Class Acts

Nashville Pays Tribute to Mark Wehner

Wednesday night at Douglas Corner, Mark Wehner did what he’d done 1,000 other times: He sat in a chair and watched and listened to fine musicians playing fine songs, except when he and his wife got up and slow-danced to the fine sound of fine musicians playing fine songs.

He smiled a lot.

He greeted friends.

Wehner is a musician, a songwriter, a recording artist and a promoter whose Americana Tonight series provided a showcase for many of Nashville’s most intriguing and literate singer-songwriters. The Douglas Corner show was billed as a farewell to Americana Tonight, but 

it was also a farewell to Wehner, who has stage four cancer and won’t likely be well enough to make it to the second planned Douglas Corner tribute on Sept. 14.

So, while Wehner had done this 1,000 times, it was the first time he’d done it for the last time.

Rodney Crowell, Elizabeth Cook, Chuck Mead, Tim Carroll, Jessica  Stiles, Kristi Rose, Fats Kaplin, Stacie Collins, Dave Coleman, Rick Schell, James Intveld, Walter Egan, Supe Granda, Matt Urmy and many others worked to assure that the five-hour evening traded on beauty, melody and joy.

“We all love you for who you are,” Urmy said from the stage, looking to Wehner, who sat in the left corner of the room, wearing a sparkling western jacket. “This is all for you.”

Ubiquitous (and aptly named) door man Big Steve greeted patrons at the door, demanding no cover charge but collecting donations for Wehner.  Over the course of the evening, Wehner’s fans and friends chipped in nearly $2,000, but the dough was slight subtext to the music.

Crowell, a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer, brought his band for a poignant stage-turn that included a knowing version of Allen Reynolds’ “Dreaming My Dreams With You.” “I’ll live to see it all through/ But I’ll always miss dreaming my dreams with you,” he sang. Crowell tailored his seven-song set to the evening, closing with a powerful “Song For The Life” that stilled the packed room and dedicating “I’m Still Learning How To Fly” to Wehner:

“I’m halfway to heaven,” he sang. “Halfway to hell/ But I might roll a seven, you never can tell,” before delivering the chorus: “Life’s been good, I said/ I’m 10,000 miles ahead/ The day I rest is the day I die/I’ve got a past like a broken wing/ But you ain’t seen anything/ I’m still learning how to fly.”

Keyboard player and producer Michael Webb organized the evening, which served as a sprawling rough guide to the Nashville Americana scene. Most everyone spoke directly about Wehner, refusing to allow his health to become the elephant in the room. Stiles, who sings in a 

voice that recalls old-school country forerunners Kitty Wells and Sara Carter, devoted “Little Darlin’ Pal of Mine” to Wehner. Tim Carroll  played a blistering rock ‘n’ roll set and noted Wehner’s efforts to sustain a roots music community through his Americana Tonight show: “I  know at times it seemed like nobody cared,” Carroll said. “But, Mark, look around you. People cared.”

They did care, and they do care, and they showed up to show Wehner all of that. In so doing, they created an evening that was at once lovely and grim.

“Hey, hey, it’s a beautiful world,” sang Kristi Rose. It’s more so for Wehner’s presence. It’ll be less so soon.

Photo: Tim Carroll (left) with Bones Hillman on bass