Caitlin Rose - Own Side Now (2LP Deluxe 10 Year Anniversary Edition)

Nashville in 2010 was a time and place bristling with potential. Before the coastal dailies and culture mags had declared our town an “it city” — before rampant development was putting tall-and-skinny new-builds on every block and courting out-of-towners with mixed-use nonsense and vapid murals.

Nashville has long been characterized by a sort of underdog spirit, and in 2010, that spirit was in full display at DIY punk venues, run-down honky-tonks and hole-in-the-wall dives. Over in East Nashville’s Lockeland Springs neighborhood, a handful of us lived in a century-old home that we called Holly House. Even more of us gathered there, musicians and artists who decided to form a collective of the same name, a half-dozen or so bands hopping on shows together, playing on each other’s records, calling meetings as an excuse to drink beer and talk shop.

Most of those bands are long-gone, but not Caitlin Rose. Then as now, Caitlin — my roommate and fellow Holly House member — shined bright as a songwriter and performer.