Fish Fisher Releases New Album 'NASHVILLAIN'

Like a manic-depressive off his meds, singer-songwriter Fish Fisher swings from one extreme to the other at the drop of his beat-up old leather hat on the new album NASHVILLAIN. The project is, as he describes it, "Appalachian-outlaw-country with a swig of wit."

With 13 songs about murder, getting drunk, getting sober, being in love, losing love, and his conflicted relationship with the music industry, Fisher goes from wild one minute to somber and contemplative the next, always with an edge. No matter the depth of the subject, the so-called "Godfather of Ghettobilly" finds a way to make listeners smile, with plot twists and clever lyrical puns, not the least of which is the title track:

"He's the reason for your missed appointment / He's the reason for your unemployment / He's the reason for all your disappointments / He's the Nashvillain..."

"I love working with all my co-writers within the songwriting community, but my love is not for the industry itself," Fisher said. "The 'Nashvillain' in the song is the most-evil person in the country music realm. If you wonder why you ain't rich and famous yet, now you know who to blame."

Fisher trades sarcasm for sweetness on "Memory Lane," a reflection on long-lost love, and on "Temple," a tribute to a woman for all her glory. Perhaps the most touching of the more serene songs on the album is "Give You Away," which Fisher wrote for his daughter's wedding.

"My daughter Sommer and her fiancé Aaron had to pick a song for the traditional moment of the dad letting go during the ceremony," Fisher said. "They couldn't find one they liked, so I wrote this and played it live at the wedding. Even outlaws can be soft-hearted when it comes to their kids."

Like many country albums, NASHVILLAIN has songs involving alcohol, but they are about more than just drinking for the sake of it. Fisher delivers them with the sincerity and swagger of a weathered and worn man who is actually living that life within the walls of true dive-bars and distilleries nightly instead of singing about it for radio attention. There are no pickup trucks or hot babes in hotpants here.

Just one tune, "Drink Til It All Makes Sense," is about the fun of getting blitzed. The others use drinking as a metaphor, or simply a backdrop for something deeper. "Gone" is about drowning away the end of a relationship, the hard way. "Whiskey In a Wine Glass" is more about being drunk on love than on liquor.

Fisher proves he is as rowdy as he is reserved on "Better Off Alone," a high-octane anthem "for bikers, hikers and solitude-likers." Another theme song for the adventurous is "Chasing Tornados," about a couple embracing the danger of happiness.

Though born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, Fisher is more closely associated with East Tennessee, particularly Gatlinburg, his musical home base in the Smokies. With mountain roots and folk songs among his diverse creative influences, it is not surprising that his repertoire includes two new murder ballads.

"Two Shallow Graves" is about "bad folks doing bad things on a bad day," as Fisher explains. The other murder ballad, "Scarecrow," tells the tale of a woman who settles the score with her abuser in quite a gruesome way. Fisher co-wrote it with singer/songwriter EmiSunshine, who first recorded it for her acclaimed 2019 album, FAMILY WARS.

Having cultivated a loyal following by touring the Great Lakes region and southern Appalachia nonstop for over a decade, Fisher offers something for outlaw country fans everywhere, north and south. Indeed, NASHVILLAIN encapsulates his unique sound of where, as he puts it, "the Rust Belt meets the Coal Belt."

NASHVILLAIN is available through most digital music outlets, with CDs available at live shows and at FishFisher.net.

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