Striking Matches blaze a trail in Nashville
As the legend goes, countless musicians move to Nashville with a guitar and a dream — a dream that might sound a bit like what happened for Sarah Zimmermann and Justin Davis.
In 2007, both were recent high school grads, guitar whizzes and singer/songwriters, who came to town not knowing another soul. Within a week, they had found their perfect musical match in one another. Seven years later, they're releasing their debut album as the country/rock/blues duo Striking Matches, produced by roots music giant T Bone Burnett.
Along the way, they've had eight of their songs used on ABC's "Nashville" TV show and have performed on the "Grand Ole Opry" more than 40 times. They've also acted as ambassadors for Nashville's tourism arm, which has held them up as an example of the city's creative spirit.
It's hard to believe that the first time they played together, both of them were dreading the experience.
Davis and Zimmermann met as classmates in a guitar course at Belmont University. As an icebreaker, the professor paired students up and asked them to improvise something together in front of the class.
"Sarah was the only girl in the class, and nobody wanted to wind up with Sarah," Davis says. "They were going along, and people were crashing and burning as they were supposed to. They picked me and they picked Sarah, and I was thinking, 'Oh great, first day of class and I'm going to embarrass myself in front of everyone. I got the girl.' We got up and I asked, 'Well, do you play any blues?' and she pulled out her slide, and just proceeded to blow everybody's minds."
Soon, the pair's jam sessions were turning into songwriting sessions. While both had guitar gigs around town, they started playing at writers' rounds. Their guitar chops hooked crowds, and so did a progressive country sound, mixing tender pop melodies, rootsy textures and southern soul. It struck a chord with "Nashville's" music supervisors, who gave several songs to the show's own power-duo "Scarlett and Gunnar."
On their debut album, "Nothing But the Silence," Striking Matches' style is still tough to pin down — and for them, that's a point of pride.
"We didn't really set out to make any one kind of record," Zimmermann says. "We set out to make music. So this record really takes all of our influences and mish-mashes them into one thing, and we're OK with that. That's what we wanted. We draw from a lot of different places, and we do a lot of different things. So we're OK to be blazing our own trail."
Burnett was on the same page during "Silence's" five-day recording sessions.
"You only get to make a first record once," he says. "And if it's not completely true to who you are, then you're at sea for the rest of your life. I've done several records with young artists that were able to establish themselves with those records, like Counting Crows, Los Lobos and BoDeans ... and every time, they were doing the thing they cared about the most, with the least interference from the marketing perspective. And every one of those bands is still going."
Even if they don't have a hit on mainstream country radio, the band still sounds country enough to plenty other listeners. On Thursday, "Silence" hit No. 1 on the iTunes country album charts — in the United Kingdom. Davis says fans there seem less concerned with what is or isn't "country" music, but they're very interested in what's coming out of Music City.
"Since we're here in the middle of it, maybe it doesn't seem so (mystical), as brilliant as Nashville is. For someone in another country or another part of the world, it's Oz, or something."
This week, Zimmermann and Davis have been back in Oz, and busier than ever. By week's end, they will have performed at rock/country venue 3rd & Lindsley, indie music haven Grimey's New & Preloved Music, and will make their 43rd appearance on the "Opry" stage. There aren't many local acts that would feel at home in all of those settings, and Davis says they're grateful that they do.
"That should be Nashville," he says. "It's Music City. It's not necessarily country music city, but we absolutely have to be proud of our heritage."
Contact Dave Paulson at 615-664-2278 and on Twitter at @ItsDavePaulson.
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
• Striking Matches perform at Grimey's New & Preloved Music (1604 8th Ave. S.) at 6 p.m. Friday, March 27. Admission is free.
• Striking Matches are part of the "Grand Ole Opry" at the Grand Ole Opry House (2804 Opryland Drive) at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 28. Tickets are $32-$72.50.
