Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

October 9, 2008 issue


Memphis in the Meantime: Nick Pagliari Band Plays Boone Saloon This Saturday


Story by David Brewer

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Nick Pagliari and his band will open for the Lost Ridge Band at Boone Saloon this Saturday, October 11.When most people think about music from the famous city of Memphis, Tenn., names like B.B. King, Otis Redding, Al Green and Elvis Presley immediately come to mind. Besides that, the city has long had the reputation at the place to get a killer plate of barbeque. It has not however, had the reputation for being a particularly bustling hub for sensitive singer-songwriters. But don’t tell that to Nick Pagliari.

On his third solo release Please and Thank You, Pagliari sounds more comfortable than ever spinning his tuneful paeans of lost love. This Saturday, October 11, Pagliari’s band will open for the Lost Ridge Band at Boone Saloon. The show will start at 10:00 p.m.

Please and Thank You follows 2007’s EP Safe and Sound, whose title track was featured in the Hilary Swank movie P.S. I Love You, and that same year’s The Sail album. Please and Thank You broadens Pagliari’s musical reach while displaying the storytelling prowess and the warm, personable vocal style that’s always been at the heart of this young singer-songwriter’s accessible sound.

Before that, Pagliari first came to national attention when his band Fairfax landed their song “If I Die” on the first This Is Americana compilation disc alongside such artists as Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams and Johnny Cash, among others. The Nashville-based act soon splintered however, pushing Pagliari to test the solo waters.

Pagliari first came to Boone as a solo act in 2005 following the release of his solo EP, Long Gone. Since then, the artist formerly known as Nick Pags has recruited a group of fellow Tennesseans to help power his country-tinged folk rock. After a couple more years in Nashville, he decided it was time to return to his hometown—Tennessee’s second most famous musical city.

“When I moved back to Memphis, I just started getting into the sounds that were coming out of there,” said Pagliari. “I really enjoyed listening to this music that came out of Memphis.”

Pagliari said he made his first trip to the Stax Records museum where the work of soul giants such as Redding, Booker T. & The MGs, Sam & Dave and Isaac Hayes were a source of inspiration. Admittedly no soul singer, Pagliari said the spirit of Stax inspired his latest efforts, prompting him to add a bit of brass to a handful of tunes on Please and Thank You.

“It’s kind of a nice fit and it adds a bit of texture to those tunes,” said Pagliari.
Please and Thank You also marks a change in Pagliari’s sound. It’s the first full distillation of all of his influences, balancing the hook-powered melodicism of 1980s rock with the groove driven legacy of his native Memphis and the alt-country sound minted by groups like Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Son Volt and the Old 97’s. The sound of the Civil War tale “The Union Infantry” reaches back even further to the heyday of The Band.

As a solo artist in the emerging digital-powered music world, Pagliari thought it best to start his own record label to promote his work. Please and Thank You is the first release on PalagreenO Records and is being distributed digitally all over the web and in some stores. Because Pagliari recently followed his fiancé to Columbia, S.C. because of work, High Country music fans can expect to see more of Pagliari in the not-too-distant future.

To hear songs from Please and Thank You, click to www.myspace.com/nickpagliari.

Want To Go?


Date: Saturday, October 11
Time: 10:00 p.m.
Location: Boone Saloon
Cost: $5