Great Peacock is Blount Floyd, left, and Andrew Nelson.IF YOU GO• What: Nightfall concert featuring Great Peacock• When: 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2; Lou Wamp & Swingshift opens at 7• Where: Miller Plaza, 850 Market St.• Admission: Free• Phone: 423-265-0771• Website: www.nightfallchattanooga.comTHE OPENERLou Wamp is a local architect and resonator guitarist and fiddler who leads Swingshift, a collection of local singers and acoustic musicians whose music ranges from Western swing and Americana to jazz. For more information, visit www.LouWamp.com.
Some bands struggle for years to find a focal point for their music, something to point a finger at as the spiritual source of their art. Since he met Blount Floyd in Nashville about seven years ago, Andrew Nelson says, the heart and soul of their partnership has been as easy to identify as finding magnetic north with a compass.
“We instantly became friends,” Nelson recalls. “We both instantly knew we had fun playing music together and really enjoyed it. It was easy from the beginning.
“To get to where we felt comfortable trying to pursue a career from it took years … but [knowing] we would enjoy playing music together? That took two or three days.”
Over the years, Nelson and Floyd performed together in several bands, but after the dissolution of their blues/hard-rock group, Shotgun Lover, about two years ago, they decided to try something new. They simplified their previously aggressive sound and scaled it back to concentrate on the natural harmonies and complimentary songwriting styles that are at the root of their musical chemistry.