An Interview Folio by Carson Colenbaugh

Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge is a legend.
Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge is a legend in much the same way that any Broadway bar named after a multimillionaire isn’t.
Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge is like if A New Hope’s Mos Eisley cantina was exactly like it is in the Star Wars universe except it wasn’t on the desert planet Tatooine and nobody in it was an alien and instead it was located across the street from the Dirt Cheap and contained a regular flock of customers half-donned in denim, much like Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge.
Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge is a relic and flagship, an inheritance and future bequeathal.
Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge is where I camped-out for the entirety of this year’s Americanafest, and I had to drive forty minutes to get there.
Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge was worthy of such dedication.

At this year’s Americanafest—a yearly week-long multi-site musical fantasia that Nashville hosts in dedication to a genre that isn’t young but isn’t particularly old—I had the good luck of seeing a few of said genre’s rising stars. Those that I considered the stand-out acts were kind enough to fill-out Nashville Review’s official questionnaire. Use each artist’s name as a link to their answers.

J. ISAIAH EVANS & THE BOSS TWEED is best known as the founder roots rock and roll band, The 40 Acre Mule. Now, he has forged a new solo path with his backing band, The Boss Tweed. Following a successful SXSW, the trio has been touring with Alejandro Escovedo, Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore and recently finished recording their upcoming debut album.

JUSTIN GOLDEN is a Richmond-based guitarist and songwriter with roots in the Mississippi Delta, Chicago, and the Piedmont of Virginia whose origins are deeply vested in the blues. First picking up the guitar at age 19, Golden did what came naturally and let the music flow through him. With an extremely diverse musical palette, Golden aims to bring some new ideas to traditional blues forms. In addition to his work as a recording and performing artist, Golden maintains a busy teaching schedule and works with the youth music non-profit The Rhapsody Project to provide community engagement through cultural heritage and music programs.

AMY HELM is a singer, songwriter, and Mom to two awesome boys living in Woodstock NY. She loves to play rock n’ roll rhythm mandolin, tenor guitar, and drums. She began singing in bands when she was 14, and has continued to play music for her main job since her teenage years. She grew up in a musical family and was given the opportunity to learn so many things about songs and performance from that experience. She is one of the founding members of a band called Ollabelle, who she continues to perform with, and was a member of her late father’s band The Midnight Ramble, which she continues to perform with and now features her older son. She also tours with her own band and has just put up a fourth album titled “Silver City.”

JADE MARIE PATEK is a native Texan, having spent her childhood in the towns of Shiner and Rockport. Music is as much a part of her as the Lone Star State is, as artistic talent runs in her family. Patek lists her grandfather, Joe Patek, as one of her biggest musical influences. Back in his heyday, Joe was the leader of Joe Patek’s Orchestra, and is known as a pioneer of Texas Czech polka music. Now, Patek is pioneering her own sound, taking inspiration from artists from a wide variety of genres; the singer-songwriter names Janis Joplin, Beth Hart, and The Allman Brothers Band as musical influences. Her current Americana album, Song In My Head, is a genre-defying trip filled with everything from soul to southern rock to country to blues. An upcoming EP produced by Elijah Ford is in the works, and a single is set to be released around spring 2025.

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Carson Colenbaugh is a writer from Kennesaw, Georgia. His poetry appears or is forthcoming in The Southern Review, North American Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, and elsewhere. He has received support from Clemson University, Newman Wetlands Center, and the Tor House Foundation. He is currently an MFA Candidate in Poetry at Vanderbilt University, where he teaches creative writing and serves as the music editor at Nashville Review.