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Archives For February 2012

Never run away a boy When you can walk away a man

LarryKloess —  February 28, 2012 — 2 Comments

It’s an interesting paradox when you feel like you’ve been a fan of a band since their inception. When they finally get their big break and make it into the “mainstream”, do you remain an adamant fan or jump ship, wishing to go back to the “good ole days” where you felt like knowledge of the band was a shared secret amongst a select few people. Maybe it’s just me, but when those bands come into their own and get the recognition they are so deserving of, I imagine it’s like the feeling a dad has when their kid rides away on down the sidewalk on their bicycle for the first time without their training wheels on. It’s one of those rites of passage in life that I imagine are ingrained in the minds of a countless number of people.

This past Thursday night I had that kind of engrossing experience when I witnessed Needtobreathe’s first of two nights playing at Nashville’s famed “Mother Church”, the Ryman Auditorium, in what can only be described as what rock and roll was meant to be. Displaying some of the strongest musical chops to grace the newly refurbished stage, the boys from Possum Kingdom, South Carolina, left every member of the packed-into-pews audience spellbound, seamlessly moving from heart-pounding, foot-stomping rock and roll to hear-the-pin-drop-quiet ballads.

The night’s opener, Ben Rector, probably deserves a post all his own after captivating the audience as the opener, with his up tempo brand of piano-driven pop rock. It’s been said that going to the Ryman for a show can be a worship experience all its own, and with Rector as the worship leader for the evening, you might as well have been in a church in the Deep South, swaying to-and-fro, hands clapping and toes tapping along to every ebb and flow of the music. There may or may not have been hands raised from some of the more charismatic of the night’s patrons. Rector along with his backing band mixed in some of his best songs from his two albums, but probably brought the most joy to the audience with his superbly original take on Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”. The video he recorded of the song was actually made back in January, prior to the queen of soul’s untimely death, and his version at the Ryman could not have seemed any more apropos.

So much could be said about any one of Needtobreathe’s songs on that uncommonly warm February night, and every song seemed like a highlight in and of itself. Their opening rendition of “Oohs and Aahs” could not have been any stronger, with the typewriter lighting in the background spelling out “The Reckoning”. My comment to my friend Josh who was at the concert helping run lighting for the band was “now THAT is how you start a rock concert!”

Perhaps the highlight of the night was Needtobreathe bringing out a string quartet and playing an all acoustic version of “More Time” midway through their set. It was another wrinkle to the live repetoire that they have developed over the last eight years, and for the fans who had been with them since the very beginning, it was a poignant tribute to the band’s past and a signal of just how far they have come in a short period of time.

Discussing the February 23 show would be incomplete without mentioning the near-perfect encore of the 1-2-3 punch of “Something Beautiful”, “The Reckoning” and “Slumber”. The crowd favorite “Something Beautiful” brought any late adopters to their feet before the band put forth  a convincingly gritty rendition of “The Reckoning”. Transitioning from that to “Slumber” showcased both Needtobreathe’s range and their famous propensity for bringing crowds to a hushed silence at the end of a show, as they unplugged their instruments and all gathered at the front of the teakwood stage to put their stamp on what was the best show of theirs I have seen out of the 15 or so I have seen in the past.

By the time they reached the climactic conclusion of “I wanna sing like we used to / I wanna dance like we want to / Come on darlin’ open up your eyes” the crowd had responded in kind, with eyes open wide to the wonder of the way live music can transform you. And in a lot of ways, Needtobreathe had undergone the same transformation that night, going from the boys they had been playing at fraternity parties throughout the Southeast to men with a commanding presence on one of music’s grandest stages.

In Show Reviews , ,
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Turn My Swag On

LarryKloess —  February 17, 2012 — Leave a comment

One of my favorite musical discoveries of late 2009/early 2010 was the fantastic Irish troubadour James Vincent McMorrow. A few short notes into “If I Had a Boat” and I was hooked with his unique falsetto that was somewhat reminiscent of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. I still remember opening up the package shipped to me from Ireland like an expectant child on Christmas morning, overjoyed to dive headfirst into the album once I laid the ornate packaging to the side. Pretty sure that album became the soundtrack of an entire season of my life.

So despite being an early adopter of sorts with JVM’s music, I had never heard his cover of this song made famous by Willow Smith. It’s a true manifestation of the phrase “being able to sing the phone book.” I think this is proof that ole James could sing just about anything and his audience would be transfixed.

And this version from Jimmy Fallon as Neil Young and The Boss is equally fantastic:

In Causing A Scene , , ,
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The Avett Brothers’ “Murder in the City”

LarryKloess —  February 16, 2012 — Leave a comment

My good friend, Jonathan Snyder, of the soon-to-be-famous bow tie company Brier & Moss, asked me recently if I ever write about the classics on the blog, or if it’s just “new” music all the time. My initial thought process went back to the jazz greats of Miles, Coltrane, Monk and the Duke then gravitated to the soundtrack of my childhood playing billiards with my dad: Zeppelin, The Who, CSN(Y), and some John Hiatt sprinkled in for good measure. More than anything, the short conversation brought on a wave of nostalgia for those times gone by where those classic songs were present in my life. At the same time, it made me reflect on where I’m at now and how far that journey seems to be some days and the songs that have guided me along the way.

One of those songs that I feel a longing toward like a long-lost friend is The Avett Brothers‘ beautiful love letter to their family, “Murder in the City.” I hope I speak for everybody when I say that the brothers Avett can fashion one heck of a song through lyrics that seem pulled straight from a Faulkner novel, at once having a gorgeousness and a near Gothic quality to them.

Each time I hear the words two and a half minutes in of “always remember there was nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name” I feel a sense of joy over my own family. I am sure I am far from the only person who has experienced the chilling effect those words can have on you when they come sauntering in through your speakers, sneaking in like a ghost before wrapping you up like a warm blanket.

There is such a strength in family, in that sharing of a name. I think what this song teaches me the most now, years and easily a hundred or two plays after I first heard it, is the incredible joy of growing into adulthood with your family around, and the way our relationships with our parents and our siblings and our extended families change and evolve and come out more fully formed as you settle into your groove in life. The Avetts’ words remain truer each time they are recalled to mind, trusting full well that there is no earthly love like the one you give to and receive from your family.

And on a less sentimental note, a show of hands of all of those who are dying to catch wind of any news of an upcoming album release from these guys? Seriously, it’s time, fellahs. The world is waiting to be blessed once again by these wordsmiths.

In Revisiting the Classics ,
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