Recent Interviews
WFMC Jams
WFMC Jams is an online internet radio station committed to bringing you original music as well as your favorite classics from a variety of local artists in the area. The station was founded on June 24, 2012 right after the Third Annual Fam Jam music festival in Manchester, TN. The idea came up as a way to continue to give back to the local and regional songwriters and performers in the area year round by promoting their music.
3/05/2021 - "In the House" at The Grinder House - Nicholas Edward Williams
Williams was injected with a bohemian lifestyle during a nomadic childhood. By the time he was twelve years of age, his family of four had already moved across four states and nearly ten houses from the west to the east coast. He had no idea that he was being unconsciously groomed to live the Kerouac condition one day; destined to ramble, tell stories of nature, moral ground, and singing about the great people and the multiple levels of the human experience in travel.
"My Grandparents took my sister and I from California to Hershey, PA and back a few times through the summer, and we took different routes each time to see various landmarks and plenty of gravestones of people I’d never met. Needless to say, I the desire to move around is in my blood."
Williams began living a life on the road full-time in 2012 to pursue his music. First in a Honda Element, and later a self-converted Sprinter Van, carrying everything he owned inside a 20 foot vessel with his wife for three years. The simplistic lifestyle of spending ample amounts of time in nature and meeting various characters enabled Williams to focus his writing on the evolving self and observations of his surroundings, as opposed to the over-saturated topic of love and heartbreak that have dominated airwaves for decades.
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"In the House" at the Grinder House is broadcast live on WFMC Jams every Friday from 6-8pm central.
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"In the House" at the Grinder House is broadcast live on WFMC Jams every Friday from 6-8pm central.
"It’s the sound of a young man attempting to make peace with his past and coming to terms with the changes of his present — the realization that while he might not be where he was or even where he wants, that good things happen. There’s both celebration and solace in such a moment of clarity, and that Bigwood spins it into sonic gold is evidence of an artistic soul wise beyond the years of its mortal shell." - Steve Wildsmith of The Daily Times (Maryville, TN)
Melissa Ellis is an award winning singer-songwriter and a 2020 quarterfinalist of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN where she shared the stage with over 100 rising solo/duo blues acts from all over the world.
Beginning her professional career as a singer/actress/dancer in theater at the age of 16, she performed in regional tours before moving on to study classical and jazz music at Tennessee Technological University as a vocalist while pursuing a singing career in Nashville.
In 2009, Melissa released her debut album Melissa Benjamin, lending her seasoned talent to the world of bluegrass & gospel. Her original single, “Crossville,” was adopted by her hometown as the official city song. While touring, she found new inspiration and started writing more original songs. With new songs came a new sound that evolved into a more soulful genre.
Melissa’s sophomore album, Just Me, was released in 2011 and as a multi-instrumentalist, the album showcased her musicianship on guitar and piano, as well as more of her original material.
Melissa’s latest musical journey brings out the raw emotional sounds of blues & her training in jazz. Her repertoire includes her original songs mixed with re-imaginings of familiar classics that are presented in fresh new ways. Melissa has landed opportunities that have placed her on world renowned stages, on radio, on television, and at high profile festivals, including Nashville’s acclaimed CMAfest where her soulful style was showcased among the sea of rising country twang.