Pro tip, when I have to say something I’m not comfortable with pronouncing, I will write it out phonetically. Would you think of pronouncing Gothard as GAW-third? I wrote them to learn the right way. Same deal with Kelly Mack. The correct way of spelling the names are on the playlist for each set. As asterisk next to a name means it’s my first time playing the artist.
Gord’s Gold 1: Welcome My Gentle Listeners to the first show of Autumn, not that we’ll be hearing Autumnal songs. We’ll start off with Maryland, Maryland from Dar Williams’ new album, Hummingbird Highway. I usually say something about the artists but I’m pretty sure you know Dar, she’s what my friend likes to call Folk Famous. Mention her to a person in the street and they’ll ask, “Who?” But Folk Fans know her. If you don’t, then you owe me one for the introduction
Dar Williams – Maryland, Maryland
We’re About 9 – Maryland 1987
South for Winter – Something in the Stars
Gord’s Gold 2: We followed Dar’s Maryland, Maryland with Maryland 1987 but the unmistakable We’re About 9, who were from Maryland. The archetype artist I love have clever lyrics or intricate harmonies, We’re About 9 had both. The fact that I have to use the past tense makes me very sad. We finished with the not just intercontinental but interhemispheric trio South for Winter, they call both Nashville and Christ Church New Zealand home. You’ll find Something in the Stars on their just released EP of string arrangements of previously released songs, String Sessions.
I have seen all the artists in that first set enough times that they know me. That’s not true of the next set starting with Feel Good by Maygen & The Birdwatcher. They are a Minnesota band led by Maygen Lacey, and Noah Neumann, which describe themselves as an Americana folk band that adventurously blurs the sounds of country, bluegrass, folk, and blues.
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S.G. Goodman – I Can See the Devil
Robert Johnson – Me and the Devil Blues
Taj Mahal, Keb’ Mo’ – Blues’ll Give You Back Your Soul
West Texas Exiles* fr. Kelly Willis – Division
Gord’s Gold 3: After Feel Good we heard Blues’ll Give You Back Your Soul, by legendary bluesmen Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’. We continued the blues with Blues’ll Give You Back Your Soul, by legendary bluesmen Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’. Unlike Robert Johnson I have been lucky enough to see them live. We finished with by the West Texas Exiles featuring Kelly Willis. They are led by a trio of singer/songwriters, Marco Gutierrez, Daniel Davis, Colin Gilmore, originally from West Texas but met in their home in exile, Austin. Don’t be surprised If you hear the influence of the Flatlanders, as Colin Gilmore is Jimmy Dale Gilmore’s son.
Now let’s move on to Larkin Poe, the band centers around the duo, Rebecca and Megan Lowel. They were classically trained musicians, who as teens formed two-thirds of the bluegrass, Lovell Sisters, before becoming the genrebending Larkin Poe. When I saw them in the spring they returned to their roots with an acoustic set mid-show. That’s reflected in the Acoustic version of Mockingbird that was just released as a single.
Larkin Poe – Mockingbird (Acoustic Companion Version
Anaïs Mitchell – Mockingbird
Loose Cattle* – Unholy Rollers
Elly McK* & The Unbelievables – Don’t Stay Away
Gord’s Gold 4: We followed Larkin Poe’s Mockingbird with a song by the same title by the great Anaïs Mitchell.That can be found on her first album, Hymn for the Exiled, released in 2004, before Hadestown was even conceived. She took part in an Arabic Studies program at Middlebury College where she met my friend Lena. I saw her because she was Lena’s friend but soon discovered that young Goldie Hawn look-alike was a genius. Next, we heard that great takedown of religious hypocrisy, Unholy Rollers by the New Orleans band Loose Cattle. The band was formed by Michael Cerveris and Kimberly Kaye. I only know Michael Cerveris as a New York Stage actor, who starred in multiple Sondheim musicals. and I saw the original Off-Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I got to meet him backstage at benefit show where he sang a song from Hedwig. I asked, if it was the only time he performed the song, not in drag. I had no idea he was in Loose Cattle until just now. This is “I knew them when set” as I met the Lovell Sisters, Anaïs Mitchell, and Michael Cerveris between 2001 and 2006. I did not plan that when I made this set. It just worked out that way. We finished the set with Don’t Stay Away by Elly Mack, spelled (m-c-k) & the Unbelievables. Elly’s full name is Elly McKinnon. They are based in Melbourne Australian. Between them and the New Zealand based South for Winter Oceania is well-represented.
Let’s travel from southeast Australia to the Northwest US to hear Washington State’s The GAW-third sisters. There the second sister act we are hearing from. Ironically the song Story Teller is an instrumental.
The Gothard Sisters – Story Teller
Puppets of Castro – More Than Anything
Old Sap* – The Tracks End
The Mammals – Rolling Stone Refugee
Gord’s Gold 5: After the GAW-third sisters from the other side of the continent from me in New York City, we just had to cross the Hudson to Teaneck New Jersey to hear Puppets of Castro’s More than Anything. Old Sap is mysterious. The only thing I can figure out from his website, it’s one person, not a band, is that he’s from Chicago and has traveled around the US. Ironically the song we heard, Tracks End is an advance single for a forthcoming album. We finished with a band I know well, the Mammals, centered around Mike and Ruthy Unger from Woodstock in the Catskill mountains. We heard Rolling Stone Refugee.
Thanks for keeping me company the last hour. Remember to go out to hear live music and support the artists you love. The way folk music works you can often talk to the artists and then in 20 years you can say, “I knew them when.”
Wise Madness 