To consider that Chicago’s insurgent indie label Bloodshot Records is twenty years old is a bit off-putting, though in the nicest way. Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was digging Neko Case & Her Boyfriends The Virginian? Or getting knocked to my knees by the absolute power of Robbie Fulks’ “The Buck Starts Here” from Country Love Songs? Don’t even get me started on Alejandro Escovedo’s mid-career peak Bourbonitis Blues.
Through two decades, label founders Nan Warshaw and Rob Miller have consistently delivered records of superior quality and made my wallet the weaker for it. Well played, Nan and Rob.
Like any red-blooded twenty-something, Bloodshot is ready to party and the shindig will commence Saturday, January 24th at City Winery Nashville. With a lineup of label stalwarts Robbie Fulks, Cory Branan, and Bobbie Bare, Jr.’s Young Criminal Starvation League, it is guaranteed to be a night of great music and memorable moments.
The “Windy City Meets Music City” celebration continues with performances by Bloodshot’s Luke Winslow-King at The Basement on Thursday, February 12th, white-hot buzz begetter Lydia Loveless at The High Watt on Saturday, February 14th, and Nashville’s own Banditos at The Basement on February 19th. Just like that, your February show calendar is off to a stellar start.
Congratulations to Nan and Rob on a fifth-century of excellence. Keeping an independent label running and growing in these uncertain music business times is challenging, to say the least. Thanks for fighting the good fight, folks, and here’s to another twenty!
PHOTO: JACOB BOLL
