LIVE SHOW
Spirit Family Reunion Lizard Lounge - Cambridge, MA
August 2, 2012 review and photos by Vanessa Bennett
You Now”), story songs (“Higher Than the Levee”), toe-tapping gems (“Silent Man”), and campfire jams (“Ragweed Rose”). But it’s track three, “Brown Eyed Women,” that may be the best entry point to Vacilador and to The Giving Tree Band. Listeners will be grateful for the rest. Produced by E. Fink and Philip Roach Recorded and Mixed at Crooked Creek Studios, Yorkville, IL Mastered by Ruben Cohen www.thegivingtreeband.com -Jason Peterson
Goodnight, Texas A Long Life of Living San Francisco, CA (Self-released)
“Hypnotic work of authentic ghost-town folk”
Stomping, hollering, driving folk music from Brooklyn ending in a sing-a-long
Spirit Family Reunion tore it up at the Newport Folk Festival and without taking a moment for rest made their way to Lizard Lounge to bring their feverish string plucking, drum beating, washboard rattling sound to Cambridge. The night started off with performances by North Carolina’s Paleface and fellow Brooklynites, Annie and the Beekeepers. Paleface was all over the place with spoken verse, Caribbean stories of life, and improvisational dance moves. Annie and the Beekeepers took all of 30 seconds to have the entire venue silently hooked. [editor’s note – read our interview with Annie in this issue!] Her feathery vocals were paired with haunting guitar chords and harmonies. In celebration of their love of Boston, they gave fans an early release of their latest album, My Bonneville. It wasn’t until just after 11 pm that Spirit Family Reunion took the stage. By the time lead singer Nick Panken came up to the mic, the tiny basement venue was flooded with people pressed as close to the band as possible. They jumped into a set that was loud, riveting and captivating. With wailing vocals, pounding washboard notes and deep, bellowing bass lines, they ran through an assortment of tracks off their latest release, No Separation.
Tracks like “I Want to Be Relieved” and “I Am Following The Sound” were belted out with a vigor and heated style of play that created a raucous and (at times) chaotic sound: both beautiful and striking. Like buskers on street corners, they gave a set that was passionate, driven and improvisational. The intricacy of their performance and mastery of their art was undeniable. From Stephen Weinheimer’s animated use of the washboard to Ken Woodward’s steady bass, the band’s emotional connection to their music was palpable. One of the most impressive moments of their performance came when banjo player Maggie Carpenter and fiddler Mat Davidson gave an intoxicating rendition of Fred Neil’s “Green Rocky Road.” Davidson belted otherworldly notes that seemed to echo for miles and possess his body while Carpenter’s lively and nimble fingerpicking capabilities were hypnotic. The set came to an end with a short two-song encore, as things officially wrapped up with a fullblown sing-a-long to the band’s hit “I’ll Find A Way.” Everyone from the bartender to audience members sang in unison until the final chord.
metropolitan regions - the record, like the band’s namesake, sounds miles and miles away. From the opening track - the stark, haunting “Maggie’s Farm Forever,” a morbid riff on the Dylan classic – Long Life feels like something you might find in waterlogged box in someone’s attic. Rife with rustic songwriting and the squeal of calloused fingers over steel strings, Long Life is full of words and music that sound as if they’ve been seized from a bygone era, one where banjos and barn dances are still popular forms of entertainment. The album’s standout tracks are so authentic that it’s hard to believe they were written in the 2010s by two twentysomethings - among them are “Jesse Got Trapped in a Coal Mine,” a classic cowboy ballad with a plaintive story arc, and the rabble-rousing “Railroad,” a galloping calland-response. On Long Life, Goodnight Texas has proven themselves a well-oiled songwriting machine, managing to weld the old and new into a hypnotic work of historical fiction.
“Appealing folk, moving lyrical messages, promising young artist”
www.hiwearegoodnighttexashowareyou.com -Jody Amable
Second albums, or “sophomore releases,” are traditionally among a band’s best work. However, new San Francisco band Goodnight, Texas has upped the ante with A Long Life of Living - a formidable debut release. Goodnight, Texas is named for a ghost town in Texas’ panhandle. Though they hail from both San Francisco and Chapel Hill, NC - two major
Hayley Reardon Where the Artists Go Boston, MA (Kingswood Records)
TOP PICKS
HIGHLIGHT
www.spiritfamilyreunion.com
At 15, Hayley Reardon shares her first release, Where the Artists Go, displaying remarkable talents in self-expression both through lyrics and melody, while developing her haunting, soothing voice. Signed to indie label Kingswood Records, Hayley is mostly self-taught on guitar after asking her father to show her a few chords. She began to write songs at 13 and strengthened her sound. Playing in schools throughout Michigan and New England and later a showcase at the 2011 International Folk Alliance, she is certainly the buzz to many ears in the folk scene and a bright star on the horizon, a glorious addition to the future of acoustic music. Hayley’s gift for introspective songwriting is impeccable. Nakedly honest and real, she is beyond her years in self-realization, bringing together beautiful words of empowerment for young girls and people of all walks of life, with simple guitars and a clear knack for engaging melodies. Producer Lorne Entress has truly encouraged Reardon to shine to her full potential in the studio during the creation of the record. Songs like “Where the Artists Go” is stunning, a tune in which any artist can identify with. “Scribbles” charmingly displays her lyrics: “I’m the farthest thing from free, I’ll never know OCTOBER 2012 PERFORMER MAGAZINE 43