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Sean Leahy: Time To Shine

April 10, 2012 in 06, 11, 12, 17, 2, 2011, 25, 27, 27th, 28, 29, 3, 30, 31, 50, 7th, 9, a, after, Again, age, all, am, an, and, another, Are, around, as, at, away, balance, Ball, ban, band, bands, Bass, big, black, blue, blues, brown, Burn, but, by, ca, can, cat, cc, center, classic, comes, community, dave, Day, does, down, Drums, effects, en, end, Entertainment, eq, Eve, Fat, FEAT, fee, festival, fi, final, First, FOR, four, Friend, From, Funk, gain, get, give, glow, Good, great, ground, Guitar, guitarist, hampton, hi, high, Hope, How, ice, in, into, is, IT, IX, jam, Jams, Jay, John, key, Keyboard, King, know, Lake, las, Last, late, Laugh, leave, Led, lesson, lessons, let, life, light, Like, LITTLE, live, live music, long, lot, love, lover, MA, Made, MI, mix, mod, Much, Music, My, Myself, Nat, nc, New, News, night, no, NV, ny, of, on, one, op, Open, opening, out, PA, Park, Part, Phish, play, player, Pop, Pot, pro, production, Pt, rad, radio, rage, read, recording, redding, rev, reverb, Road, rock, roll, row, rs, run, San Francisco, Say, SC, second, seconds, Secret, set, Shine, show, Shows, So, solo, solos, Something, song, sound, SPAC, St, start, step, stick, street, studio, tab, talk, Talking, That, the, to, tone, Too, tour, track, Twist, two, uic, us, va, venue, WA, WAITING, Way, ways, we, Wednesday, Weekend, Ween, Weigh, with, years, You, Your | No comments

By: Dennis Cook

Sean Leahy by John Margaretten

Will not let you down
You gotta believe
There`s more to me than I`ve
Ever really brought out to the light

If youve spent any time in the San Francisco club scene or a bucolic weekend at High Sierra Music Festival then youve probably stumbled across a blond, quiet guitarist who stepped up and at every turn and knocked you for a loop. Sean Leahy is one of the best kept secrets in the Bay Area, a stealthy charmer who works with precision instinct to add flavor and impact to the projects hes involved in (which includes Four Year Bender, M80 Mailbox with Tea Leafs Josh Clark and ALOs Dave Brogan, Kofy Brown and more). A longtime instructor at the Blue Bear School of Music and a co-founder of fest favorite Guitarmageddon, Leahy is set to release his first solo album with his trio, rounded out by fabulous rhythm team of bassist Mark Calderon (Tracorum) and drummer Daria Johnson (London Street). Darkness and Light will be released at an action packed night of music at Slim’s in SF on April 27th with the Sean Leahy Trio will playing the middle slot between Huckle and Guitarmageddons 2nd annual Blue Ball with a Texas blues theme. Its a debut with distinct personality, offering up beefy rock with power pop instincts that work through universal themes without resorting to clichs. In a better world, radio would already be clamoring for a piece, but regardless, its a broadly appealing first step into a spotlight thats been waiting for Leahy for a number of years. With muscular, reverb-laden production from Jeremy Black (Apollo Sunshine, Coyote Hearing Studio), the album has the feel of prime Cheap Trick and Matthew Sweet given a modern twist (helped along by bang-up keyboard work from TLGs Trevor Garrod), a sharply chiseled set where all the right features catch the light and whats in the shadows is pretty intriguing, too.

Solo Debut Album

From this comes your heartbreak
From that you need to overcome
Take the one damn thing
That always gets you down and
Elevate…out of yourself

JamBase: Having watched you play with others for a long time, I wasnt sure what to expect from your solo debut. Stylistically, youve gone all over the place. I mean that as a compliment.

Sean Leahy: It felt really natural making this album as opposed to past albums Ive worked on where it emerged in stops and starts. I felt like I was finding my voice not my physical voice but the voice for how you want your music to sound, how you hear it in your head and how you can put that down [on a recording].

JamBase: Its as if youve made an album comprised entirely of potential singles. Every tune has that pop and immediacy. A band that immediately comes to mind is Cheap Trick, where its still clearly rock n roll but it hasnt forgotten about hooks and the fun radio music used to be.

Sean Leahy: Most bands that really captivate me could go either way, where a song can be two minutes or twenty minutes, but it can be shorter and still have real impact. It doesnt have to be overdrawn. I love when I go to see a band and they just knock out song after song and I cant leave where Im standing because its so good. Im a big fan of The Mother Hips, who are a prime example of this. A half hour can whip by and youre just blown away by tune after tune, and each song still has its own individual feel, which they can in turn mess around with in the order of the setlist and that creates a whole new feel. Thats definitely what Im aspiring to.

I like that you dont take your foot off the gas for a while on Darkness and Light. Youre almost relieved when a proper ballad rolls in and All For You is such a great love song, pure swoony gold.

Sean Leahy by Jay Blakesberg

The sequencing was quite methodical. It wasnt a happy accident. I went through MANY different structures. We recorded 16 songs and only stuck with the eight that fit the best. I wanted to come out with some immediacy, stick a flag in the ground, then ease up, and then get a little trash-rocky again [laughs].

This album has a personality in its sonics and vibe. How did you and Jeremy come up with that?

It happened kinda slowly. The basic tracks started almost two years ago and then intensified at the end of 2011. We recorded all the songs I had and liked, and then spent a long process of talking about what worked best with Jeremy and what direction we thought it should go, adding elements as we went. Jeremy has such a wealth of knowledge about music, particularly recorded songs, that he had all these sound ideas what effects to use, different guitar/amp combinations – that paired well with the parts I had in mind. The end result wasnt something either of us had in mind. It just emerged working through the material slowly and methodically.

Finding a unique guitar sound is important. Too much sounds the same in rock today, and theres all kinds of just plain cool, nasty, or tasty tones all over this album. Clearly, you guys were interested in mining out something different and not just presenting a showcase for shredding.

Leahy w/ Guitarmageddon by John Margaretten

That was the point from the get-go. We didnt want it to be an album of just guitar solos. Everything we decided on needed to have its own identity. I had the luxury of time to tweak it to my hearts desire. We worked on it til the final minutes until we finally had to let it go. It has its own wings now. Its like your child where you can adjust their collar and comb their hair one last time, but time comes for them to go out the door.

You have a presence in the West Coast jam scene. Was there any pressure or even real interest in doing long ass, shreddy numbers with three guitar solos and tons of guest turns by your pals in Tea Leaf Green, etc.?

I thought about it but truth be told, Im not really that long-winded of a player. I consider myself more of a heavyweight soloist, where Ive got a really good 30-seconds in me and then I pull out [laughs]. I need to get the knockout quick or Im just gonna linger [laughs]. I dont really have the long form chops that a lot of my friends and peers do. I like to settle into the background a little bit in the jam community. Thats where I feel comfortable. I like to feel out a part rather than just rip for five minutes straight.

What do you usually play guitar-wise?

Ive been using this old 70s Strat the past couple of years, and for this trio I have this Gibson SG that has these P90 pick-ups that give it this great sound. For me, the Strat is perfect. It has the clarity you want with distortion and other rock tones. With Gibsons, I love em but theyre very dark sounding. Its really tough to get that nice, chimey high end.

The title of this album works really well with the music inside, which really does sway between darkness and light, musically and lyrically, illumination being brought into dark places all over the record.

Sean Leahy

That pretty much sums it up for me. Its almost a common theme that runs throughout the record, as if anything positive only comes by way of something negative. Maybe its not all the time, but its often been the case in my own experience, where the most valuable lessons Ive learned have come by passing through really hard stuff. At the time it maybe seemed unmanageable but clich that it is there was light at the end of the tunnel. That is if I chose to see it.

Lyrically, you touch on feelings that most of us experience but dont usually talk about out loud. Right out of the gate on the opening cut you address that feeling of disappointment in ones self that can haunt one.

The intention was to dig into this stuff but not be so obvious that you sound like youre complaining. It shouldnt be just me talking about a problem – it should be open to everyone. At the same, its very personal. Every line is something I felt and not just what I thought would have the most impact. I just want to relate and put these emotions out there and have some release from them. When you share this stuff with lovers and friends not everyone is going to be sympathetic [laughs].

Daria Johnson

Have you worked on lyrics for a long time?

This was the first time Ive ever gone this deep lyrically. It was the hardest part for me. I just wanted them to be special and clear without any fat. I didnt want to be too obviously emotional, and I definitely wanted to have fun. To me, the entertainment factor is just as important [as the emotional part], and I tried to insert some levity into the mix.

Tell me a bit about the people you play with in this trio.

Its Mark Calderon on bass and Daria Johnson on drums, and I cant say enough about them and their involvement in this project and my life. Theyve spent so much time with me working through this music from when it was just 4-track demos to now. They just believe in me and this music, and it means the world to me. Its so easy to work with them and play with ideas with them. Much of what we do is unspoken. When we start playing they come out with just what I was thinking right off the bat.

Mark Calderon

You move so well together. Its like a classic power trio but more early Grand Funk Railroad or James Gang than Creem.

Were really working on having a strong impact as a trio and not just through solos or jams. What they bring to this music is invaluable. And Trevor Garrod played on the album, too, and he just knocked it out of the park. He only came in for one day and the stuff he came up with was fantastic. We wanted some balance with the guitars and he really provided the sonic lift we were looking for. Thats another Jeremy Black thing, where he encouraged us to push things until they became comfortable.

Altogether, this album reminds me of when I used to like turning on commercial radio, where I could be surprised by cool new songs and not just hear product.

Ahhh, I remember those days [laughs]. I just tried to make some music thats easy to like and fun to play, and I hope that comes across loud and clear.

Sean Leahy Trio Tour Dates :: Sean Leahy Trio News

JamBase | Aglow
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Tickling The Piano with Greg Rogove

April 4, 2012 in 06, 09, 10, 11, 12, 17, 2, 2000, 25, 27, 28, 3, 30, 31, 50, 9, a, after, age, all, Also, am, American, an, and, another, Arc, Are, arena, around, as, at, August, away, balance, ban, band, bands, Beer, benefit, big, Bill, bite, blue, blues, bud, Burn, but, by, ca, cage, can, cat, cc, center, classic, close, color, Colors, comes, Crazy, David, Day, Day., does, down, Drums, DVD, en, end, Enjoy, eq, Eve, FEAT, fee, fi, fire, First, FOR, Free, Friend, From, gain, Genre, George, get, Gf, gin, give, golden, Good, great, Greek, ground, Guitar, Gus, hall, hampton, hi, Hippie, hippies, Hope, How, ice, in, inspiration, International, into, is, IT, IX, jam, jazz, John, Joy, key, Keyboard, King, know, las, late, Laugh, Led, life, light, Like, LITTLE, live, live music, log, logic, long, lot, love, MA, Made, MI, mix, Much, Music, My, Myself, Nat, nc, New, News, NH, NJ, no, NV, ny, NYC, of, on, one, op, Open, out, PA, Part, Paul, Phish, Piano, play, player, Pot, pro, producing, psychedelic, Pt, rad, rain, rant, raz, RCA, read, recording, rev, River, rock, row, rs, Sand, sara, saturday, SC, sci, second, set, show, Shows, Simple, So, solo, Something, song, sound, SPAC, St, stage, start, step, stick, story, string, style, tab, talk, Talking, That, the, times, to, tone, Too, tour, uic, us, USA, va, van, WA, Walk, war, Way, ways, we, Ween, with, words, years, You, Young, Your | No comments

By: Dennis Cook

The East Coast leg of the Alone Together Tour with Greg Rogove, Billy Martin (Medeski Martin & Wood) and Sarah Neufeld (Arcade Fire/Bell Orchestre) begins this Saturday, April 7, in Brooklyn, NY. Read about the tour and the upcoming West Coast leg here.

Gregory Rogove by Mariana Garcia

Perhaps more than any other instrument, the piano lends itself to solo performance. The musical and emotional range available at ones fingertips and toes is simply unparalleled. Were compelled to lean in and open up a bit when a single piano plays, a welcoming intimacy readily apparent in the conversation between listener, instrument and performer. That sumptuous range and quick closeness suffuses Piana (released January 31), a new collection of solo piano pieces by Gregory Rogove performed by MMW‘s John Medeski. Its not exactly what one expects a spare, emotion saturated, bittersweet song cycle from the drum pummeling Devendra Banhart band member, seductively devilish Megapuss co-founder, and potently psychedelic Priestbird fellow. Yet, Piana exhibits Rogoves natural inclination to explore the outer reaches of his (and others) comfort zones. Its a work that straddles the worlds of classical, jazz and rock in a limber, category dispelling manner, which is further accentuated to the positive by Medeskis delicate, masterful playing. Piana is accompanied by a packed DVD featuring exotic, stimulating visual interpretations of the pieces and a series of remixes/reinterpretations of the piano pieces by The Bees, Billy Martin, Hecuba, Devendra Banhart and more, most of which radically deviate from the originals. Altogether, its an ambitious, adventurous project and one JamBase was delighted to talk to Rogove about just as he sets off on the inaugural tour behind this material.

New Album

JamBase: This is a record that veers outside of expectations, but the way you play piano has always exhibited a really crazy passion for this instrument.

Greg Rogove: I started on piano when I was six but I didnt take to it. Then, I started on drums at ten and fell into that and kept going. When I was 17 or 18 I came across these Erik Satie pieces and they just blew my mind so beautiful and so simple and so direct and pure. It hit me profoundly, and because they arent technically difficult I thought I could pull them off if I just worked at it a bit. So, I got into the routine of learning a new piece every few months, and I used the piano to write in general.

The pieces [on Piana] arent really from leftfield for me. My band Priestbird in its early days used to be called Tarantula, and the sketches for Tarantula songs would come from piano pieces like these. Then wed bring them into the band arena and arrange them for cello, guitar or violin. For me, it was like coming back full circle to what I was doing in the early 2000s but keeping it really minimal.

JamBase: Its a challenge to write something simple that doesnt come off as simplistic. You hit that Satie-like balance a lot on Piana.

Erik Satie

Greg Rogove: Im almost scared to even mention Satie because anyone who does simple piano tunes is compared to Satie, which sucks because youll never be Satie. I was never trying to be Satie on this album. Its more the colors, types of melodies, the sentimentstheres a sense of sorrow and hopefulness at the same time. Thats what I like about his work, and Debussys Preludes do a similar thing. Those guys were buddies and lived in the same time, and theres something about their work that really moves me.

Its always a little nervous making when its suggested one is operating on the same level as some giant.

Those guys are my heroes and such an inspiration for me, and they continue to be. Even after all these years of studying and enjoying their work, Im still just as fired up by them. Its from the end of the 19th century and its still meaningful today. Thats what great works of art are like.

Something special happens when you focus on a single instrument.

Gregory Rogove by Mariana Garcia

Definitely. You can almost do it with any instrument but some lend themselves to it a little better. Piano is just AMAZING. It can have so many different personalities, and how much ground it can cover. Thats perhaps why in classical music theyll do a piano reduction for orchestral pieces so you can understand it. You can cover most of the ranges of the orchestra, even if not all the tones and colors.

Ive often said a piano is like having an orchestra at your fingertips. You can build complex rhythms and melodies simultaneously

and all the colors and cluster sounds. You can get noise out of a piano if you want to.

Oh yeah, thats Cage, Eno, even Monk, all guys who went after interesting fuckin sounds. They could appreciate what a hideously out-of-tune piano was capable of producing.

Totally! One of my favorite pieces of all-time is LaMonte Youngs The Well-Tuned Piano. The whole story and conception of it is incredible. He takes the Pythagorean tuning, which is basically the geometry of the universe where everything is built on ratios – the fibonacci sequence and the golden mean are the same thing. So, he takes this piano tuning that they dont use anymore after Bachs The Well-Tempered Clavier. After that piano music changed, but Young went back to this ancient Greek tuning which creates these really weird dissensions and harmonies. Not to sound too hippy, but its the resonances of everything in the universe [laughs]. Its crazy. Its a five hour piece and youll listen and hear horns, insects, stringsyou will go on a journey. Its really powerful because it hits resonances in your body that are really ancient. Oh man, Im totally sounding like a hippy, but I am in my heart [laughs].

In practice and attitude sure but with none of the stinky, icky connotations. You (and I) like a thumb in the eye and vulgarity more than most hippies. At heart its about love and harmonious resonances and all that crap [laughs].

These are the foundations of our being – the makings of life. Who doesnt relate to that in some way, even if unconsciously?

John Medeski by John Margaretten

When you conceived of Piana what made you want to work with John Medeski?

Theres a big difference between writing something and being able to perform it well. Obviously, thats a no brainer in the classical and film worlds, where composers often dont perform their pieces. And it wasnt a pretentious kind of decision on my part, its just that John has SUCH an incredible touch and imagination that I thought, Why not have a master play these pieces and make them sound the best they can? Parts of them, even though they are simple technically, will benefit from someone like John whos spent a hundred thousand hours on the instrument. Hell be able to express it better than I can.

On any keyboard, but especially piano, theres very little separation between the instrument and the man operating it when Medeski is at work. The way he moves his body, his expressions and gestures are all reflected in the sounds coming out. That kind of symbiosis is wonderful, where a human being is bringing forth every possible good thing this magic box has to reveal. And Medeski has shown himself such a magician in so many different contexts over the years.

Thats another reason I was excited about working with John. If I had a straight classical guy it would sound rigid. If I had some avant-garde guy it might not be as elegant. He can do both and so much more.

Gregory Rogove at NYC soundcheck

Theres so many nice reference points on Piana. Weve already discussed the classical stuff, but one picks up on the heavy right hand of New Orleans and theres definitely an avant-garde streak. But everything is done in brief, where no one element is given sway for too long. It kinda speaks to your roots in the rock world, where youve always insisted that the genre be as flexible, diverse and just plain strange as it promised to be in the 60s and 70s. It ate up country, blues, everything it could get its hands on, and your work even here reflects that omnivore perspective.

I just love music. Its not about being classical or rock or Afrobeat or avant-garde or conceptual. All that stuff, if done well, is beautiful, and it all relates. Its all a means of communicating.

Doing that wordlessly creates another challenge where you dont have the crutch of lyrics to convey ideas and emotions.

I really like that world and getting to step out of words, but by the end of this project I was ready to just write some songs and play drums! It was great to focus in, to peer through the ferns, looking straight ahead and not to the sides to all these other options that you love. You look through this one window and walk that way. It was fun to explore this very finite territory.

Then you take the next semi-logical step of giving these works to others to do their own interpretations. Thats a double layer of stepping back, where first you give the pieces to Medeski to play and then take another step to allow the material to be shaped, warped, etc. in radically different ways.

Gregory Rogove @ L.A. River by George Augusto

I know it was a solo piano work but I kept thinking about how one piece might sound great with horns or another piece would sound good with strings. But no, this is a piano record, and I kept that limit on myself but allowed others the freedom to explore these other ideas. That was the impetus for the remixes and interpretations. I was also interested in seeing how these friends and artists I admired who dont usually work with piano pieces would respond to the material.

Its like having someone painting next to you as you play music onstage.

I like all the remixes but a couple of them blew me away. The Bees version of Carolyn had a bit of serendipity to it. They have this amazing horn section, and their trumpet player came in talking second line horn sections at New Orleans funerals and Paul, their lead singer, instantly knew which tune they should do.

The remixes/revamps have an international flavor, and not in that goopy World Music way. Its simply music without borders.

Since the advent of recordings, music has spread out everywhere. It can be anywhere now, and with the internet that dynamic is increased one million fold. Its daunting at times but its so great. Theres a downside in that some of the indigenous music from around the world gets lost because of recordings. Like in Ireland, there are all these pockets of traditional styles of music like Country Cork style or the Dublin style. They used to be very different and personalized but with the advent of recordings they began to mix. Thats what happens with imperialism and colonialism. Its a little sad that you lose the personality and integrity of cultures sometimes.

The positive upswing of that is American folk music, which comes from this great hodgepodge of reels, German beer songs, sea shanties, etc. Its such a unique thing that only happens with this free-for-all mingling of cultures and styles. The purity of the original sources may be lost but something else is gained. However, the Smithsonian archivists have long been wary of their influence on cultures as they do field recordings and how it changes things, just their presence and the act of sticking a microphone in peoples faces.

Thats what Alan Lomax talked about. And since you mentioned it, Im planning an album of German beer songs [laughs]. Maybe Ill get to open for David Hasselhoff.

Gregory Rogove Tour Dates :: Gregory Rogove News

JamBase | Ebony and Ivory
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New Multitudes | Philadelphia | Review | Photos

March 20, 2012 in 06, 10, 12, 2, 25, 29, 3, 31, 50, 9, a, Again, age, aka, all, Also, am, an, and, another, Arc, Are, as, at, away, Bad, balance, ban, band, bands, Bass, benefit, bowl, Burn, but, by, ca, can, cat, center, Character, close, cute, Day, Day., Dust, en, end, Enjoy, eq, Eve, fee, festival, fi, FOR, four, From, gain, get, gin, Guitar, Gus, hampton, hd, hi, high, How, ice, in, inspired, into, is, IT, jam, Jay, John, Joy, key, Keys, King, know, lang, las, Last, Led, let, life, light, lights, Like, live, live music, log, long, love, MA, machine, Made, MI, monster, Music, My, nc, New, night, NJ, no, NV, ny, of, on, one, op, Open, out, PA, Park, parker, philadelphia, Phish, photos, play, pro, Pt, rad, rant, rare, rev, room, row, rs, run, SC, sci, set, show, Shows, Simple, So, solo, Something, song, Soul, sound, SPAC, St, stage, Strokes, style, Summer, tab, That, the, to, tone, Too, tour, Tribute, two, uic, union, us, va, van, venue, view, vocal, WA, war, Way, we, Wednesday, Wilson, with, words | No comments

Words & Images by: Jake Krolick

New Multitudes :: 03.13.12 :: Union Transfer :: Philadelphia, PA

Photo gallery below review!

Yim Yames by Jake Krolick

Peoples eyes were opened to the truth steeped in deep and powerful music and words of Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie. He made his mark on so many by crafting his insightful views and experiences into folk songs using his machine that could kill fascism – a guitar. Now in 2012 as the country celebrates the anniversary of his 100th birthday, another set of musicians paid tribute to the Dust Bowl Troubadour. With the blessings of Guthries daughter Nora, Jay Farrar (Son Volt) and Anders Parker (Varnaline) dug through the archives of the Woody Guthrie Foundation finding words of Guthries that inspired them. Unlike the earlier Mermaid Avenue project, Farrar unknowingly focused on the Los Angeles period of Guthries life. This short period found Guthrie living in L.A. and Topanga Canyon and had a unique blend of dark and light moments. Farrar invited Yim Yames aka Jim James (My Morning Jacket) into the project, and Yames recommended that they pull in Will Johnson (Centro-Matic). The New Multitudes tribute to Woody Guthrie was born and released into the world last month on Rounder Records with a short tour that quickly followed.

The seventh show on this ten stop tour carried this new round of folk heroes to Philadelphias newest venue, Union Transfer. The blend of musicians executed a stunning two hour set that touched upon the whole New Multitudes album and more. While the album itself sounded softer and hazier, the live interpretation was more exploratory and packed more oomph by adding some fiery new musical dimensions to Guthries words. Like the Ying Yang dynamics of Guthries time spent in L.A., this group was also evenly composed of prolific energy and thoughtful poignancy. Jay Farrars distinct and even keeled voice broke through the darkness of the room on Hoping Machine. He sang, Music is the language of the mind that travels it carries the keys to the laws of time and space. The decades-old words courtesy of Guthrie couldnt have rung any truer today. Farrars voice was as steady as a surgeons hand, and as he worked through Careless Reckless Love with meticulous care that drew upon the audiences sighs.

New Multitudes by Jake Krolick

Farrars style was counter balanced by Yim Yames soul wrenching voice and wild man flair. Yames offered his unique, howling, lonesome vocals on the evenings versions of My Revolutionary Mind and Changing World. It was equally a joy to hear and watch him thump away on the bass, leaning heavily on the fuzz peddles during No Fear. As each song peaked, he pulled out his characteristic moves, wailing on his instrument and thrashing his head and attention towards the drummer of the moment.

Anders Parker and Will Johnson traded positions all evening, sharing rhythm guitar and drumming duties. Parker sang Old L.A. with gritty purpose, letting his eyes close as he dug into the song with his worn Texas fury. When the music took heavier turns and Yames would get chummy with the drummer, Parker would eye him up, dig into the guitar, and kick out a leg. He seemed to enjoy the change of stage scenery and let a rare, subtle grin slip out from time to time. Johnson had some brilliant moments linking up with Yames as he drummed with gusto. They had formed quite a vibrant and fluent musical communication during their days touring as Monsters of Folk and we benefited from it this evening. Johnson had his own vocal proficiency and presented one of the most thoughtful moments of the evening singing Chorine My Sheba Queen with his unique, quavering voice pulling from a far off well of recollection.

Instead of a set break each artist sang a selection from their own catalog solo. They continued again as a group touching upon several other New Multitudes songs and a sing-along cover of My Morning Jackets The Way That He Sings. They ended the night with and a long, dark, winding jam. The ending minutes were an interesting peek at something different. They let emotion drive the music instead of lyrics as Yames let his haunting vocal tones take over as Farrar and Parker zealously worked their guitars. Each musician exited the stage leaving only Johnson pounding out a simple drum beat. This music presented its own truth that flowed out in the strokes and cries of its creation.

These four musicians help to carry on the ideals of Woody Guthrie to another generation, showing that his words are as relevant and moving as ever. The group will play again this summer at the Newport Folk Festival and should surely be one of the festivals most memorable highlights.

3/13/12 – New Multitudes @ Union Transfer (Philadelphia, PA) View Photos

JamBase | Ribbon of Highway
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