We were in Nashville over the weekend and had a chance to go see Jim Lauderdale play at the Station Inn. He was great as usual and he had a seriously excellent bluegrass band backing him, so the whole show was incredible. That place is justly famous as a venue, it had about the best sound I've heard and is so small that even against the back wall you feel like you are right next to the stage. And people go there to listen, so you could hear everything. A hell of a show (and a stark contrast to what is going on musically and otherwise at the bars on Broadway, which are also fun of course).

The weird moment in the evening was when John Oates of Hall and Oates fame, who happened to be in the audience, came to the stage to do a fingerpicked number backed by Jim's band. I can't actually remember what he played, it was something standard. He is a good musician as you'd expect, and I guess into the traditional stuff and playing it these days (?). Can't say I've been keeping up on the trajectory of his career...

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