Ten Out of Tenn songwriters collective coming to Square Room

The Ten Out of Tenn. music group is, from left, Andrew Belle, K.S. Rhoads, Butterfly Boucher, Matthew Perryman Jones, Jeremy Lister, Katie Herzig, Trent Dabbs, Amy Stroup, Gabe Dixon and Tyler James.

The Ten Out of Tenn. music group is, from left, Andrew Belle, K.S. Rhoads, Butterfly Boucher, Matthew Perryman Jones, Jeremy Lister, Katie Herzig, Trent Dabbs, Amy Stroup, Gabe Dixon and Tyler James.

Tennessee singer-songwriter supergroup Ten Out of Tenn originated in Nashville, though most of its rotating cast have come from much farther. Members hail from Mississippi, Michigan, Colorado and even Australia to make up the fourth iteration (supplementing the fourth volume of the TOT compilation).

Among the goals of the project are to expose the best of Nashville's current songwriters to a national audience as well as to each other. The outfit has produced results in both respects, spawning a number of successful collaborations and hit songs, but the gem of the project is the live presentation of its members' individual songs, which flourish with the accompaniment of 10 additional instrumentalists.

Ten Out of Tenn was conceived by Trent and Kristen Dabbs, who arranged the inaugural lineup, album and tour to promote the current folk and singer/songwriter scene making a stir in Nashville, where the enormity of such independent acts can be obscured by the city's renowned high-profile/low-talent, soulless, mainstream country music machine. One of the remaining original members of the collaboration, Trent Dabbs explains the idea behind the project:

"Ten Out of Tenn began out of an effort to expose the singer/songwriter, pop-rock, folk music scene that is coming out of Nashville," says Dabbs. "After Volume 2, it became more about the true community of artists in Nashville — artists that are collaborating on projects, touring together, co-writing on each other's albums, and it naturally happened."

Ten Out of Tenn has never been about a specific group of artists. Artists are invited to participate because they have new records coming out or because they are getting a buzz in and out of Nashville.

While already successful in their own right individually, the incorporation of many songwriters into TOT has led to wider acclaim with numerous tracks being featured on screen and others ascending various charts.

The artists who become intimately acquainted on tour often continue their collaboration beyond work in TOT. The separate releases of the group's members have become somewhat incestuous and frequently include collaborated writings and featured vocals and instrumentation of several TOT comrades.

"Of all of the artists that have been involved in TOT in the last 8 years, there has been an almost incalculable amount of collaborations in our own projects afterwards," says Andrew Belle. "You can always count on seeing at least a few of us credited in any one of our studio albums or maybe a cameo here or there in a music video. We're all very close outside of the tour."

"There have been several collaborations that have happened within the artists on TOT," Dabbs adds. "Amy Stroup and I have written together a ton, and out of that we started a band called Sugar and the Hi Lows. It's been a fun project, and we will be putting the record out early next year. I think I've written with almost every artist that has been on TOT. It would take forever to go through all of the collaborations, but it has no doubt led to artists working together."

Other TOT veterans have also gone on to be a part of other successful bands. Joy Williams is now half of The Civil Wars and Ashley Monroe is in The Pistol Annies. Both acts have had albums that have reached No. 1 on the iTunes charts.

What makes the Ten Out of Tenn group truly unique is its on-stage chemistry. While the members have achieved great things following tours with TOT in the past, many have found it difficult to reproduce the magic of playing with a full ensemble of dedicated, encouraging band mates genuinely intent on developing and accelerating the potential of their friends.

"Butterfly Boucher said it best after her first TOT tour when she described the show as being the first time her songs have really come to life on stage and that all of the parts from her record were there," recalls Dabbs.

"Personally, I am looking forward to being a part of Ten Out of Tenn for the first time," says Amy Stroup, "especially hearing songs played live with the collaboration of six to ten people all on a stage at once, versus three to five people as I normally play. Basically, the potential for awesomeness is quite high."

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