[The Deli] Ariel Bui plays 3 local Nashville shows on 8.19, 8.23, and 9.8
[The Deli] Ariel Bui plays 3 local Nashville shows on 8.19, 8.23, and 9.8

When it comes to the stripped down style of Nashville’s Ariel Bui, less is definitely more. Her 2016 self-titled LP is a look into who she is as an artist, offering edgy folk-twinged tracks driven by the haunting vocals of the singer-songwriter. Her mesmerizing alto is unique for the Nashville scene; she doesn’t belt out soulful choruses or sing with an exaggerated country twang (despite having track titles like “To All the Cowboys” and “Moon Over Kentucky.”) There is a relaxed quality to this album, but emotionally it still progresses with the honesty of a country album. Ariel Bui isn’t trying to prove she’s the best or brightest star. She’s just bearing her soul and hoping it’s enough. (Spoiler alert: it is.)

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[Nashville Scene] The Undefeatable Jessi Zazu: Artist and musician's body is wracked with cancer, but she ain’t afraid to keep fighting
[Nashville Scene] The Undefeatable Jessi Zazu: Artist and musician's body is wracked with cancer, but she ain’t afraid to keep fighting

By SHELLEY DUBOIS

None of it could keep her down. On Feb. 11, Jessi went to She’s a Rebel, a ’60s girl-group tribute show she co-founded three years ago with Adia Victoria’s drummer, Tiffany Minton, and other women musicians in Nashville. She planned to play it by ear and get up and sing if she felt good enough. After several acts, local singer Ariel Bui introduced Jessi Zazu, and the crowd lost their minds. Backstage, she ripped off her headscarf. She stormed out and hit the spotlight like a fury. She had one bloodshot eye and wore a plunging black velvet dress. She sang “Nobody Knows What’s Goin’ On (In My Mind but Me)” by The Chiffons. She radiated strength and grit and love. She shone otherworldly. The crowd threw arms into the air, leaned back and yelled when she was done.

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[Nashville Feminist Collective's Esoteric] Volume 2, Issue 2
[Nashville Feminist Collective's Esoteric] Volume 2, Issue 2

As an Asian Female, my flesh has been dangerously defined by society. My “demographic” is largely excluded from media such as television, film, music, and news, except as a token symbol of diversity or an entire genre of pornography – “Asian.” My personhood is often defined by either model minority or hypersexualized stereotypes, constantly threatening my well-being and safety and resulting in a life of constant trauma, coping, and healing from trauma. To give meaning to my suffering, I find refuge in music and community, hoping to help others feel less alone in their own silenced traumas and struggles…

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[NPR] World Cafe: Nashville Sessions

Scouting cultural responses to the current political moment, World Cafe producer Kimberly Junod and I headed to the Basement East in Nashville one night not long after President Trump had first presented his executive order on immigration to observe a benefit concert for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. The evening, co-organized by the spirited soul woman Alanna Royale, featured many local luminaries: Adia Victoria read from the works of Toni Morrison; Ariel Bui, herself the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants to Louisiana, sang of her parents' experience… - Ann Powers

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[WPLN: Nashville's Local NPR Station] Music Writers Answer The Question — What Did Nashville Sound Like in 2016?
[WPLN: Nashville's Local NPR Station] Music Writers Answer The Question — What Did Nashville Sound Like in 2016?

She says that particularly other young female artists such as Becca Mancari and Ariel Bui are using a lower register approach which comes with a “different attitude.” Hight says their vocal delivery has a “deliberately deadpan, artfully sly, relaxed way.” She says it strikes her as especially different for a city that has featured many singers whose vocal attack was more “athletic.”

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[Double J - Tower of Song] Americana Big Wigs Come to Town
[Double J - Tower of Song] Americana Big Wigs Come to Town

We listen in to amazing live tracks by both Neil Young and Ryan Adams to pave the way for their respective returns to Oz. Also, in a fantastic cross-genre pollination, All Our Exes Live in Texas cover Tame Impala. Plus, we deconstruct what we know about the immanent release of the Rolling Stones new blues record Lonesome and blue. All this and more shoved into the bursting suitcase, as we also hear new music by Lost Ragas, Paul Kelly, Ariel Bui and Emma Swift!

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New album releases for Sept. 30
New album releases for Sept. 30

"She’s a formally trained classical musician, but on this self-titled full-length she brings nearly jazzy elegance to songs that echo the measured control of fellow challenging Americana-related artistes like Calexico and Angel Olsen."

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[Nashville Cream] This Week in Fresh Tracks
[Nashville Cream] This Week in Fresh Tracks

Bui's self-titled LP...lands right in the sweet spot of contemporary Americana. The first half...leans more towards trad country and R&B, while the second side stretches out into jazz and vintage pop — all expertly played by a boss crop of locals...(Bonus: If you buy the vinyl copy, it will have never touched a computer, having been recorded to tape with Andrija Tokic at his all-analog studio The Bomb Shelter.)"

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