Jarren Blair’s Inglewood Lounge set defies Nashville concert logic. He hosts a reoccurring improv music set with local musicians on Sunday nights. Any promoter in town would tell you that every word in that sentence means less attendance. On one Sunday in June, there was a good chance that he could have been playing to an empty room — but the place was packed.
The crowd, a stylish mix of ages, races and vibes swayed and sipped to Blair’s off the dome vocals and rhythm section that was playing off each other. A man in the middle of the crowd put his hand to his mouth and called for more. A group of Latina women cheered after a drum break and took selfie videos while gassing each other up. Blair stood on the stage behind the mic. Orange and white Nikes, shoulder length dreads in his face, looking quietly confident in the middle of it all, smiling as he improvised lyrics on the spot and pulled musicians up on stage.
“The Jam” as he calls it, has a following because he gets the audience to participate and react to the creative process in real time. It’s also a clever way for a relatively unknown musician like Blair to collaborate with musicians in the city.
Blair stands out as an artist on the brink of a breakout because of his talent as a writer and producer, skill as a multi-instrumentalist and his eagerness to collaborate with Nashville musicians.
“There’s so many amazing artists here that can do things that I cannot do with my voice. Like … it’s crazy,” Blair said.
His collaborations have been paying dividends. He was on stage at Bonnaroo this year doing background vocals for local band Crumbsnatchers. He featured on “where did I go wrong?” a song from Olivia Jones that was in rotation on WNXP. And Blair is bragged about by the R&B scene here in Nashville, a city that he has lived in since his parents and him moved from Winston-Salem, North Carolina when he was nine years old.
“I’m not a unicorn, but I’m like a unicorn without the horn. Basically, I’m a Pegasus or something,” Blair said.
When he was an 11-year-old in Hendersonville, Blair heard one song on the radio that changed everything: Vanessa Carlton’s, “A Thousand Miles.”
“‘Making my way downtown, walking fast, faces is pass and I’m homebound,’ first song on piano,” Blair sang, with a laugh.
Blair’s parents used the musical infrastructure to his advantage as a budding songwriter and signed him up for a songwriting camp put on by The Recording Academy, the group that presents The Grammys.
“That’s when I started seeing the level of musicianship in Nashville and that’s when I tried to start growing as a musician as well as a song writer,” Blair said.
He was writing songs inspired by Frank Ocean, SZA, and Noname in the middle of groups of people writing country music. “I kind of never felt like I fit into a specific scene or box in town,” he said.
If you don’t fit into a scene, you have to start your own. As a student at MTSU he started putting on a show called Boogie Bash, and through booking it, he got to know Nashville’s R&B scene. He meet Tim Gent, AB Eastwood, Brian Taylor, Lauren McClinton, Jamiah.
He teamed up with AB Eastwood to make a song called “Space Jam.”
Gamers on TikTok started putting it in the background of their videos and streamers were into it. He was just a college student releasing the song with no label or backing, but it caught on. “It was crazy. I mean, it was like affirming for me, knowing that I can build this community around music. It was just a great feeling,” Blair said.
For his upcoming album, “Chips are Down” Blair is doubling down on collaboration. The album will have features from Arlana, Ella Mine, and a stable of Nashville musicians that Blair has met through his improv music nights and opening his arms to others.
“Being able to use the community that I build, playing for other people and being in the jams, it’s cool because … I have a tap into the coolest people that are doing cool stuff here,” Blair said. I’m really excited to have this album out — just like stand on it.”
Lately, he has been incorporating more than music into his shows. On Tuesdays at Inglewood Lounge he hosts “Swatches” where he invites a caricature artist in town to draw patrons as he and the band improvise. “I’m really passionate about combining different art scenes in Nashville.” He just held a show called “The Move” which featured dancers in the community performing choreographed pieces performed with his music as well as vintage vendors outside.
“It’s work. But it’s worth it. Really. I’m just like a fan of these people at the end of the day. I feel like my music is better because of them being a part of it,” Blair said.
Nashville has this old music reputation of being a place where an artist can move with just a guitar and a dream and start a career. The corporatization of the music industry sometimes makes it feel like that dream is dying. But Blair’s improv scene is keeping that dream alive. “A lot of the times I’m meeting people as soon as they like their first week in the city, they’re coming to The Jam and they’re like, ‘What’s this?’” Blair said.
Outside of Inglewood Lounge this past Sunday there was a tall, skinny guy standing outside, holding a saxophone. His name was Paul and he’d just gotten off the stage at The Jam.
“I moved down here two weeks ago, my friend invited me out for one of these jams. It’s my first time here. I’m just trying to get out and get my name out there, have some fun, and play some music.” Paul said.
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