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Nashville duo to make a house call this weekend

East Nashville is starting to make its mark on the world of Americana music.

Don’t think “Nashville” and “New Country” and pop music in a cowboy hat cranked out like convenience store grub. If you want the good stuff in Nashville when it comes to roots or Americana, cross the Cumberland River into East Nashville, where a growing number of musicians are making an honest living making honest music.

Two such musicians will be here tonight and Saturday; Eric Brace and Peter Cooper are a touring duo out in support of their latest release “The Comeback Album.” They’ll play tonight at the Dolores River Brewery in Dolores, and Saturday at a house concert in Durango on County Road 205. The exact location of the house concert is available on Brace’s website, redbeetrecords.com.

“In the music world that we’re traveling, we’re just trying to make great music. And we reach for it, and hopefully sometimes we do make great music,” said Brace, who is a critic of the commercial music business. “On music row, they just try to get another radio hit. That’s just business.”

Brace is a Washington, D.C., native who submerged himself in all the music D.C. had to offer, from punk to bluegrass. He was a writer for the Washington Post, and while leading the country-rock outfit Last Train Home, he found himself on the other end of the press.

“We played Nashville, and I got a couple of good reviews in the paper from a music journalist named Peter Cooper,” Brace said from his Nashville home. “I introduced myself to him, I told him we were all hitting the road and maybe we should all move to Nashville. I was sort of kidding, but I thought I could live here. So we did. He was a great welcome wagon, and we started hanging out. We would sit around in his house drinking scotch and singing old Seldom Scene songs. We harmonized well together, so we would trade off. In 2008, we formalized and made a record.”

They’ve since made three more records. The duo zips through originals and tasty covers from the Americana canon. They’re a textbook auditory and encyclopedic example of what a roots duo should be.

The house concert is becoming a more and more popular venue for duos like Brace and Cooper; the 40-and 50-somethings who grew up going to rock concerts may want to take a pass on going to a loud, crowded venue that also doubles as a bar. House concerts are a way for music lovers to still enjoy a night of live music and help out some musicians who also want to provide a music experience that’s not ruined by a crowded, noisy bar. It works.

“There’s not many listening rooms where a traveling duo can play songs and have people listen quietly,” Brace said. “There are enough people out there who have that impulse that we’ve been able to tie together a whole network. You can connect the dots and put together a real tour out of almost nothing but house concerts these days.”

Liggett_b@fortlewis.edu. Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager.

Bryant’s Best

Today: Eric Brace and Peter Cooper will play folk and Americana, 8 p.m., $10, Dolores River Brewery, 100 S. Fourth Street, Dolores, 882-4677.

Saturday: Music in the Mountains presents Alison Brown, 7:30 p.m., $39/$49, Festival Tent at Durango Mountain Resort, 385-6820.



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