Square Peg Alliance.

Last night Aaron and I went to the Square Peg Alliance show at 12th and Porter. Y’all. So cool. We got there right as it was starting, and I was frustrated because I thought we’d have to stand. But we were able to snag two stools on the balcony, right up front. Excellent. (I know these artists don’t get the recognition they deserve, but sometimes it really surprises me how few people really know them. I have a hard time understanding why other people don’t care about the exact same things I do!) It was a great show for me. I got to see my favorites, the people who have provided the soundtrack to my life for so long. I also got to hear music that was new to me – names I know, but songs I don’t. It’s funny when you go to little shows like that… I didn’t know anyone in the room, but somehow we all had a bond in knowing and caring about the same music. Highlights:

• Sandra McCracken singing “Springtime, Indiana”, one of the few Sandra songs I know and the one I love the most. She said she’d intended to do something new, but with the fabulous weather we’ve been having she had to do that one. Very sweet and so, so pretty. I love her.
• Derek Webb singing “A New Law”. I haven’t gotten into the new record much, but I heard him do that song at a One Campaign event in the summer, and it really stuck with me. It really made me evaluate the way I dealt with the youth I was working with at the time… what am I really teaching them? To live a life of true faith, or how to get by in church?
• Andy Gullahorn. A song about how to write the perfect country song. Dedicate it to the working man, and spell it out so he can understand. So funny.
• Andy Peterson and Randall Goodgame singing a song from the children’s album they’re working on. Included a crowd full of pirate noises.
• Randall Goodgame and his wife singing “Bluebird”. I heard this song for the first time at the Christmas show, and it is just so pretty.
• KATY BOWSER. Y’all she was far and away my favorite. I’d heard her name before, but wasn’t familiar with her music at all. It is right up my alley. I want to buy everything she’s ever recorded.

During most of the show, Andrew Peterson was sitting right next to us. I am so lame… I really wanted to say something, because his music has meant so much to me over the years and he is one of my very favorite songwriters. But I feel dumb. Because I would sound like this: “Hi I’m Brandi I love your music so much thank you for making it this one time I took my dad to your show and he loved it too and thought you guys were great musicians love and thunder is my favorite I’m so happy to meet you do you want to be my friend we live right around the corner y’all could come over for dinner maybe we could play trivial pursuit I probably listen to you once a week oh and thank you for the Christmas album it is so beautiful I gave one to everyone I know it is really great to meet you thank you for such pretty music!” I’m not a crazy fangirl. (Really.) But I think I would get nervous and start talking high-pitched and fast, and I don’t want to embarrass myself. So I just sit there. Lamely. Anyway, it was a great show, a great night, and a great deal at $5 a person. I hope it’s something they keep doing; I’ll be there every time. Some days I’m really glad I live in Nashville.