The Ghost Of Nashville by Kenny Schick

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Kenny Schick is a Producer / Engineer / Singer Songwriter who works in Nashville TN and California.

The Ghost Of Nashville by Kenny Schick Lyrics 195448426021

In the minutes after midnight March the 3rd
hovered up above like a big black bird
Swooped right down and swallowed German Town
Moved on like a train down Main St. Eastward bound
we headed for the basement
east of Eden as the beast came through
captured it’s prey and had it’s fill
off the bones of the ghost of Nashville

It rained it poured the Cumberland ran red ppl
The mayor fell ill, collapsed and took to bed
rats on Broadway spreading the disease
and rotten fruit was falling from the trees
good ‘ol boys with swollen pride
was this the day the music died
the streets fell silent, the drunks had had their fill
in the ghost of Nashville

Will the songs of Music City die?
the beating heart, the poets cry
hindsight is 2020, foresight is 4 eyed
will we pack our cars leave music row behind,
Wave goodbye to the blind?
who’d sell the soul of Nashville for a song
even the devil pulled out of the deal, it was so damn wrong

Black and white sang the Music City Blues
courthouse burning on the evening news
Can’t get beyond the color of the skin
To let the healing of the wounds begin
Are we back to 1968?
never really killed the hate
See the city fall from up on St. Cloud Hill

the ghost of Nashville

The pressure built, the perfect storm arrived
what was left, just a struggle to survive
the beast exposed the ugly underneath
sharpened claws and gnashing of the teeth
the heart and soul of music city
knocked down replaced by tall and skinny
they’ll hunt until there’s nothing left to kill
in the Ghost of Nashville

Hindsight Is 2020: The Ghost Of Nashville

2020 started with hopeful thoughts for many, but soon, premature hopes would be dashed on the proverbial rocks as 2020 tumbled down the cliff, moving ever more rapidly to becoming the worst year in recent history for the entire planet. Nashville suffered one of the earliest big blows of 2020, literally and figuratively, when in the early morning of March 3, a deadly and unpredicted tornado outbreak ravaged Northern and East Nashville, as well as outlying areas. In East Nashville, where Kenny Schick, and his wife, Sabine Heusler-Schick run Basement 3 Productions, a music production company, many of the businesses that made East Nashville vibrant(including a very popular music venue, The Basement East) were torn to pieces, just a few blocks from the Schick’s ‘compound’.

Immediately following this tragedy, the whole planet went into lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nashville, being a town where music, entertainment, tourism, and restaurants make it the destination it is, and being a town full of musicians who rely on gigs and touring, immediately felt the full impact of the shutdowns. Followed immediately by BLM protests and riots, Nashville unraveled quickly as opposing ideologies and contrary opinions about how to ‘carry on’ clashed in grand fashion. Musicians and the music industry that gives Music City it’s identity, an industry who’s employees often struggle to eek out a living even in the best of times, hangs on the verge of extinction in Nashville, and many wonder if the clubs, the artists, the hotels, the restaurants will survive. Even before 2020 reared its ugly head, concerns of rapid growth and rising housing costs had threatened the survival of an already challenged music industry, as well as the charm and history of Nashville.

It is with this whirlwind of thoughts and fears that Kenny Schick penned the song, The Ghost Of Nashville, a tribute to his hometown of just 3 years. Schick and his wife had fled the San Francisco Bay Area as some of the highest costs of living in the country had gutted the once thriving community of artists there. Schick and his wife knew Nashville was growing quickly, but both were surprised to see a place called ‘Music City’ on a trajectory to let economic growth alone potentially devour the very industry that attracts so many to Nashville from around the world. ‘The Ghost Of Nashville’ leaves listeners with lots of questions, but Schick hopes it inspires thoughts and new ideas that will lead to preserving the heart and soul of Music City.

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