David Nail: A Campfire Christmas Tour

David Nail

David Nail’s candor cuts like a laser through star-making propriety, a ritual of predictable answers to predictable questions, recited by artists averse to the controversy that truth can bring.

True, he is respected up and down and beyond Music Row. He’s written or co-written multiple hits. Critics laud his singing too: The late, revered Chuck Dauphin, for one, marveled at Nail’s ability to turn an “ordinary lyric and arrangement” into a “tour de force,” adding, “simply put … he is not one of us.”

So he’s got rock-solid credentials. And he earned them despite a refusal to present himself in a false light. His songs pull no punches in evoking the demons with which he has wrestled through much of his life. As Nail explains, it’s not so much an act of courage to write about depression and its effects. Rather, it is simply who he is; he says, in conversation and through music, what he must say.

In Nail’s own words, “My philosophy has always been, I just hope to have a good enough year that I can have a next year while staying as true to myself as I possibly can.”

Jacob Tolliver

A self-taught piano prodigy, Jacob Tolliver is ushering in a new era of country rock. His viral videos across social media have garnered over 300M views and 5M shares. Having spent the last three years playing with and portraying Jerry Lee Lewis in the ‘Million Dollar Quartet’, Jacob first received national attention on Season XIV of American Idol. He’s performed to sold-out audiences across the country, sharing the stage with luminaries from Ricky Skaggs, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Jackson Browne, and The Beach Boys. His debut album arrives this year.

Host or Publisher Fairfield Theatre Company