KORT is Lambchop frontman Kurt Wagner and solo singer/songwriter Cortney Tidwell, and with covers album Invariable Heartache (City Slang), the duo has recorded a sort of love letter to its hometown of Nashville and the city’s musical past. Eleven of the LP’s dozen tracks were originally recorded in the ’60s and ’70s for the Music City-based Chart Records (a label with huge familial ties for Tidwell), and the 12th song was cut by Tidwell’s mom, Connie Eaton, in 1975 for ABC Dunhill. And while the heartfelt Invariable Heartache is certainly ensconced in Nashville’s storied musical history, it’s a thoroughly modern statement by two of the town’s brightest hopes for Music City’s future being as fertile as its past. Wagner and Tidwell will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new Q&A with them.
Wagner: If there one thing that holds true and brings serious heartache, it’s breaking a nail on tour. It’s as bad as loosing your luggage or someone sitting on your guitar. In fact, it’s way worse. Just you try to find a good nail salon in the old Eastern “bloc” or in Turkey? I also mention this because it’s something that William Tyler (the guitarist from KORT and Lambchop) and I have in common. We both have our nails, right hand only, done at the same place in Nashville. We have found over the years it really is the way to go if you’re a fingerpick-style guitarist. They do a great job at Cosmo and don’t look at us too funny when we come in for a “fill.”
