YouTubing Nashville Rock: Allen Sullivant's Top Ten

If you find yourself looking for '80s-era Nashville rock music on YouTube, the first place you should go is to Allen Sullivant's "Practical Stylists" page. Allen, former manager of brother Scott's popular local band Practical Stylists, was there back in the day and knew all of the players on the scene. The curator of the Nashville '80s Rock Archive, Sullivant has all kinds of vintage video hidden away in his secret vault, and he trickles it out onto YouTube at a maddeningly slow pace. Here are Allen's top ten clips (so far):

1. Jason & the Scorchers "Absolutely Sweet Marie"
This is the one that kick-started it all, Jason & the Nashville Scorchers (EMI dropped the "Nashville" from the band's name fearing that it made them sound "too Southern." Yeah, well...). The first blast of blistering Nashville cowpunk reinvents Dylan's classic tune with endless energy and a fresh perspective. Lots of local scene people among the crowd scenes, a great Warner Hodges' guitar solo and spectral Jack Emerson, the Scorchers' co-manager, overseeing the entire affair from his seat on the riverboat. Timeless, rocking, essential Scorchers....

2. Jason & the Scorchers "Shotgun Blues/Ghost Town"
By 1986 the Scorchers had played a couple hundred nights on the road and the chemistry between the band members onstage was undeniable. This high-voltage performance was taken from a short-lived late-night variety show called After Hours, broadcast by Nashville's local CBS affiliate, Channel Five. Skip to the show's closing credits and the boys cranking out the red-hot instrumental "Ghost Town" as the names roll.

3. Bill Lloyd & the December Boys "Nothing Comes Close"
Also from Channel Five, a performance of pure pop for now people by Bill Lloyd & the December boys, an appearance from Nashville's annual Summer Lights Festival, circa 1986. Gee, wasn't that Scott Sullivant playing bass? Better known as one-half of the country/rock duo Foster & Lloyd, it is Bill's pop/rock songwriting skills that have endeared him to at least two generations of Nashville rock music fans.