kaye - Dee's Cocktail Lounge Nashville October 5, 2018 - photography by Kenny Schick
  • Anana Kaye - Dee's Cocktail Lounge Nashville October 5, 2018 - photography by Kenny Schick
  • Anana Kaye - Dee's Cocktail Lounge Nashville October 5, 2018 - photography by Kenny Schick
  • Anana Kaye - Dee's Cocktail Lounge Nashville October 5, 2018 - photography by Kenny Schick
  • Anana Kaye - Dee's Cocktail Lounge Nashville October 5, 2018 - photography by Kenny Schick
  • Anana Kaye - Dee's Cocktail Lounge Nashville October 5, 2018 - photography by Kenny Schick
  • Anana Kaye - Dee's Cocktail Lounge Nashville October 5, 2018 - photography by Kenny Schick

$2 Tuesday at the 5 Spot with Derek Hoke
East Nashville 7/18/18

Photography by Kenny Schick – Kenny is a music producer, engineer, singer songwriter & professional photographer, living in Nashville TN (from the Bay Area CA)  (see more photos here)

EVERY Tuesday it’s $2 Tuesday at the 5 Spot! For 8 years Hoke has been doing this event!

We love this night so much and this place so much and love see Derek Hoke play (he’s kind of our favorite Nashville performer). He always brings in other great music too… thats $2 entry and $2 local yazoo beers!!! um yeah! Dos Perros is my FAVORITE beer like ever! That’s me Sabine talking – Kenny likes his beer as hoppy as it can be… also DJ Tim Hibbs is awesome!!

Dan Hubbard, Carson McHone, and Derek Hoke (acoustic set w/ Mark Robertson & Jules Belmont). LATE NIGHT w/ Esther Rose. DJ Tim Hibbs spuns the finest in 45’s
Sponsored by Eastside Music Supply.

Derek Hoke’s Facebook Page to see who’s playing
DJ TIM HIBBS FACEBOOK
Contact KENNY if you would like High Rez images without watermarks

  • The 5 Spot East Nashville 7_17_18 1
    Dan Hubbard
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    Esther Rose
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    Derek Hoke
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    Carson McHone
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    Carson McHone
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    Carson McHone
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    Carson McHone
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Jodie Lane and Clare Reynolds at The 5 Spot, East Nashville 7/17/18

Photography by Kenny Schick – Kenny is a music producer, engineer, singer songwriter & professional photographer, living in Nashville TN (from the Bay Area CA)  (see more photos here)

Contact Kenny HERE if you want high rez versions without watermarks

  • Jordie Lane 7_17_18 5 Spot 1
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    Esther Rose
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