The Commonwealth of Notions is a reaction to the idea that good music is dead in the city of Richmond.
So starts the description of Shannon Cleary’s radio show on WRIR’s site, and every time I see that sentence, its meaning changes a little.
#live
Daniel Clarke
I had the pleasure of shaking hands with Daniel Clarke on Sunday when I went to Hardywood to fill a growler.
Landlady
Friday Cheers
Time to say goodbye to another Friday Cheers season. Sniff. It’s incredibly sad to think of how far off the next one is, but I figure I can suppress some of that longing by looking back at highlights from the shows I was able to make it to.
Without further ado, I present the inaugural YHT Friday Cheers Awards.
St. Vincent
I’m still floating back down to Earth after last Wednesday’s St. Vincent show, so if you’re allergic to hyperbole, you should proceed with caution. There are so many glowing things to say about her performance — a few adjectives that come to mind right away: otherworldly, innovative, exacting, singular — but the takeaway I can’t stop thinking about involves something that didn’t actually happen on stage. (And I’m not talking about sardine-like crowd experience, which was like some crazy test of how little personal space you can command before totally freaking out.)
During the show, this image kept popping into my head — Annie Clark standing on the same stage singing the same songs with the same vocal precision and just an acoustic guitar as accompaniment. It wasn’t because I wished she was performing that way, it was because I kept thinking about how removed her show was from that basic form of musical communication.
Quick digression: I’d always taken that form — voice and acoustic guitar — for granted, because so many of the artists/groups I enjoy go that well-worn route. It was a fairly recent comment from Father John Misty (I can’t remember if it was onstage or in an interview) about how he can imagine people rolling their eyes at another white dude with an acoustic guitar that made me take a step back and think about what deciding to perform that way means.
So what does the way Annie Clark decided to perform on Wednesday mean? In short, I think it means that she’s a visionary who cares deeply about the experience her fans have at her shows.
CD Monday
A very special CD Monday today, y’all. The RVA Playlist 5th Anniversary party is this Thursday at the Broadberry, and I’m very sad to be missing it due to out-of-town-ness. But Andrew was kind enough to give me an advance copy of this incredible compilation he’s assembled in partnership with Triple Stamp Press. It’s a thoughtful and immaculately assembled representation of the music community RVA Playlist has done so much to support. From the track list to the materials used, it really is stunning.
Moon Taxi
Very excited for tonight’s Friday Cheers. A big part of that has to do with getting to see Sleepwalkers do Sleepwalkers things. It’s been too long since I’ve seen them, though I’ve enjoyed following along on social media as they’ve melted faces all over the country with J. Roddy and others. When the Cheers schedule was announced, my eye jumped to this show because I love this venue for them. Their sound is big and can easily fill that beautiful Brown’s Island space. Their writing is versatile, meaning that olds, youngs, moms, non-moms, country mice, city mice, babies and barflies alike can enjoy. It’s a pre-summer highlight waiting to happen.
Moses Sumney
Took this iPhone photo while Moses Sumney was opening for Sufjan Stevens at the Altria last Wednesday. It is and is not representative of what that experience was like.
Jason Isbell
This has been one of the best live music weeks of my life. Sunday: Old Crow Medicine Show with Sturgill Simpson. Wednesday: Sufjan Stevens with Moses Sumney. Tonight: Jason Isbell with Horsehead. I feel a little like a dog whose owner opened up a brand new bag of food and dumped the whole thing on the floor. If one good thing about music is when it hits, you feel no pain, I’d say a second good thing is that when you gorge yourself on music, you don’t risk yakking it all back up. (Unless you count blogging about it, in which case I have a serious case of reflux.)
Alabama Shakes
I have a new favorite post-gig routine. I get home, put on soft pants, crash-land on the couch and open up my laptop to see if I can find a concert streaming somewhere. It started a while back with Bonnaroo/Coachella streams, but it’s getting easier to find streaming video on random Fridays, and I love it. There’s a specific type of satisfaction associated with playing music for people and then getting to relax while watching someone else do it. (It reminds me a little of those restaurants that open at midnight and serve people from other restaurants who are just finishing their shifts.)
The video above isn’t live, but it’s recent — “Gimme All Your Love” from Alabama Shakes’ April 10 Coachella performance.
You Hear That 