Nickel Creek "This Side"

Welcome to another segment of "Let Me Ruin This Song For You."

(If you missed the first entry, you should probably read this)

You, perhaps, remember this as the song that brought Nickel Creek from the bluegrass scene to a more eclectic, beyond-Americana stage. The kind of folks who say they don't like country music, but listen to Lyle Lovett and Lucinda Williams.

You remember it as a great leap forward to a wider audience from a promising young, forward-thinking band who had an exciting vision.

Let me ruin this song for you.

I saw Nickel Creek in concert around the time this album came out, where they sheepishly explained that the lyrics of this song were written after a viewing of "The Matrix."

Dude, this song is, like, totally about an alternate reality.

Whoa . . .


See the video on Youtube.

Nickel Creek "The Lighthouse's Tale"

This week, I'm looking at artists that we came to play later in their career, asking the question "should we go back and play the band's earlier tracks?"

I can remember sometime around 2000, being in the mvyradio production room with Barbara. I'd been telling her about a band I'd seen at Merlefest the year before, that I thought might be a good fit for mvy.

Nickel Creek had just released their first major record, and I had had an early window into this band, as they had played the North Carolina festival as teenagers, wowing both the crowd and the older musicians with their progressive excellence.

"The Lighthouse's Tale" had even made a ripple on CMT, where the video was getting some play.

Barbara and I listened, and I can remember her comment: It was good, but it wasn't quite there.

Where was "There" I asked myself? And, truthfully, I still ask myself that question, most every day, about half the songs that cross my path.

If you were looking at baseball stats, you could easily quantify when something was "There."

(What's that? Pedro has thrown 110 pitches? Then for God's Sake, take him out of the game! He's There!)

But with art, you can't quantify things as easily.

It makes sense, of course. Some bands are strong enough, some songs are strong enough, that they deserve to get regular airplay. And some bands and songs are not strong enough.

But where is that line?

That's the "There" Barbara was talking about.

Nickel Creek's early, self-released albums probably weren't even close to being mature or strong enough for regular airplay. And Nickel Creek's second major release was strong enough---we did play "This Side."

But that first major release, well, it was close, but we didn't end up playing it, because it didn't quite cross that arbitrary line of "There."

So now it's many years later, and we've played a bunch of Nickel Creek songs in regular rotation. They have built up a reputation as a quality band. They have a fan base and a recognizable sound.

We could go back and add it to rotation. But should we?

Is there "There" there now?


See the video on Youtube.