Ten out of Tenn is not a Super Group. Not that the ten artists on the current two week tour aren’t exceptional. The decet of Nashville singer/songwriters includes Amy Stroup, Gabe Dixon, Katie Herzig, K.S. Rhoads, Tyler James, Matthew Perryman Jones, Trent Dabbs, Butterfly Boucher, Jeremy Lister, Andrew Belle, and Will Sayles. And their compilation CD is even more than the sum of its parts, with Katie Herzig’s bouncy, melodic “Free My Mind,” which transitions wonderfully into Andrew Belle’s achy but triumphant “Ladder.” Trent Dabbs described it as a live iPod shuffle, but it’s much more deliberate than that. Hearing your favorite artists together brings out why you fell in love with each of them in the first place.
But Ten out of Tenn isn’t a super group, one of those massive conglomerates brought together by record industry types who are thinking more about astronomical concert ticket prices than music. This is much more organic and uniquely Nashvillean: Solo artists who have worked together, developed a genuine respect for each other, and decided to tour together–not necessarily to promote themselves, but to highlight the scene and community of the Music City.
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St. Louis Magazine caught up with Trent Dabbs and Katie Herzig (on different days) in advance of their upcoming show at The Old Rock House to talk about the project.
St. Louis Magazine: You and your wife decided to start Ten out of Tenn. How do you pick which artists you ask to participate?
Trent Dabbs: The community in Nashville is so tight that you don’t have to look very far to see which artists are the do-it-yourself kind. That was what we based a lot of it on. What artists would make sense and have been out there doing their own thing and have a crowd that we could draw from? But they were [also] friends that I had made by either playing shows with them or writing with them.
SLM: So you guys made a relief album because of the Nashville flood. Were you personally affected by it?
TD:We probably had an inch or two of rain in our basement. But three houses down from me, a friend of mine’s studio flooded and he lost tons of vintage gear. It was unreal how many people were affected by that flood. But they didn’t complain about it. They just helped each other out.
SLM: I felt like it didn’t get very much media attention at the time.
TD:It didn’t. Not at all. It’s bizarre. I was at the Grand Ole Opry the other night. They had to completely restore the whole thing, and you didn’t hear much about that at all.
SLM: What was it like touring in Willie Nelson’s old tour bus?
TD: We learned a lot. We learned that apparently he wasn’t too particular about style on his bus. It had shag rugs and in the back there was this neon sign that said “party bus.” And it had an airbrushed eagle on the side. It was really funny. That was the second tour. And that was one of my favorites just because that was before we upgraded to a bus that had Wi-Fi and all that stuff. It’s fun to just all be in a bus like summer camp—which is pretty much what it turns into. Musical summer camp on wheels.
SLM: Were you inspired to make Ten out of Tenn by Eight off of 8th?
TD: No, that’s more of an open mic thing. But I like how catchy the name is. Our name came about because—it’s so ridiculous—but I’m like obsessed with ratings. I asked my wife what she gave our first date. I’m like, “What do you think of this out of ten?” She’s like, “What?” I’m like, “I need to know what I’m working with.” I [actually] was inspired by The Last Waltz because I love that old documentary and seeing all those solo artists on stage together. Bob Dylan and Neil Young and all those people on the same stage is just fascinating.
SLM: So what rating did your wife give your first date?
TD: No one’s ever asked that. [Laughs.] She wouldn’t answer me. I think it could have been like an 8, maybe 7 and a half. Whatever it was, it was too low.
SLM: Do you make a new jacket every time with everyone’s name on the back?
TD: Yeah, I used to live close to a store and every Wednesday the clothes would be half off and I would go into there and somehow—it was like a Salvation Army—there was always a blazer that fit. I probably had fifteen jackets with different names on them. But I started out doing that as a set list for my own shows. I would write my set list on the back so the band could read it. It became like a Michael Jackson glove. [Laughs] Like a schtick. Not really, but it does help to remember it.
SLM: Do you think that Ten out of Tenn could have happened in another city (obviously under a different name)?
TD: I think it would be awfully hard to make it happen. I’m sure it could. I love New York and I love L.A. and I think there’s a lot going on musically there, however I’ve never felt the communal aspects that Nashville offers so I can’t imagine it happening anywhere else. Just cherry picking artists you don’t know and then getting in a bus could potentially be a nightmare [Laughs].
SLM: What’s been the most unexpected thing to come out of the collaboration?
TD: Many years ago, if the word “Nashville” was mentioned, there was a slight cringe, because I think people label it as country and gospel music only. So, when we started this to highlight a scene that’s going on here that people might be unfamiliar with I could say that I would expect great turnouts but never like this. We played the Troubadour in LA and it was completely packed out. Just to hear Ten out of Tenn in the same sentence as Hotel Café is great. Just to see a snowball effect of what’s it’s been has been amazing.
SLM: What do you hope for the future of Ten out of Tenn?
TD:We’ve been approached with different ideas, but I don’t think that trying to turn it into American Idol on wheels is something we would aspire to. The reason that it has become successful is because it is what it is, just authentic relationships and authentic music. So I really hope that it just maintains what it is.
Interview with Katie Herzig
St. Louis Magazine: So, when you got to Nashville, Katie, how did you hook up with the Ten out of Tenn group?
Katie Herzig: When I moved to Nashville I just started playing a lot of shows all over town, and I think inevitably when you do that you just start meeting the other musicians. Jeremy Lister was the first guy I met on Ten out of Tenn, and eventually I got to meet Trent, and so once they were ready for volume 2 and doing a tour together I was friends with a lot of those people. So it was kind of a very natural progression.
SLM: The overall impression I got from the documentary was that everything went pretty smoothly on your first tour.
KH: It’s funny to even watch that, because we’ve done so many since then and we know each other as friends so much better now and all that. So that was just kind of the beginning of everything and it was smooth. It went really well and I think all of us got done with that first tour pretty much feeling like when can we do this again because it was so much fun.
SLM: Were you intimidated by any of the Ten out of Tenn artists at first?
KH:I think so, yeah. Especially in the beginning I was more fan than friend of people like Butterfly Boucher and Griffin House. So that was exciting and intimidating. But then once you’re making music together, that goes away. You do have this sense though of I feel really lucky to be in the same company as all these really talented musicians.
SLM: One of my favorite moments in the documentary is when you guys do Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released.” And you guys are in the crowd. How did that come about?
KH: Well, we knew we wanted to do a cover. Our first cover we were going to do was a Willie Nelson song, just because we were on his bus, and then I think Jeremy knew “I Shall Be Released,” and so we just winged it. We were in a pressure situation. He’s like “I know this song,” and we’re like, “OK, everybody get out your iPhones and learn a verse.” And then the first time we did it, I think we did it in a smaller venue so it made more sense to get off the mikes and get in the audience. Then it became this tradition, and it was pretty much everybody’s favorite part of the night.
SLM: How do you think being in Ten out of Tenn has changed you as an artist?
KH: When you surround yourself with other artists, you just learn a lot from each other and it effects how you do things. I’d say it’s impacted my career in terms of just the path that it’s taken, definitely because I’ve been on so many Ten out of Tenn tours. But it’s also really impacted my friendships and some of my best friends are on that tour. That means a lot to me and is something that I could never replace so I’m really grateful for that.
Ten out of Tenn (September 25). $12-$20. Doors at 7 p.m. The Old Rock House, 1200 S. Seventh, St. Louis, MO 63104, 314-588-0505.
