Lilly Hiatt at Turf Club (March 23, 2025)

One of the difficulties of music genre is the lines between genres and what all can exist within a genre category. “Americana” is a great example, where nearly straight country can co-exist with Southwest inspired rock or a folk blues band. So, when a pair of Americana singer songwriters invaded Turf Club on a Sunday night, I was intrigued to see which parts of that label we would hear.

Suzie Chism is a multi-media artist (singer & actress) based in Nashville. Having only released singles to this point, she really seems to be introducing herself to new audiences. Playing solo, she came out with acoustic guitar and strong vocals. With a sparkling dress and multiple silver rings on her strumming band, every movement reflected the light around her. As she described being from Tennessee, she said, “We do some country ass music out there” and that was a fair description of her very country style. She described the second song as having being written when playing dice on the back porch at a time with an ex who she needed to get away from. That directness was found through the lyrics (“Love is patient, love is kind, left me hanging on the vine”).

Chism’s humor was great. As she set up the third song, Til the wheels Fall Off, she said “It’s only doing really well in Ohio of all places…”, getting a good laugh from the crowd. Deciding on the next song, she rhetorically asked “Do y’all want some Nashville sh*t?”. Later in the set, Living Proof, was a bit more bluesy and darker. Banter between songs continued to be as enjoyable as the music itself; “This is the saddest song I’ve ever written, enjoy!”. Chism has a bright vocal quality even with the twang that carries her songs in a distinctive way. Chism mentioned that she’s working on her upcoming vinyl, even to the point of still determining which songs will be on it. A through line of vignettes about her Swedish fiancée got a great resolution that he had gotten his visa while Chism has been on tour. She ended her forty-five minute set with the song My Bar and saying, “This is my first time in Saint Paul, but I promise to come back”. We’ll be waiting.

A side note: I had an out of state relative join me at Turf Club for her first rock concert in multiple decades, and definitely her first in the Twin Cities. It was a lot of fun to see the concert through her eyes. She really liked the venue, appreciating its history as the jazz club that survived. Her perspective on the music, as someone not very familiar with a lot of rock, much less Americana, had a fresh look. She had done her homework, getting a Lilly Hiatt album in the weeks ahead of the concert and definitely enjoyed the experience. It’s a great reminder that there are a lot of ways to get into the music scene and that there are ways regular concert goers can encourage it and make it accessible.

Lilly Hiatt is also a Nashville based artist who has been active since the early 2010’s. With six albums under her belt, that includes this year’s release Forever. The quartet (dual guitars, bass & drums) came out loud and fast. The second song, Trinity Lane, absolutely ripped and the band was pumped up. Hiatt kept initial chatter brief, saying “This is our favorite part of the day, and that’s all I have to say about that” and then proceeded into The Night David Bowie Died. Hiatt and band easily ride between rock and more country sounding songs, exemplified by guitar solos that could be in any rock song, but also having that slide guitar effect. Similarly, Hiatt can sing with a bit of twang or not at all and those small adjustments make major differences to the sound.

Hiatt and band kept the overall pace of the show at a blistering speed, all in the best possible way. A new song, Kwik-E Mart, was fun and engaging, with Hiatt’s lyrics a standout. Rotterdam was right on the razor’s edge of genres and highlighted the band’s overall sound. There’s a deceptively easy feel from the band that is held together by their strong musicianship. Different songs had different back up vocalists, providing further differentiation between songs. When Hiatt introduced a song originally intended to be about a boyfriend who later dumped her is now about her dog, it got the applause it deserved. Perhaps tangentially, the next song, Man, was written about her husband and had a classic country feel.

The quickest of tunings (this band seemingly did everything fast), led to 3 Days, and a lot more of the country tones. A change of guitars for Face almost started in the wrong key before a last second correction. This was part of a country heavy section of the concert, and did seem just a touch slower than the earlier numbers. That pace purposefully hit its lowest for the country blues number Everything I Had and included three part harmony on the chorus. And indeed, Sucker started picking back up as if we had hit the top of the roller coaster and were heading down towards the finale. Shouldn’t Be was a great rocker and had Hiatt at her best and a smoking guitar solo and led to the close of a band playing a very broad definition of Americana.