Northwest of Nashville series brings homestyle jams to Bartlett stage

The country music capital of the world is more than 2,000 miles away, but a monthly variety show at the Bartlett is bringing the South a little bit closer to Spokane. Northwest of Nashville features local musicians who specialize in country, bluegrass and folk, performing in a round-style format, and Tuesday marks the fifth concert in the series thus far.

“One of the main goals is to bring together a cross-section of audiences and artists that might not otherwise overlap,” said singer-songwriter Jenny Anne Mannan, who emcees and performs in the shows. “I wanted to create a natural way for people to get together and play.”

Mannan initially conceived the Northwest of Nashville series as an outlet for her own songwriting, and she likens the set-up to concerts at the Grand Ole Opry or old-timey radio programs like “Prairie Home Companion.” Mannan typically opens the show with a few songs, then guest artists take turns performing their own material, and the evening ends with everyone on stage together.

“The idea is to play together as much as possible throughout the show,” Mannan said. “That’s what’s really special about it.”

Mannan was born and raised near Colville, and she recalls picking up the fiddle when she was 5. Her parents started a family bluegrass band – Mannan’s mother played bass and sang and her dad played banjo and guitar, while she and her older brother Luke played fiddle – and they toured the country throughout her childhood.

“(The band) grew as our family grew,” Mannan said. “There are seven of us, so we added new members every couple years.”

After graduating high school, Mannan moved to Nashville, where she worked as a musician and songwriter for several years. She toured with a band she formed with her brother and as a musician for the likes of Ricky Skaggs and Paul Overstreet, and she says that years on the road proved valuable in putting together Northwest of Nashville shows.

“One of the things that was most formative for me was the way collaboration influences creativity,” Mannan said. “Making a living at music was always secondary to the joy of playing with other people. I think what’s carried over is watching what happens when people can create just for fun.”

Mannan has lived in Spokane for the past six years – her husband’s family lives here – and she says she’s thrilled to now be involved in the city’s burgeoning music scene.

“It’s been really amazing to watch the arts scene grow, and there’s so much incredible talent here in town,” Mannan said. “It seems that people are staying put instead of going off to make their fortunes elsewhere, and we like being a part of that. … I spent so much time on the road in the first half of my life that I treasure being able to stay home.”

The artists featured at next week’s Northwest of Nashville show cover everything from bluegrass to indie folk to straight-up country, and that eclecticism is deliberate. Mannan says she wants this series to bridge the gaps between genres, but she also hopes they capture the looseness and immediacy of jam sessions that might occur backstage after the crowds have gone home.

“One of things I wanted to do was bring the magic of spontaneous collaboration to a bigger stage than just my living room,” Mannan said. “This is the kind of thing I love to do, have friends over to play. But I can only fit about 20 people in my living room, so I wanted to make that available to a bigger audience.”