12 Memorable Concerts from 2010
(Cross-posted. I’ve largely abandoned Imaginary Gardens for Bricolage and my folk music website, but it seems appropriate to post this here as well.)
Here is a description of twelve memorable concerts I saw in 2010. I won’t say that they’re the most memorable, because I don’t like to commit to absolutes like that, but they all stood out for some reason. I decided not to include Falcon Ridge, because it’s not really a concert in my mind, and the description would either have to be way too long or way too short.
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“The Women of Folk Music” @ The Birchmere (Alexandria VA), January 22nd
This benefit concert for WFMA featured a stellar lineup: SONiA, Nerissa and Katryna Nields, Maura Kennedy, Catie Curtis, and several others. Sort of a mini one-night folk festival. My musical highlight was actually Catie Curtis, who I rarely remember to seek out (certainly less often than the other aforementioned performers) but really enjoy. My social highlight was the overwhelming sense of being part of a community. Friends and acquaintances dotted the audience. Two different people practically admonished me for not asking them beforehand for a comp ticket. (As it was, I was splitting a comp ticket with a friend, and I was glad to support WFMA as much as I could afford to.) One of the performer’s managers rescued my granola bar when the Birchmere staff confiscated it (I had forgotten about the Birchmere’s bag searches) and smuggled it back to me later. The contemporary folk community is something special.
Peter Mulvey and Jeffrey Foucault @ Wagon Shed Concerts (New Freedom PA), January 23
This was my first concert at The Wagon Shed. The upstairs of a barn in a small town on the Mason-Dixon line hardly screams “amazing venue,” but it’s one of the best-kept folk music secrets in the mid-Atlantic. The room is beautiful — all wood — and has the intimacy of a house concert: perhaps 50 people sitting in a horseshoe, spitting distance from the stage. But it has the acoustics of a professional venue, they stream live on the web, and they somehow get big names like David Bromberg and Alison Krauss. People were almost surreally nice: I was a little nervous about going to a new venue by myself, but by the beginning of the show, I had been given a glass of red wine and the business card of someone who wanted to go hiking. There was a mid-show potluck. Peter Mulvey and Jeffrey Foucault have good energy together in general, and they responded to the intimacy of the venue by being delightfully silly, adding to the warmth and magic of the night.
Girlyman @ Jammin’ Java (Vienna VA), March 13
Girlyman is one of my very favorite bands to see live. Their distinctive lyrics and harmonies already make them stand out, but they are also great improvisers, and their patter and stage personae are hysterically funny. (What other band could pull off an entire album consisting of tuning songs?) Another band guaranteed to leave me in a better mood than I was in before. It’s been fun to watch them grow over the years, too: they just keep on getting better, both in terms of their songwriting and their live shows. This show also featured a cozy collision of friends old and new: nookers, Obies (well, one, but an important one), CTY/Baltimore relationships (well, again, one, but an important one), Darlings, contra dancers, etc.
Pat Wictor and Toby Walker @ Focus (Rockville MD), April 27
I always enjoy hearing Pat play. To quote boyhowdy at Cover Lay Down: “Wictor’s undeniable talent as a performer and songwriter, coupled with the relatively unique combination of bluesy, fluid, slide-guitar-driven folk and spiritually uplifting lyrics, are a potent mix. His warm, mellow tenor drips with Dave Carter’s gentle soul, and a soulfulness that is as light and graceful as Odetta’s was deep and dark. Combine this with his powerful, gentle presence — there’s something genuine and earnest about Pat that comes across through both his studio work and his live performance — and you’ve got something rare and precious, indeed.” But I especially look forward to his co-bills. Folk musicians vary widely in their ability to improvise and play well with others. Co-bills with singer-songwriters who only have functional understanding of their instruments can be less fun: it’s basically like seeing two half-shows. But Pat and his musical comrades (Toby Walker, Jon Shain, Abbie Gardner, Brother Sun I’m sure) show ‘em how it’s done: not only can they dance solo on their fretboards, but they also have the musical sensitivity and technical prowess to add their signature styles to each other’s music in ever-changing ways.
Dala @ Moore Music in the House (Rockville MD), May 8
Dala is the only featured performer on this list who I had never seen live before. (Others were in new configurations or co-bills, though.) It’s a rare experience for me to go to a concert and think, “Wow, these people are going to be famous soon, and I’m seeing them in someone’s basement.” Sure enough, the next time I saw them was in front of thousands of people at Falcon Ridge, and they have since won awards, played major festivals in the USA and Canada, been signed to Compass Records, been hailed by Cover Lay Down as “one of the biggest rising stars on the popfolk circuit.” And indeed, the Dala girls are popfolk at their best: charming patter and presence, catchy melodies, sweet yet distinctive harmonies. (I found that their harmonies come through more clearly in their live performances and recordings than in their produced CDs.) Definitely one of my most exciting new discoveries of 2010.
Lindsay Mac @ Focus (Alexandria VA), May 16
I have long-standing penchant for classically-trained singer-songwriters. I also love the cello, especially in the context of contemporary folk (Gideon Freudmann, Rushad Eggleston, Natalie Haas, Hannah Alkire, etc.). Given that Lindsay Mac is a singer-songwriter who plays the cello like a guitar, I was predisposed to like her. That was before I heard her perform at Falcon Ridge (on the main stage, but even more so when we were all torrentially trapped in the Budgiedome) and discovered that she’s also a great songwriter, that her music has the best aspects of Ani without the annoying aspects of Ani. She rarely plays south of New England — sadly — so I had been anticipating and promoting this Focus show for many months. (I rarely make it down to Focus Alexandria, but every show I’ve seen there has been memorable.) I was not disappointed. The energy was amazing, the audience enthusiastic, whether they were hardcore Lindsay Mac fans or first-timers under the influence of their friends. Mona Tavakoli, who accompanied her on percussion and backing vocals, added a lot musically and was also really fun to watch play. For the encore, LM requested to have the lights turned off, and she sang out of semi-darkness (“Drifted,” I think?), which was appropriately chilling, especially in contrast to the informal warmth of the venue.
Danielle Miraglia, David Morreale, & Jonathan Byrd @ SNAFU (Baltimore MD), June 9
SNAFU has risen phoenix-like from the flames, relocating to the third floor dining room of the Waterfront Hotel, my favorite Fells Point bar. One particularly memorable aspect of this show was the striking use of the space: the three performers sat in a circle in the middle of the room, facing towards each other, with the audience ringed around. (David and I managed to grab a couch, which is definitely the right way to see music in a bar.) The show was under-attended, likely due to basically non-existent promotion, which is too bad: all three singer-songwriters are talented and worth seeing live. They’re also friends and fans of each other, which could be seen in their harmonies, their laughter, and their almost involuntary singing along to each others’ songs. I was especially delighted by DM singing along to Byrd’s word-dense “Cocaine Kid.”
Joe Crookston (with Brad Yoder) @ SongSpace (Pittsburgh PA), September 25
Joe’s a strong performer, and he’s strongest in venues of this size: small enough to sing off-mic; big enough feed off the audience’s energy. Both intimate and foot-stompin’. And SongSpace is everything that a folk concert venue of its size should be: cozy arrangement, comfortable chairs, refreshments (including black tea in real mugs!), a full house vibrating with quiet excitement. Joe had never played Pittsburgh before, but the show had been well-advertised. Having Brad open was also smart, since he’s a household name in the local folk scene, and seeing them play together is always a treat: Brad’s soprano sax added a lot, especially to “Red Rooster.” Additionally, the UU church that houses SongSpace has a folk orchestra (!) that had covered “Fall Down as the Rain,” so there were several members in the audience who had been introduced to Joe’s music that way — brilliant. (UU churches hosting folk concerts is not uncommon, but having a large number of congregation members in the audience is uncommon and certainly an asset.) Even I knew about a dozen people in the audience, which was impressive given that I had only been living in Pittsburgh for a week at this time. (I had met many of them at the Danielle Miraglia house concert the weekend before; some I knew from NERFA. Friendly faces everywhere.)
It’s All About the Drums (Cheryl Prashker and friends) @ Focus (Rockville), October 12
Among her other notable roles in the folk community, Cheryl Prashker is arguably the best folk percussionist out there. (Pat Wictor calls it Extra-Sensory Percussion.) Typically a drummer is invited by a main stage act to accompany hir; Cheryl turns this model on its head for her “It’s All About the Drums” shows by inviting a handful of singer-songwriters to play with her. The lineup was strong and varied: Zoe Mulford, Brad Yoder, and Reggie Harris in the foreground, with two other percussionists joining in at times. (I hadn’t seen Reggie Harris live since I was a kid. He’s amazing!) The show featured all sorts of quirky and charming and semi-improvised combinations of singing, banjo, glockenspiel, guitar, and sax, with one to three drummers ever-present to hold it all together. Totally worth eight hours of travel in two days.
Ellis @ Moore Music in the House (Rockville MD), November 6
I spent a large percentage of this show with a stupid grin plastered across my face. Seeing Ellis perform always makes me feel happy afterwards; it’s some synergistic combination of her laugh, the comedy of the coffee song and the yoga song, the layered optimism of my favorite songs on “Break the Spell,” her storytelling, her guitar riffs, the palpable way that audiences fall in love with her. She doesn’t have that much in common with them musically, but this rush of positive energy is similar to Kennedys shows and full band Nields shows in days of yore. My elation at this particular show was multiplied by going with B., who was seeing Ellis live for the first time.
Brad Yoder CD release @ Church of the Redeemer (Pittsburgh PA), November 20
Songwriters, take note: Brad provides an excellent model for how to create a memorable CD release show. It was downright opulent, musically and gastronomically. There were two opening bands (Judith Avers and Pearl & the Beard) and some dozen back-up musicians (up to six at a time). A back room adjacent to the chapel featured free snacks, free lattes, and free home-brewed beer. (Another first: getting carded in a church.) The result was half-concert, half-party, and overall good time. In typical Pittsburgh fashion, I ran into two of my coworkers, one of whom was a backup musician. The released CD, “Excellent Trouble,” is also, well, excellent, and it was fun to hear the songs with the richness of a backup band: I had only heard him play solo or gently accompanied, and this show was closer to the flavor of the CD.
We’re About 9 @ Cooper’s House (Columbia MD), December 18
Seeing We’re About 9 perform is like coming home. I’ve seen them live more times than any other band, but it had been a while (given that neither of us live in MD right now). Much jumping up and down ensued. Most of the songs were at least FR years old, but the arrangements and the patter provided pleasant surprises. I would not have guessed that a glockenspiel — of all things! — would add so much to “Slow Sliding Funk.” (Glockenspiels, as Brian pointed out, are becoming hip in the contemporary folk world, but they really can add something if used sparingly.) And their “guess the movie” game was even more hysterical in a house concert setting than in a “big folk festival” setting. Talking to friends between sets was also really nice. Shows at Myra and Steve’s are always cozy, both due to their warmth and the architecture of their house, but this was even more so. I knew over 1/3 of the audience members by name (out of about 75 people); some I had known for a decade and some I had known for under a year. My core group of friends in Baltimore has changed almost entirely since even the last time I saw WA9, yet despite this, the majority of the people who I love most in Baltimore were there, gathered together.
