Finding a bit of Americana in Music City

If you know… You know.
To get your picture playing in front of that flag means it’s as real as it gets.

FRANKLIN, TN -
There are few places where I’ve been that I can say I have found a little piece of heaven on earth.
A home, when home feels like its worlds away.
A place where you’re understood and accepted.

I’m lucky enough to find that in the rolling hills outside of Franklin, TN.

Just past the Natchez Trace Parkway, you’ll find a section of Tennessee that is known to locals as a hidden gem.
It is part of the Americana Bermuda Triangle, and lucky me; they let me get lost every Thursday Night.

A place where Country, Blues, Soul, Rap, Reggae, Bluegrass, Rock & Roll…. Basically any kind of music that is performed by Nashville’s Best Musicians come to shine amongst other suns.

My first time performing at Puckett’s in Leiper’s Fork; I showed up around 6pm to find that the list was already way over 20 people.
Hoping to be done and home by 10:00pm CST… I think I went on around 11:45pm.

I begged the woman running the Open Mic (a woman who would soon become a true heroine of mine), Deb Pratt, to just let me play the very last spot on the list.
I promised her: “Miss Debbie, I promise you; I’ll make it worth it. I will not suck if you let me play.”
She let me go on.
She said: “You did not suck.”
Then Let me come back the next week.
Then I came back a few more dozen times…
Always showing up and calling in for my spot with a promise:
”Hi, Miss Debbie! I promise I won’t suck tonight!”
And her unfailing response: “I know you won’t.”

To say this place is Magic… is absolutely true.


But Shhh: Its a secret.



I’ll even tell you how I met a true hero of mine, and Gibson Guitars CEO, JC Curleigh; and offered him to borrow my beloved “Jo” (Pelham Blue 2013 Gibson J45)…

But that is a story for another day.

The Emcee of the Evening every open Mic Night that there is: Deb Pratt … but thats MISS Debbie to you!
I mean this sincerely, I may be more proud of this picture than any others I’ve had taken at Puckett’s.
Miss Debbie has been encouraging me the entire time I have been coming down to Leiper’s Fork.
Truly a woman of God, and she shows His love in her own loving way.