WAIM #135 - In The City

Just a few days ago, I returned home from a whirlwind three week tour that took me across much of the eastern half of these United States. Along my route, I spent time in a number of America’s most notable cities. On my first day on the road, I got to ride past the gorgeous bluegrass and horse farms surrounding the idyllic confines of Lexington, Kentucky.

In Tennessee, I made appearances in Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville, the state’s three largest cities. I was intrigued and fascinated by the subtle cultural and sociological differences between those three towns. Memphis is ensconced deeply within the south, at the northern edge of the Mississippi Delta. It is a big city with a small town feel. Nashville feels much more cosmopolitan in comparison, with tourists and musical travelers clogging up the streets. Lower Broadway where all of the musical action is, now feels like a Disney version of country music, but it is still hard to deny the powerful pull of Music City, USA.

Knoxville is the college town little brother to Tennessee’s two largest cities, but it is not to be missed. Filled with interesting bars, restaurants, shops, and venues, Knoxville is my favorite place to play in Tennessee. The city has a cultural chip on its shoulder from Memphis and Nashville getting all of the praise and attention. In many respects, Knoxville feels like a southern version of my hometown of Lansing.

Asheville, North Carolina might be home to less than 100,000 people, but it punches far above its cultural weight class. The city is stuffed with boutiques, museums, galleries, historic sites, and myriad places to listen to live music. Durham, North Carolina, which is situated in the famed Research Triangle is another southern example of a college town with something to prove.

I skirted the edge of the nation’s capital in northern Virginia, managing to avoid the worst of the frenetic traffic in Washington, DC. I was welcomed the next night in Baltimore with open arms. Charm City is another city with a chip on its shoulder and something to prove. Long maligned for its history of poverty, crime, and corruption, Baltimore is an east coast version of Detroit, a lovely city with a reputation that paints an unfair portrait. I have always found Baltimore to be a humble, resilient place and it’s hard for me not to love it completely, warts and all.

The most impressive city experience I had came when I drove through Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens in a single evening as I played my first ever show in the Big Apple. I crossed the George Washington Bridge from New Jersey and flew down the West Side Drive, taking in the glory of the city along the way.

After a few days winding through New England and upstate New York, I wound my way to Buffalo, yet another blue collar city with something of a tarnished reputation. Once again, I found myself smitten with a flawed city built on the backs of humble working folks. Walking around the city, I could feel the same rust belt ghosts that I have walked with in Milwaukee, Chicago, and Detroit. New York is impressive and amazing, but I have a real soft spot for the gritty working cities of this land.

I finished my journey in my home city of Lansing, Michigan, another faded metropolis with a storied past and a questionable economic future. I love my city with all of my heart, but I am also well attuned to its shortcomings. It is the experience of working with my neighbors and friends to continue to build a better Lansing that gives me so much pride and hope for my city.

While my creative contributions to Lansing may seem small, they are a piece of what makes up a truly vibrant community. I am seeking to use my tools and talents to make my city a better place to live and to visit. In my travels, I met with people every day who were doing that same work in their own communities. I was welcomed into dozens of spaces by bartenders, brewery owners, baristas, gallery workers, museum hounds, history nerds, tour guides, bookshop owners, and so much more. I have met some of the sacred souls striving to give our cities life, and I feel better knowing they are out there.

This week at WAIM Radio, we are celebrating city life with a full hour of tunes about cities large and small. We’ve got melodic punk, American indie, baroque pop, alt-country, 70’s folk and a whole lot more. What is your favorite song about the city? Tell us all about it in the comments below.

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You can listen to the full show in the player above. Make sure to also check out the full tracklist below for full details on what made the show. You can tune in Tuesday at 5:00 pm Eastern on Suburbs Radio to hear each show live as it airs. New episodes are also archived here at WAIM each Wednesday. Feel free to go back and listen to any of our episodes at any time in the WAIM Radio archive.

Cheers,
Matty C