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A first for Chris Carrabba at Tin Pan South Sutler show

Ross Wilson and Evan Brown
MTSU Seigenthaler News Service
Chris Carrabba performs a song while Andrew Ripp (left), Heather Morgan and Justin Klump look on at The Sutler Saloon Saturday night to help close the Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival.

Welcome to Nashville, Chris Carrabba.

The charismatic Carrabba, a recent Music City transplant best known for fronting the on-hiatus folk-rock band Dashboard Confessional, participated in his first-ever in-the-round Saturday night at The Sutler Saloon to help close the 23rd annual Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival.

Young pop-folk singer-songwriters Justin Klump and Andrew Ripp, as well as contemporary country songwriter Heather Morgan, made him feel right at home on stage in the standing-room only venue that featured a few Carrabba dress-alikes complete with colorful tattoos and shaved-side haircuts.

"So Justin, I wanted that song to go on forever, because I suffer from terrible stage fright," the 39-year-old Carrabba said, smiling nervously as he prepared to follow Vancouver native Klump's powerful opener "Sticks & Stones."

"I'm going to stand up, 'cause I don't really know what I'm doing up here," Carrabba continued. "I've never done an open mic or a coffee shop or a karaoke before."

He pushed through the nervousness by singing a tune from his new Nashville-based folk-rock band Twin Forks, "Can't Be Broken," his voice crackling with passion.

The passion led into former Texan Morgan's set opener "Slow Me Down," which she explained was written after a late-night run for cheap fajitas on Nolensville Road. The song eventually made its way to country star Sara Evans, who turned the song into the title track of her album, "Slow Me Down."

"You never know," Morgan mused, "how cheap fajitas are gonna change things for ya."

Morgan's stirring vocals impressed throughout the evening, including on "Beat of the Music," which co-writer Brett Eldredge brought to No. 1 on the country music charts in 2013.

The gregarious Ripp brought a more hard-charging, rock 'n' roll sound to the show, breaking a string on his acoustic guitar at one point. His commanding voice and stage presence highlighted passionate songs such as "Waiting Room" and set closer "Savior." And he prompted much laughter from the crowd during his humorous retelling of the circumstances of singing his "When You Fall in Love" while in a cave during a taping of the TV show "The Bachelor."

Another show highlight came when Klump, a classically trained guitarist, stood to play his instrumental "Judas." "Much of the way I communicate is through the guitar," said Klump, his strumming evolving from a haunting and melancholic feel that eventually accelerated into angry intensity.

"I just found out we live real close to each other," said Carrabba at song's end, looking on admiringly. "I've never taken guitar lessons. … I think I found my instructor."

Carrabba offered more Twin Forks tunes throughout the evening but predictably got the most applause by playing the Dashboard Confessional hit "Stolen."

"I'm in town now," he said near the end of the evening. "I'm available for private events … I'm only half-kidding."

And if Carrabba's first-ever singer-songwriter round is any indication, he's fitting in just fine.

"You did it!" Morgan said, beaming alongside him. "You survived your round. "You're all in one piece!"