BMI’s Rooftop On The Row Kicks Off AMERICANAFEST
BMI hosted the final installment of its signature Rooftop On The Row series, presented by George Dickel, last night (September 10) with more than 900 industry players and Americana music fans. Serving as the official kickoff party to the 26th annual AMERICANAFEST, attendees were treated to performances from Ken Pomeroy, The Droptines and Briscoe to end the seventh season of the series. The highly-anticipated evening was emceed by BMI’s Mason Hunter as music fans packed the BMI Nashville rooftop to hear new music from the next generation of talent.
Pomeroy set the tone for the night with “Rainbow,” “Bound to Rain,” and “Coyote” while ending her set with the new track, “Pocket Knives.” Big Loud Texas artist The Droptines brought their alternative Americana tone as they launched into “Over,” “Bill of Sale,” and “Army Green” before fueling the crowd with their new hit “Calling All Cars.” Austin-based rockers Briscoe performed “She Burns Away,” “The Well,” and “Hooped Earrings,” while capping off the evening with “Hill Country Baby.”
BMI continues its commitment to nurturing and developing songwriters at the earliest stages of their careers with the annual concert installment. Throughout this season, thousands of industry professionals attended the series, which featured affiliates Tanner Adell, Kaitlin Butts, Thomas Edwards, Colt Graves, Vincent Mason, Max McNown, Lukas Nelson, THEBROSFRESH and Tucker Wetmore. Over the years, the industry event has hosted artists such as Morgan Wallen, Billy Strings, The War And Treaty, HARDY, K. Michelle, Riley Green, Colbie Caillat, Wyatt Flores, Ella Langley, Maddie and Tae, LOCASH, Dylan Marlowe and Mitchell Tenpenny.
Guests were treated to free food and beverages provided by the night’s sponsors George Dickel Whisky, Delta Air Lines, Fat Bottom Brewing Co., First Horizon, Gallagher Insurance, Red Bull Jukebox, Texas Roadhouse, White Claw, YETI, and Xperi.
ABOUT THE DROPTINES:
Austin-based band The Droptines live wildly between the lines of Americana and rock and roll – what they dub alternative Americana. Newly signed to Big Loud Texas, the band made their label introduction with the release of “Take Too Much.” The tune is driven by a vocal growl reminiscent of The Droptines’ most pointed influences like rock heroes Springsteen and Tom Petty. Working with lauded producer and Big Loud Texas co-founder and president of A&R Jon Randall, the gritty band is prepping new music entrenched in a southern vernacular – writing and performing the songs they want to hear most. Defined by a “beatnik-like itinerary of a lost soul’s activity” (Saving Country Music), The Droptines just wrapped a stint on the road with Whiskey Myers, a billing at Lollapalooza and slots opening for Dwight Yoakam alongside a headlining run that hit iconic venues throughout the U.S. like West Hollywood’s Troubadour.
ABOUT BRISCOE:
If Briscoe’s debut album was a coming-of-age soundtrack set against the backdrop of the Texas Hill Country, then its follow-up, Heat of July, is the sound of a fully-formed duo chasing down a broader horizon. Inspired by marriage, landscapes, and the cross-country tours that took the band across America, these new songs were written on the road, as eclectic and evocative as the terrain that unfolded just outside the van’s windshield. Once again, Briscoe teamed up with Grammy-nominated producer Brad Cook to bring the songs to life, collaboratively creating a record that expands Briscoe’s folk-rock sound in all directions. There are bigger arrangements, sharper vocal harmonies, and enough top-tier guest musicians—including members of Houndmouth, Hiss Golden Messenger, Bon Iver, Mipso, and Watchhouse—to form their own supergroup. The result is a cinematic, wide screen version of American roots music, created by two lifelong friends who’ve learned to distill the thrill of the open road— and the challenges of growing up —into an ever-evolving soundtrack.
ABOUT KEN POMEROY:
Ken Pomeroy will break your heart. She’ll do it with a single line––sometimes, just one word. The pain begins as an empathetic ache. Then, as Pomeroy sings her stories, you begin to see yourself in her hurt and hope. And you realize: We’re in this together. Pomeroy’s outstretched hand to the wounded manifests as startlingly good songs. Her soprano is comforting––almost sweet––but perhaps most powerful delivering a devastating line. A deft guitarist, she opts for beds of rootsy strings that can soothe or haunt. But it’s her writing that really shines and stings. Raised in Moore, Oklahoma, Pomeroy is Cherokee. Her mamaw gave her the name ᎤᏍᏗᏀᏯᏓᎶᏂᎨᎤᏍᏗᎦ, which means “Little Wolf with Yellow Hair.” Existing in the intersection of past, present and future; Pomeroy effortlessly channels the ancestral wisdom of her elders and her lived experience through her lyrical and instrumental composition. Writing as a cathartic release has culminated in Pomeroy’s highly anticipated new album, Cruel Joke. The 12-track contemporary folk collection creates a wild but safe space of Pomeroy’s own––a space that, like 22-year-old Pomeroy herself, is brutally honest, proudly Native American, and undeniably brilliant. People have noticed. Pomeroy’s “Wall of Death” made its way onto the Twisters soundtrack, while Hulu’s Reservation Dogs featured her soul-mining gem, “Cicadas.” Tour dates with Lukas Nelson, Iron & Wine, American Aquarium, John Moreland, Kaitlin Butts, and more followed. “A lot of really cool things are happening, but it hasn’t set in. I haven’t had time to bask in it,” Pomeroy says. “Even when I started playing music, I never thought, ‘I’m a musician. I chose this life.’ I feel like something way above me pointed at me and said, ‘Okay, here’s your path.’ And I’ve just been following it kind of blindly ever since.”
