City Winery Nashville played host to ZZ Ward on a chilly Saturday evening. The blues rocker brought along Liam St John to open the month long tour. What better way to conclude a tour with a sold out show in the Music City.
The intimate but spacious City Winery made for a more relaxed setting than the typical club venues. Instead of a packed venue with crowds mingling and chatting, the seated crowd was attentive and quiet for the 4 piece band.
The mother of two touched on her entire catalog of music as well as paid homage to some of her musical idols and influences growing up. Following in the footsteps of her dad who got her hooked at a young age to the blues, alternated between acoustic guitar and harmonica throughout the evening. The minimal stage props and lighting put all the focus on the musicians and music.
The evening and tours main focus was her newest album, Liberation, which was released in March just as the tour was beginning. The release leaned heavily on her blues influences while tying into her experiences of being a mother. With a tight backing band, ZZ was able to open these tracks for the live setting. This allowed ZZ to display her range and prowess as a vocalist while lending space for the backing band to showcase their talents.
Mid set ZZ mentions that if you were here to see ZZ Top you would be quite disappointed. She noted that she has shared the stage with Billy Gibbons and sang “Sharp Dressed Man” onstage with the ZZ Top rocker. Describing it as one of her career highlights and worth the mention as it happened right here in Nashville.
The crowd would showcase their appreciation as the band wrapped up the ending of “Put the Gun Down” to close out the main set. The lyrically vivid and upbeat track from the 2012 debut album Till The Casket Drops got the crowd to the edge of their seats while applauding loudly for another song. Of course, the band would return to close out the evening with another track off the latest release, “Cadillac Man”.