What is jazz? And why do some people love it like chocolate while others think of it as the musical equivalent of beets and brussels sprouts? I think it’s more a matter of public relations and misunderstandings than anything else. As Gypsy Hombre Peter Hyrka said last night, he’ll frequently hear folks say “I don’t like jazz but I love what you guys do.” But who couldn’t like what the Gypsy Hombres do (and did last night on Roots)? And who could deny that their music, along with J.D.

It often feels after a Music City Roots like we’ve heard many voices blending into a larger, never-ending stream (especially since we end the show with that big sing-along known as the Loveless Jam). It’s a perpetual reminder that Americana artists stand out there pretty naked, with no electronic assistance and no dazzling show to distract from the main event: a singer singing a song.

Honest Abe seemed to be looking over everyone’s shoulders at last night’s Music City Roots. Mary Gauthier got very candid very fast about how the birth of her songwriting career was directly related to the end of her substance abuse years. Gabriel Kelley told us in his interview how he left behind a Music Row publishing contract because he didn’t think he could write honestly enough. Megan McCormick offered songs from her brand new Honest Words CD.

If you’d asked me the last song in the universe I’d have ever expected to hear on Music City Roots – if pressed for the song as far away as possible on the cosmic rootsy scale from, say, “Freight Train Boogie” (last night’s Loveless Jam) – I’d have said, well of course, “Danke Shoen.” But the SECOND least likely song would have to have been “Wind Beneath My Wings.” I mean we could have agreed on this before last night – that under no circumstances could the oft covered wedding staple ever work in our land of twang, grass and blues.

Perhaps you did a double take during last week’s show. Did Jim Lauderdale say something about a webcast? A live, HD on-line version of the show? Well, in case you didn’t get to your computers, it’s true. Admittedly last week’s webcast was what we in the industry call a “soft launch” because there were so many uncertainties as our crack team got all the gear installed and the feed up and running. But the folks who did discover us at www.musiccityroots.com or over the Ustream network are telling us it looked and sounded great!

That the vast pool of amazing musical talent rooted here in Music City, and now spanning the planet, will be put on a global platform for all the world to enjoy.

That all the gifted artists that have dedicated their lives to achieving excellence in their craft will be given an opportunity to let their voice be heard, regardless of commercial paradigms.

That the walls of categories will come down, and bridges will be built between generations, in the hopes that each may learn what is best about the musical contributions the others gave birth to.

Note: in Craig Havighurst's absence, our friend Peter Cooper stepped in for this week's show. Peter has performed on MCR before as a duo with Eric Brace, and he is an entertainment writer for the Tennessean.

Music City Roots' affable regular Craig Havighurst was stuck in North Carolina, starring in a feature film or working in the tobacco fields or something or another. And so the right-thinking Roots folks called me Wednesday morning in desperation.

Sometimes the Music City Roots stage looks like a gear warehouse or a Guitar Center with drums, keyboards and amplifiers all over the place. And on some recent weeks, back stage has felt more like a traffic jam than a jam session. But tonight, just when some of us needed it, there was a zen garden quality in the Loveless Barn. The stage held but a single snare drum and only one amp – a vintage Fender so beaten and road-scarred that it had to belong the Pine Hill Haints. Two of our artists needed nothing but a guitar to do their thing.

It’s not often that in one evening you can hear six artists who capture the flow and evolution of folk music, from the turn of one century to the turn of another, from pure to punk. (And yes, punk music is folk music, in case you never got that memo.) The return of Music City Roots for the summer season was a choice collection, a dipper in the stream that kept coming up clear and delicious.

Music City Roots and bluegrass music are, as the kids say, BFFs. As music goes, there’s no other scene that can top it for collective good-will, pan-generational sharing, honesty of talent and the power to bring wildly different people together. So last night, we did gorge upon it. Nine acts, ranging in age from teens to seventies, all with something to say, all with major skills, helped us wish a happy anniversary to the IBMA, the International Bluegrass Music Association.