John B. Sebastian and the Lovin’ Spoonful used to sing that “there’s 1,352 guitar pickers in Nashville”—and that was back in 1967. Surely there’s more than that now with the Music City blossoming into a commercial country hub, not to mention the rise of East Nashville and other suburbs over the past five decades. There are probably at least 100 times more players living in the capital city these days, each trying to eke out a living and achieve their dreams. I know that I get public relations mail daily from a host of Nashville-based companies telling me about the latest Hank Williams or Patsy Cline, or at least a Blake Shelton or Miranda Lambert equivalent, who deserves my attention.

Most of the artists are quite good, and the pitches honestly sincere in their appreciation of these musicians’ talents. We live in an age of abundance. There are too many gifted musicians in Nashville that deserve attention. One could not listen to them all no matter how hard one tries. So, what’s an artist to do?

Missouri-born and raised Ian Fisher decided to go where most other country stars had not. He moved to Europe and celebrated Nashville and the American dream. He left the USA for Europe and Africa more than a decade ago. However, his music is still deeply rooted in Americana in general and often concerned with Nashville in particular. Fisher’s an independent artist who manages himself who has released 13 albums. For his 14th, he did something new. Fisher and his band took more than 300 demos to the pastoral studio of Austrian producer René Muhlberger, and they whittled down that list to the ten best tracks. Most of these were written when Fisher lived in Nashville. As Carl Perkins used to sing, You take the boy out of the country, but….”