The award-winning, Franklin-based artist performs songs from his new album Tennessee Hill at the long-running Nashville institution.
Fresh off the release of his debut solo album, Tennessee Hill, Claude Carmichael joined the iconic, long-running Debi Champion’s Writer’s Nights at the Commodore Grille at the Vanderbilt Holiday Inn. The performance coincided with the annual Americana Music Festival, which celebrates music rooted in America, including folk, country, blues, blues rock, roots rock, and bluegrass.
Tennessee Hill, released in August 2026, fits squarely under the Americana banner. It blends rootsy melodies with the storytelling of country, folk, and blues. Recorded and co-produced by Grammy-winning engineer and Keb’ Mo’ band member Casey Wasner at Purple House Studio in Leipers Fork, the album has drawn unanimous praise. Jennifer Munoz of Vents Magazine praised both the artist and the album for having a “sense of genuine reverence for a timeless art form.”
At Debi Champion’s Writer’s Nights, now in its 34th year, Carmichael showed that reverence, along with his sly sense of humor in three songs, two from the album (“Bottom of a Well” and “Sonia Lee”) as well as the yet-to-be-released “Road Rage.”
“It was a blast playing at Debi Champion’s Writers’ Night at the Commodore Grille. On one of my songs, at first I thought I was imagining a sweet harmony on the chorus. Turns out it was Debi harmonizing pitch-perfectly from the mic at the mixing board. I hope we’ll get to sing together again!”
Of Carmichael’s appearance at the 34-year-old Nashville institution, host Debi Champion says, “Claude Carmichael is a wonderful talent. He is welcome to play his songs at my writer’s nights anytime. I hope he’ll be back soon.”
About the performance, writer/journalist (People and Life magazines) Laura Sanderson Healy said, “In these life-lived ballads (from Claude), I heard the voice of Warren Zevon. I would vote his round the ‘best in show’.”
Carmichael may be just launching his solo career, but he has long worked in music. After growing up playing in rock bands and folk clubs in eastern Virginia, he built a career in New York as a session singer and producer. He sang alongside Billy Joel on The Stranger, at producer Phil Ramone’s invitation, and sang the theme to the ABC movie The Bermuda Depths. He later turned to music with an environmental and documentary focus. Through his company, Big Screen Music, he produced and supervised music for IMAX films (including Jane Goodall’s Wild Chimpanzees) daytime television, and soundtrack albums featuring artists including Lyle Lovett, Bonnie Raitt, Paul McCartney, and Bruce Cockburn. As music director for This Island Earth with Kenny Loggins, he won a Daytime Emmy Award. Along the way he also picked up a Genesis Award, a Native American Music Award, and honors from the Environmental Media Awards and the International Film and TV Festival of New York.
Tennessee Hill is available now on all streaming platforms. More on Claude Carmichael’s career, awards, and film and TV work can be found at claudecarmichael.com and bigscreenmusic.com
Tennessee Hill Tracklist
- Bottom of a Well
- Tennessee Hill
- Full Time Heartache
- Instead of Me
- Sonia Lee
- Too Many Yankees (Bless Their Hearts)
- Precious One
- The Last Lullaby
About Claude Carmichael
Claude Carmichael is a singer, songwriter, and producer whose career spans New York session work (Billy Joel, The Bermuda Depths) and environmental/documentary music, including a Daytime Emmy for “This Island Earth” and IMAX soundtracks with artists like Bonnie Raitt and Paul McCartney. Now settled in Franklin, Tennessee, he released his debut solo album, Tennessee Hill, in 2026.
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