By Evan Weidl, Rock At Night Nashville
Live Review: Eddie Slide and His Cowtown Dozen – Dee’s County Cocktails, Nashville, TN – October 4, 2024
Deep in the heart of East Nashville, far from the swaths of bachelorette parties and pedal taverns that roam the downtown streets, sits a bar that, while relatively small in volume, is unparalleled in its charm. Dee’s Country Cocktails, with its cheap beer, bright lights, and pleasant emanations, welcomed Eddie Slide and His Cowtown Dozen, who claimed the title of “Nashville’s newest Western swing big band.”
While bartenders worked furiously and billiards players lined up their shots, the band got under way with an urgent and tight swing as Eddie Slide, the evening’s host and band leader, introduced the audience to the band and set the tone for the evening.
Over the next several hours, The Cowtown Dozen used their virtuosic musicianship to take the energized crowd of dancers every which way they could. Heartfelt ballads and whirlwind-tempoed tunes, solos from every instrument from the saxophones to the guitars to the vibraphone, and singing voices of pure gold filled the air. The vintage and full-bore sound of the band was a perfect soundtrack for a beautiful Tennessee evening.
Perhaps it’s true that most people don’t first think of Western swing when they think of dance music, but for The Cowtown Dozen and all those in attendance at the show, dance is the name of the game.
“I think it’s important to keep it alive because I think it’s cool,” said band member Austin Root, trombone still in hand. “I’m just honored to be a part of it. To get people out and to really dance and to feel the music and to experience it with one another, I think that’s really special and something that we should keep doing, because I love to dance too. Shit, there are times during this show that I’m like, I want to go dance with this music because it’s just so fun.”
Even though dance-centered music may not be the face of country music these days, Nashville locals Robert Donnell and Elizabeth Mooney, who were in attendance and very present on the dance floor, feel that the art of western swing is far from lost. “I don’t think it’s a dying art myself. I think it’s actually having a rebound,” said Donell. Added Mooney, “Dance is completely having a rebound.”
They attributed the rebound of country dance music to widespread use of social media amongst young people. Said Mooney, “Everything that pops up algorithm wise is line dancing, country swing, two step. It’s getting them to want to learn. I think that has a really big focus on it.”
Seeing as how dance-focused country and western music is seeing a rise in popularity, the importance of bands like Eddie Slide and His Cowtown Dozen is more important than ever. Their incredible talents and ability to sound like they stepped out of a time machine from the 1940’s will play a big role in the western swing scene in Nashville and beyond.
On that beautiful October night, the flawless sound of The Cowtown Dozen made it clear to me that they will be a stalwart in this city for the foreseeable future, and their contributions to the current scene of Western swing will serve to reward them in the same ways they reward their audience.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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