Find indie, punk, songwriters, Americana, roots, electronic, and DIY shows, alternative concerts, and live music this week in Nashville, with venue calendars, times, ticket links, age limits, free notes, and ticket status.
Indie Shows This Week in Nashville
Browse 17 indie shows this week, plus alternative concerts and live music in Nashville, including SoBro, Wedgewood-Houston, and Germantown. Listings are date-first and source-backed, with venue calendar links, ticket links, ticket status, age limits, free-entry notes, and poster artwork when the official source provides it. Current source-backed signals include 1 free or free-option listing, 9 all-ages shows, and electronic, folk, and singer-songwriter scene tags. Nashville pages separate indie and songwriter-forward club dates from the broader tourist calendar.
Keyboardist Garrett Anderson is a Nashville-based touring and recording musician whose star is quickly rising as an in-demand session player. He began his professional career touring with various Gospel music artists. Eddy Dunlap is known for his versatility, playing pedal steel, dobro, electric, and acoustic guitar. He has recorded and toured with major artists including Luke Bryan, Clay Walker, Mickey Guyton, Jon Pardi, Parmalee, Ben Haggard, and William Michael Morgan. Eddy is a member of the Time Jumpers, a renowned western swing ensemble. He has been part of the house band for the Country Music Association Awards and the CMT Music Awards house bands. Alison Prestwood is a studio and touring bass player in Nashville, Tennessee. According to the Nashville musicians' union, as of 2017 Alison had played bass on over 13,500 songs (and counting!) For example, that's Alison on Blake Shelton's "Austin" and "Ol' Red." She is a four-time nominee for the Bass Player of the Year Award by the Academy of Country Music (ACM). Alison has recently been honored by the Country Music Hall of Fame as a member of the “Nashville Cats,” a program recognizing session musicians and singers who have made important contributions to country music history. Alison has toured with Rodney Crowell, Patty Loveless, Shawn Colvin, Olivia Newton-John, and Peter Frampton. Multi-instrumentalist Brent Rader has recorded and performed with Billy Dean, Jo Dee Messina, K. Michele, Lorrie Morgan, Dylan Scott, Daryle Singletary, Larry Stewart, Pam Tillis, Josh Turner, Keith Urban, and Rhonda Vincent. He has toured with Messina and Joe Nichols. Brent served as music director for the PBS special George Jones: Still Playing Possum , an all-star tribute concert recorded in 2023 and has been part of the house band for the Country Music Association Awards and the CMA Country Christmas television special. Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Carmella Ramsey has performed live with Reba McEntire and George Strait and has recorded with Rodney Crowell, Jerry Douglas, Joan Osborne, John Prine, and William Shatner. Carmella has also worked extensively with Patty Loveless both live and in the recording studio. She is a former member of the bluegrass band New Coon Creek Girls. Dylan Rosson is a busy session guitarist and harmony singer Nashville, TN, working with some of the finest producers and songwriters in town. Prior to focusing on studio work, Dylan spent eight years on the road playing guitar for country artist Scotty McCreery. Long one of Nashville’s secret weapons and top session musicians, guitarist Kenny Vaughan blends country, classic pop, jazz, hard bop, and more into a distinctive and stinging style that brightens and deepens seemingly any track he plays on. Kenny has worked with dozens of top artists, including Lucinda Williams, Tim O’Brien, Rodney Crowell, and Kim Richey, and is a member of Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives.
Gary Nicholson is a number one hit songwriter, two time Grammy winning producer, recording artist, world traveling performer, and session guitarist. He was inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 2011. There are over six hundred recordings of his songs in various genres including country, rock, blues, folk, bluegrass, and pop by Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, BB King, John Prine, Chris Stapelton, Emmylou Harris, Keb Mo, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, Guy Clark, Vince Gill, Garth Brooks, Billy Joe Shaver, Fleetwood Mac, Marty Stuart, Robert Plant, Kenny Chesney, Delbert McClinton, The Dixie Chicks, Dierks Bentley, Patty Loveless, The Mavericks, Wynonna, Trisha Yearwood, Buddy Guy, Joe Bonamassa, Brad Paisley, Michael McDonald, and the list goes on. In addition to his two Grammy winning records with Delbert McClinton, he has produced records for Billy Joe Shaver, Marcia Ball, The Judds, Wynonna, Pam Tillis, T Graham Brown, Chris Knight, Seth Walker and many others. As a guitarist he has played live and recorded with Guy Clark, Billy Joe Shaver, Asleep at the Wheel, Bobby Bare, Joe Ely, and with Delbert McClinton - participating Delbert’s Sandy Beaches Cruise for twenty five years. His songs have been included in many major motion pictures and television, the song “Falling and Flying" is featured in the Oscar winning film “Crazy Heart” performed by Jeff Bridges. Born in Nashville and raised in a recording studio, multi-instrumentalist Yates McKendree grew up hearing and playing with some of Music City’s greatest musicians. Self taught from the age 3, music came to him naturally. Although still just a young man of 23 years, his experience as a professional musician goes back over a decade. That early experience includes playing regularly in some of Nashville’s most notable venues (The Bluebird Cafe, The Ryman Auditorium, Third & Lindsley). It also includes North American and European tours and multiple appearances on national television (Imus In The Morning, CBS Mornings). During Yates’s teenage years, he played on and engineered dozens of recordings in his father’s (Kevin McKendree) studio, The Rock House; most notably for Delbert McClinton and John Hiatt, who told Rolling Stone Magazine, “Yates was our secret ingredient.” In January 2020, Yates earned a Grammy® Award for his role as an engineer and a musician on Delbert McClinton’s “Tall Dark & Handsome”. In 2023, the award winning McKendree released his debut LP, “Buchanan Lane” on Qualified Records. The album was nominated for two Blues Music Awards® and is a favorite among blues lovers everywhere. The success of the album led to a strong demand for live performances in North America and Europe. Yates has been hitting the road with his band ever since. Because of Yates’s lifelong, intense dedication to blues and roots music, he has developed a direct line from his soul to whatever instrument he holds. When he sings and plays, you don’t just hear it, you feel it…deeply. Yates and his band are looking forward to playing the blues for you!
