After the wildly successful Double Your Pleasure 2 Chefs / 2 Visions and their annual Turnabout Show, Nashville Pride kicks the Pride season into high gear as they announce this year’s entertainment lineup.
Kicking off the Pride festivities at the Curb Records Pride Rocks! Pre-Party is the OUTlaw himself Drake Jensen. Pride Rocks will be held Thursday June 13 at Hard Rock Cafe. In addition to a live performance from Jensen, there will also be cocktails, food and more as Pride honors several of Nashville’s stand-out volunteers, philanthropists and business leaders.
Nashville takes center stage on the Nissan Leaf Local Stage. This year’s lineup includes:
Nashville Scene calls Tipper Whore (pictured above) “…the ideal soundtrack to a John Waters movie — lovingly trashy and relentlessly upbeat" and “the secret love child of the B-52s and The Cramps.” Find out what all the fuss is about when Tipper Whore performs their exuberantly sexy track “Two Sticks” at this year’s Pride festival.
Hearkening both the grit of Beth Hart and the pain of Adele, Nashville performer Heidi Burson will evoke a yearning from deep down when she brings her piano-inspired ‘blues’ to Pride when she plays tracks from her debut album Every Shade of Blue.
Mr. Trout blends pop and rock in a unique mixture that is part Daughtry and part boy band ... and it works. His slinky cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” is heartbreakingly sexy.
Other artists performing on the Nissan Leaf Local Stage include the Half Brass Brand, who will kick off the Vanderbilt University Equality Walk and rocker Carol Plunk.
Performers headlining the Bridgestone Main Stage this year include:
Alanna Royale is 7 members, 6 beards, 3 horns, and 1 lady. Their homemade blend of “dirty pop/raunchy soul” has commanded Nashville’s attention and there seems to be no signs of stopping. Coming off of a sold out release show in January for their debut Bless Her Heart and their second East Nashville Underground appearance, Royale is looking forward to performances at Bonnaroo, Music City Roots, and Nashville Pride.
The Granny Whites have been performing in and around Nashville at several hotspots including 12th and Porter, Exit/In, Lipstick Lounge and Mad Donna's since 2011. Equal parts smoky and sexy, this band’s genre has no title and no boundaries. It exists only in their unique ability to add a twist of "Granny" to every song they perform.
Winning awards and competitions from their home in the beautiful Ozark Mountains to the National Women’s Music Festival in Madison, Wis., Big Bad Gina has hit the music scene with a big bad bang. Big Bad Gina combines unique harmonies, eclectic musical selections and multi-instrumentalism to bring down the house with powerfully-energetic performances.
Rock ’n’ roll is built on a foundation of great vocalists and Beverly McClellan is quickly becoming its newest cornerstone. NBC’s The Voice introduced her to the world as a singer of stunning power and range with the presence and ability to draw comparisons to Etta James, Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt and Melissa Etheridge. Now, McClellan’s debut international release Fear Nothing presents a songwriter and dynamic presence with the ability, authority and desire to carve her own place in music history.
Bold, charismatic and bona fide triple threat, Linnea Sanazaro – known professionally as Linnea – is a small town girl from Missouri with dreams – and talent – far bigger than her humble beginnings. Linnea will release her new single “I’m Bad” in early 2013.
Also performing on the Bridgestone Main Stage is Nashville trio Shotgun Oakley and rocking cover band Guilty Pleasure, who will close out the night with nearly two hours of 70s, 80s and 90s that will surely be the capstone to Pride’s 25th anniversary.
Battle of the Bands
There’s still one slot left open on the Bridgestone Main Stage as local bands duke it out over two days (May 9-10) when Nashville Pride holds their annual Battle of the Bands at Mad Donna’s. Stay tuned for more information on Battle of the Bands.