Cory Branan is the kind of guy who would already be a household name if the Nashville music machine ran on the power of merit alone. Branan performs at Chelsea’s Wednesday with local songwriter Joe Arnette and Elsah. The show starts at 9 p.m. Tickets start at $8 online.
During the course of a decade-long career, Branan has managed to build an impressive catalog and a devout following while working outside of Nashville’s modern country music industry, one where ghostwritten hits are sent to the hype factory and stars in flashy packaging are born.
Even the title of Branan’s newest record, The No Hit Wonder, is a less than subtle nod to his outsider status in that scene. The record came out two weeks ago and is probably already giving industry big wigs nightmares, being that the album is roughly seven times better than anything they have helped turn out in the last 10 years.