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The Caverns in Pelham Tennessee might be the very best musical road trip you can take from Nashville. At just over an hour it’s an easy drive and the closer you get to Pelham the more beautiful it gets. It was a wet and rainy day (7/28) but it seemed to make it even more beautiful with the low hanging clouds just below the mountains. From the time we turned off of I-24 until we arrived at the Caverns we must have seen 50 deer grazing in the scenic cropland. Walking to the cave looked almost like we could have been in Costa Rica with the mist and the bright green foliage framing the cave entrance.
This was my first time seeing the Fruit Bats which consist of lead singer Eric D. Johnson, the band’s sole permanent member. Various musicians back Johnson for his live and studio projects. In 2002, Fruit Bats first signed with Sub Pop Records. It was through friendships Johnson had made with members of Modest Mouse and The Shins that he was able to get an introduction with the label. Fruit Bats’ Sub Pop debut, Mouthfuls, was released in April 2003. The band soon made their major festival debut at Washington state’s Sasquatch! Music Festival in 2004. Mouthfuls’ closing track “When U Love Somebody,” of which Johnson has said “I wrote it in the time it takes to sing it” has become a signature song for the band. It was featured in the film Youth in Revolt, and has been covered by The Decemberists, Guster and Said the Whale.
The Fruit Bats have since taken many shapes and forms but they were at their best in the “cave.” The band played a mix of older songs and music from the newest Fruit Bats album, titled A River Running to Your Heart. Self-produced by Johnson, a first for Fruit Bats, with Jeremy Harris just north of San Francisco, it’s the band’s tenth full-length release.
Johnson engaged the crowd from the get go exclaiming more than once “I wish these lights weren’t so bright so I could look into each and every one of your eyes.” At one point he came down off the stage and up to the crowd so he could do just that. He truly seems to love his fans and expressed it all through the show. At the end the wild sustained applause was rewarded with an energetic encore.
Could there be a better place to see The Fruit Bats? I think not. And what a way to end their tour. If you have not been the The Caverns yet start making plans because there are many great shows coming up including T Bone Burnett, Everclear, Mac Mcanally, Bill Burr, Flatland Cavalry and many more. A Nashville.com favorite, Cavefest will be here in October as well. It is quickly becoming a major destination among Bluegrass festivals.
Fruit Bats Set List:
Baby Bluebird
Rushin’ River Valley
Cazadera
Waking Up in Los Angeles
The Balcony
See the World By Night
Feather Bed
On the Avalon Stairs
My Sweet Midwest
From a Soon-to-Be Ghost Town
The Bottom of It
The Rock Doc
A Lingering Love
The Pet Parade
Absolute Loser
Flamingo
When U Love Somebody
Shane
You’re Too Weird
Humbug Mountain Song
–Jerry Holthouse
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