TOKENS PODCAST: S6E8
Today, the final episode of the Tokens Show.
Well, sort of.
Rest assured, that doesn’t mean we’re calling it quits. Rather, we have found ourselves in a tremendous season of momentum, full of opportunities to reach a new, wider audience beyond our humble beginnings in Nashville. And because of these newfound opportunities, we’ve been undergoing a process of what might be considered a “soul-searching” of sorts.
What do we want to communicate to our new listeners, and how do we want to communicate it? What will be their first impression of us? And what role does the name “Tokens” play in all of it?
“If we're being completely honest, the first time I did the Tokens Show, my wife was actually like, ‘What is this you're doing?’” recalls our friend Michael Hicks. “I was like, ‘I don't really know, but if I had to guess, they need somebody black.’”
This story, and unfortunately too many like it, brought to our attention a painful reality: for many, the name "Tokens" brings to mind the painful realities of tokenism. We began to suspect that, as we garner a newer, wider audience, calling a show "Tokens" might be shutting the door before some people even consider walking through.
So today, an episode with three friends - Jason Eskridge, Michael Hicks, and Odessa Settles - about their experiences with tokenism, both in the music industry and in culture at large, and what it might look like to ask the hard questions, have the tough conversations, and move toward each other with a new sense of understanding.
And after today, we will have a new name… but I won’t spoil it here, of course. You’ll have to listen to find out.
ABOUT THE GUESTS
Jason Eskridge was born and grew up in Rockwood, TN. After high school he attended college at Tennessee Tech University where he played football and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. After college he accepted an engineering job in Huntsville, AL where he worked for approximately a year and a half. During that time Jason could never shake his passion to make music. So he packed up, left Huntsville, and moved to Nashville, TN where he currently lives.
Since moving to Nashville Jason has served as a studio vocalist for such acts as Lyle Lovett, Randy Travis, Jonny Lang, Nicole C. Mullen, Marc Broussard, eLi, Micah Dalton, Grits, Verbs, Circadian Rhythm, Sammy Ward, DJ Maj, and Toby Mac. Jason has also traveled opening or singing backup for Lyle Lovett, Nicole C. Mullen, eLi, Micah Dalton, Grits, Knowdaverbs, and Pigeon John. He has been featured as a guest vocalist on numerous projects. Jason has traveled across the country playing for youth groups and campuses as well as playing at various music venues. He has also had the opportunity to take his music abroad as he has traveled to South Africa, Amsterdam, and England.
Jason’s desire as a musician is to create music that causes the listener to love God, love themselves, love their fellow man, think harder, think deeper, think broader, laugh until they cry, laugh when they want to cry, try something new, remember something old, and ultimately live life to the fullest.
Watching the energetic, spontaneous, and passionate musicianship of Michael Hicks on stage, one would find it hard to believe that this fiery keyboardist is reserved, introverted, and even shy off stage. A native of Warner Robins, Georgia, graduate of Middle Tennessee State University’s revered Recording Industry program, and a current resident of Nashville, Tennessee, Michael brings a musical background rich in the culture of gospel music and the rhythmic stylings of soul and funk. Having met Keb Mo at a session for “Memphis Beat”, he began working with him on a daily basis and soon became the newest addition to Keb’s band. Mike has toured internationally, having shared the stage with and/or recorded with numerous artists including Buddy Guy, Michael McDonald, Lizz Wright, Amy Grant, Brooks and Dunn, Derek Minor, Jonny Lang, Taylor Hicks, among many more. His travels have afforded him the opportunities to play in prestigious venues including the Sydney Opera House, the Apollo Theater, and many others. Quietly becoming a force in Nashville’s urban music scene, he produces and writes for various artists and he is the frontman and songwriter for Nashville’s newest force of funk, Funktional Punctuation (aka The Funk Puncs). Mike was honored with 3 Nashville Independent Music Awards in 2013 including Best R&B Male Artist, Best Album (“This Is Life”), and Best Soul/Funk Band (for the second consecutive year). Known for honesty and transparency in his delivery, Mike continues to blaze his own trail, creating his own brand of “life music” in the process.
Odessa Settles, born and raised in Nashville TN, the only sister of eight, has been on stage most of her life thanks to her singing father. Odessa has served as a multi-genre artist referral entity in Nashville for many years in the areas of vocal and instrumental music, acting, modeling, spoken word, recording projects and short films. Odessa considers herself a folk singer and novice songwriter, a lover of ukuleles and anything she can beat on (percussions, sticks, paddles, cans, buckets, tambourines, etc.). Her gifted mission in life is to minister to the sick, listen, learn, bridge gaps, sing, record, and perform with as many people possible, and teach to others the great lessons she has learned from those who have allowed her to share their space.
Odessa is a founding member of The Princely Players, an A cappella music and drama group well-known throughout the country who chronicles African American history from mid 19th Century through today via staged productions. Odessa is the coordinator and manager of the Nashville Symphony Let Freedom Sing Celebration Chorus who come together yearly to celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Odessa is currently collaborating with Roy “Futureman” Wooten on the Black Mozart Project, which chronicles the life of Joseph Boulogne, Le Chevalier de St. George.
Odessa, now considered “a piece of the furniture”, has been performing with the TOKENS Radio Show series since the first show. Odessa says “I feel quite honored and blessed each time I am invited to share my musical experiences with Lee Camp, the Most Outstanding Horeb Mountain Boys and the Tokens Radio Players, what a treat and very humbling experience.”
ABOUT TOKENS SHOW & LEE C. CAMP
Tokens began in 2008. Our philosophical and theological variety shows and events hosted throughout the Nashville area imagine a world governed by hospitality, graciousness and joy; life marked by beauty, wonder and truthfulness; and social conditions ordered by justice, mercy and peace-making. We exhibit tokens of such a world in music-making, song-singing, and conversations about things that matter. We have fun, and we make fun: of religion, politics, and marketing. And ourselves. You might think of us as something like musicians without borders; or as poets, philosophers, theologians and humorists transgressing borders.
Lee is an Alabamian by birth, a Tennessean by choice, and has sojourned joyfully in Indiana, Texas, and Nairobi. He likes to think of himself as a radical conservative, or an orthodox liberal; loves teaching college and seminary students at Lipscomb University; delights in flying sailplanes; finds dark chocolate covered almonds with turbinado sea salt to be one of the finest confections of the human species; and gives great thanks for his lovely wife Laura, his three sons, and an abundance of family and friends, here in Music City and beyond. Besides teaching full-time, he hosts Nashville’s Tokens Show, and has authored three books. Lee has an Undergrad Degree in computer science (Lipscomb University, 1989); M.A. in theology and M.Div. (Abilene Christian University, 1993); M.A. and Ph.D. both in Christian Ethics (University of Notre Dame, 1999).
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