Runner of the Woods is thrilled to announce its debut as an official showcasing artist at AMERICANAFEST 2025! We’ll be at the 5 Spot in East Nashville’s 5 Points, in the heart of the action. 6 pm sharp!
We’re gonna bring it!
BAM! We’re on the road! This week, Thurs July 31 – Sat, Aug 2, catch Runner of the Woods LIVE at Mile of Music Fest in Appleton, WI.
The dream team includes Stephen Daly on guitar, Dan Seymour on bass, Lawrence Nemenz on drums, and yours truly on guitar and Cajun accordion. With special guests on fiddle.
The new record is mastered. We came to slay.
Join us for the 7th annual Bands & Boil this Saturday, June 7th at the Groove Record Shop in East Nashville. Sponsored by our generous partners, East Nashville Beer Works and Vida Wakeman, Realtor.
FREE CRAWFISH, FREE BEER, and great live music by: Adrian + Meredith, The Mudbug Stompers, Griffin McMahon, Steve Daly & the Cumberland Sliders, and Runner of the Woods.
It’s Nashville’s only free, family-friendly event. Come eat, drink, and dance!
Here’s a montage video (“sizzle reel”) of our Mardi Gras show at Honky-Tonk Tuesday. Thanks to the Cowpokes for having us. What a blast! I say this all the time – but maybe not enough – It’s a thrill to play with such fantastic musicians. And it’s great fun to do it all for a packed dancefloor.
Nashville is a special place. You can dig up your most obscure Cajun covers or original songs (with all their unexpected chord changes) and there is never a shortage of players who effortlessly bring it all together.
For a frontman, it’s like taking a seat in a brand new BMW, turning the key, and burning rubber as you peel out of the lot.
In other news, Bands & Boil 2025 will June 7th! More soon.
2025 brings a host new shows and festivals! Check the SHOWS page for the latest. Not only that — but the new Runner of the Woods record is now being mixed. At long last!
I don’t necessarily relish the prospect of driving around East Nashville agonizing over minutiae in each song. But that’s my process, and that of nearly every musician.
Great things are underway in the new year. Can’t wait to share them with y’all!
The rain won’t stop us! We’re moving Bands & Boil 2024 to Bobby’s Idle Hour (9 Music Sq. South). This venue is FAMILY friendly and kids are welcome during the event.
NEW VENUE DUE TO RAIN FORECAST. The rain won’t stop us! Bands & Boil 2024 will take place at Bobby’s Idle Hour (9 Music Square S, Nashville, TN 37203). It’s still family friendly (kids welcome). Free crawfish, a keg of beer from East Nashville Beerworks (while it lasts!), popsicles for the kids, and live music. We’re extremely grateful to Bobby’s Idle Hour for stepping up and giving us the perfect venue for this event!
PERFORMERS AND SET TIMES:
2:30 pm: Afton Wolfe (Mississippi Americana)
3:30 pm: Leo Rondeau (Country)
4:30 pm: Mudbug Stompers (New Orleans-style jazz and blues)
5:30 pm: Runner of the Woods (Cajun / Americana)
6:30 pm: Hagz (Swamp grunge trio)
Sponsored by East Nashville Beer Works, Vida Wakeman, Realtor, and Celia Anzalone Bowers of CMG Financial.
For a taste of the killer bands playing this Saturday, June 1st at Bands & Boil, listen to this Spotify playlist. Do it now while driving around. Or cleaning up around the house. I guarantee it will put you in the mood for free crawfish and beer. Weekend is comin’!
With their up-tempo Dixieland jazz, the Mudbug Stompers are the perfect jumpstart to an outdoor boil. They’re a welcome dose of New Orleans’ Preservation Hall in town where country is king. I have been wanting to book them for a very long time and your satisfaction is guaranteed. Their track, “Lindberg Hop”, will put you in the perfect weekend mood. Think the French Quarter on a hot afternoon, Royal Street, with a rum and coke in your hand and your out-of-office ON.
Hardcore honky-tonker, Leo Rondeau, is equally at home in Austin dancehalls and Nashville writer rounds. He’s a seasoned two-stepper, and the shuffle beats of his original tunes show a keen affinity for the dancing crowd. Country is dance music after all, and you have little business slinging country songs if you can’t cut a rug yourself. Give the Cajun-tinged “Love Again” a listen while drumming on your dashboard. I wish I had played accordion on this track.
On a bill heavy with roots music, the swamp grunge trio, Hagz, is a breath of fresh air. No fiddles or banjos here. Drawing from the likes of Slint, The Cure, and My Bloody Valentine, they deliver crunchy fuzz tone guitar and a powerful backbeat. They are FUN to watch, with lead singer/guitarist KJ Parish pipping her siren song alongside Nicole Torres, who bangs the HELL out of those drums, and clearly loves it. I really dug “Generation Kills” and you will too.
Afton Wolfe has the rare distinction of returning to Bands & Boil as a performer and supporter. He has good cause to do so, with his beautiful new album, “Harvest,” in tow. Using a unique voice and clever arrangements, Wolfe has crafted a sort of “Mississippi Americana” that offers a mischievous counterpoint to East Nashville’s honky-tonk fixation. “Mississippi” is a welcome update to Phil Ochs’ take on the Magnolia State.
Yours truly, Runner of the Woods, is putting the finishing touches on a long overdue album. Entitled, “New in Town” and produced by Steve Daly, it serves as a sonic diary of Nick Beaudoing’s years in Nashville. And a road map for road dates head. Prepare to feel better.
Announcing the 6th annual Bands & Boil on Saturday, June 1, 2024 at the Groove Record shop in East Nashville. The only family friendly, FREE crawfish boil in town! We’ve got an outstanding lineup this year!
2:30 PM Afton Wolfe
3:30 PM Leo Rondeau
4:30 PM Mudbug Stompers
5:30 PM Runner of the Woods
6:30 PM Hagz
Free crawfish, free beer, and free popsicles for the kids!
Sponsored by East Nashville Beer Works, Vida Wakeman, Crye-Leike Realtor, Celia Anzalone Bowers (CMG Financial), Lolly Bee Bayou, and Frothy Monkey. Come eat, drink, and dance!
Enjoy a hot bowl of gumbo cooked by JP Harris, live authentic Cajun music by Runner of the Woods, and a sweetheart set of honky-tonk by Hannah Juanita & Mose Wilson. Once the dancefloor is on fire, JP (the birthday boy) will join us on stage for a few guest songs. If you can’t make it to New Orleans or Cajun country this year, this is your best bet. Come eat, drink, and dance!
8:30 pm: Runner of the Woods + JP Harris (Guest)
9:30 pm: Mose Wilson & Hannah Juanita
$10 cover / Includes Free Gumbo
When we celebrated Mardi Gras at Honky-Tonk Tues this past February, I performed a cover of a rare French song, “J’ai Pour Toi un Lac” (“I Have for You, a Lake”) by Quebecois singer, Gilles Vigneault. I have a subversive streak in me that aims to carve out a place for French music in the roots scene. And, since Mardi Gras is a day to celebrate French music – not just Cajun – why not take a chance to see if people would still dance? As this video shows, the dance floor stayed packed, and people twirled away. It may have been one of my favorite musical moments ever.
Learning Gilles Vigneault’s songs became a special project of mine during the COVID lockdowns. His music is ubiquitous in Canada, where he is widely celebrated as Quebec’s #1 folk singer (he’s in his late 90’s). In Nashville, you would have zero idea who he was – but a great song is a great song, especially here, where songwriting is accorded so much reverence. I had been experiencing a little honky-tonk fatigue, and was enticed by his unique chord progressions and unabashedly romantic lyrics. Songs with overt declarations of love are sorely missing in Americana and Country, where political messaging increasingly spoils the mood.
Quebec has the world’s most beautiful lakes. And in this song, Vigneault is offering a woman a lake as a token of his tenderness: “I have for you, a lake / somewhere in this world / a beautiful blue lake / like an eye open / on the deepest night / a chilled crystal / that trembles at your name / as the leaves do / at autumn’s breeze / and winter song / time is mirrored there / they die and fall / my days turned around / my nights upside down.” Thanks for making it happen, Nashville!
In the meantime, me and the boys are hard at work in the studio all September long. Stay tuned.