The show’s correspondents in London, Glasgow, Buenos Aires, Toronto, Las Vegas, and Philadelphia were starting to realise that mission. To increase the show’s footprint, its host and creator, Cameron Wallace (“Camo” to his ever-increasing audience), moved to Dormansland, Surrey, a small village situated a mere twenty-five miles from London, England.
And then came the pandemic.
Realizing that studio interviews would be out of the question, and seeing his friends—independent artists around the world—stripped of their ability to earn a living, Cameron went into action. “Yeah, I arrived in London on Wednesday the seventeenth of March,” said Cameron. “A day later, we were told that the governments in the UK and the US were going to be shutting down the pubs, clubs, bars, and honky tonks where all of the great artists we support really make their living. We had to do something. That evening, over a pint in my local pub, I decided that we would present live “concerts” from our Facebook page and encourage artists to link to their virtual tip jars, their music, merchandise—anything that could earn them some money to help them exist during the lockdown period.”
And it worked. Since the twenty-third of March, there have been 47 live concerts on Nashville Meets World. Independent artists from Scotland, England, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, and the United States have been represented—with audiences in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, China, Germany, Italy, France, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Austria, United Kingdom, Ireland, India, Canada, USA, Brazil, Argentina, Chilé…and the list goes on.
According to Cameron, it’s surprising and completely expected at the same time. “Music is the universal language—we all know that—but I’m still like a little kid opening a Christmas present when I discover artists from other places around the world and see viewers checking in from countries around the world. It truly is amazing. Our numbers are growing rapidly—and I’m excited for that. But what really excites me is finding this great independent talent around the world and being able to give them a worldwide platform so they can grow their audiences, make a little money in their tip jars, and go on to, potentially, bigger things.”
“I created Nashville Meets World to do two things: show the world the incredible indie music created in Nashville from artists around the world and, go out into the world to find amazing indie talent of all genres and give them a bigger platform to showcase their art. It’s not only working, but it’s getting bigger. We’ll get back to my interviews eventually, and we have some amazing things planned to go further afield. We can’t wait.”
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Here are the artists who have appeared in the Nashville Meets World/Covid-19 Concert series so far: Zoee (Glasgow UK), Kendal Conrad (Nashville/Philadelphia), Tera Lynne Fister (Nashville), Jared Gray & Holland Marie (Nashville), Jada Vance (Nashville), Taylon Hope (Nashville), Rhonda Funk (Nashville), Gareth Nugent (London UK), Lisa Redford (Norwich UK/New York City), Sentiment Falls (Gothenburg/Malmo, Sweden), Templeton Thompson and Sam Gay (Nashville), Nicole Rayy (Toronto), Peter James (Abbotsford BC), Malcolm McWatt (London UK), Lost Hollow (Nashville), Julia Hatfield (San Antonio), Southern Halo (Nashville), Charlotte Young (Bristol UK), Vaudevylle (Nashville), Danny McMahon (Bristol UK), Rosie Horne (Kent UK), Jeremy Parsons (Nashville), Jessica Lynn (New York), Henrik Johannesson (Nyborg, Denmark), Tennessee Twin (Cambridge UK), Hayley McKay (Durham UK), Jess Johnson (Sage Gateshead UK), Bonn E Mai (Miami), Tor-Ludvig (Åvik, Norway), Tracy Millar (Alberta), Ayla Lynn (Cape Coral/Nashville), Emilia Quinn (Leeds UK), Sunkat (Nashville/London), Lexie Hayden (Nashville), Katrina Burgoyne (Gunnedah Austraila/Nashville), Brian Callihan (Nashville), Caroline Marquard (Zürich/Nashville), Patsy Thompson (Austin), Kelsey Bovey (Bristol UK), Georgia (Brighton UK), Travis Rice (Nashville), Georgia Barker (Clitheroe UK), Molly Lovette (St. Louis/Nashville), Roly Johnson (Sage Gateshead UK).