MELISSA LIVINGSTONE

Bolos & Booze Songwriter Round

Sunday March 26, 2023

@ Dogwood Nashville in Nashville, TN

(Review by: Jeffrey Kurtis)

With it’s dual-level patio and slick industrial chic aura smashing together with its neon country feel, Dogwood Nashville has secured its spot as a Midtown place to be on the back of a bumpin’ game day atmosphere and a stage full of some of the strongest emerging talents that Music City has to offer.

One such talent who now calls Nashville home, Canadian native Melissa Livingstone, took the stage on Sunday night as part of the popular “Bolos & Booze” songwriter round and kept the growing crowd invested with her attractively modern country style and girl next door personality.

“It's been a hot minute since I played this round, but I'm glad to be back here tonight,” she enthusiastically said with a smile. “I wrote this first one about a year ago. I'm a huge fan of Yellowstone and I binge-watched four seasons of it in a week,” she introduced as she leaned a Wild West infused songwriter tilt into the melody of “Montana Skies” to perfectly encapsulate the vibe as she pushed a grit through her voice to uphold the aura of the definition of a cowboy that the lyric weaves within it.

“I'm gonna do a song that Taylor Rae and I wrote with two other Canadians,” Livingstone praised while nodding to Taylor who had just finished playing during the previous round. “We were having a wine and charcuterie girls night, and we decided to write a song,” she said as she drove into “Southern Comfort,” punching an ultra-catchy, modern country flavor into a rhythm that had everyone bobbing a head as their toes tapped along while she comparatively described the head over heels feeling as being like that of sipping sweet tea after Sunday morning preaching, driving full speed on Oklahoma red dirt, etc.

“This last song I'm gonna do came out as a single back in January, but it's going to Canadian country radio tomorrow,” she excitedly shared as the music loving audience aptly responded while she drove into the shoulder dancing melody of “Grew Up On It,” instantly igniting the crowd as many mouthed the words along with Livingstone as she purposefully snapped certain lines to emphasize the way they hit while bouncing her vocal along the rhythm of the autobiographical song that stamped a clear definition of who she is as a “backroads prophet.”

With such an overcrowded music scene in Nashville, an often-asked question is what qualities makes someone stand out from the pack?

Is it great songs? Absolutely!

Is it an incredible voice? There’s that!

Is it a relatable personality? Of course!

But a lot of the artists and songwriters in town carry those traits within who they are. However, when you combine all the familiar characteristics that makes someone stand out with the signature “it” factor that is truly undefinable, but instantly recognized when you witness it...that's when you arrive at Melissa Livingstone!

FULL SET LIST
1) Montana Skies
2) Southern Comfort
3) Grew Up On It 

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