Sixth time seeing a band? That's a record for me, one that will likely increase the gap over whoever is #2. Seeing them now is less about watching their growth since Asheville's Belle Chere festival in 2011. They're older, writing about more complicated things. Maybe they've lost their innocence, but in no way have they lost their enthusiasm. They've persevered through life and the grand politic of building a career, including inadequate record deals. But they're here and still going strong.
Delta Rae
So I can't say enough about how special their recordings are. The band can write to any subject, and they build beautiful music around it. But, they're what a fan carries with them when they can't see Delta Rae live.
Live, that's the thing. Personalities explode, the pieces join together in a spiritual way that can't be decoded by bits and bytes, the stage is for one and the stage is for all. It's a six member band that says "family" heedless of DNA, and they "carry their fire" through the precious moments and the theatrical ones.
Britney Holljes
Elizabeth Hopkins
Yeah, I'll stop wringing the prose. This is a band that everyone should see live, and get there early enough or pay a ticket price to get close to the stage.
Ian Holljes
Eric Holljes
Touring guitarist Ellen Angelico, who added brought both swagger and a punch to some of the band's songs.
These two have each others' backs
I can't find a setlist anywhere, but below are the songs I (think I) remember.
I love recorded music in any form post-cassettes, but live music is something else. There's the community gathered - the assembly of people who share a liking for the same type of music, the energy, the vibration, the common experience, the way artists choose to represent themselves, the theater of it - all set this apart. And, if that's left wanting, there's still the music itself... and the volume.
I write these reviews because carrying the intention to write about them, or anything, carries with it a different lens to the experience - to archive what is notable as memories fade. And I very much enjoy the literal lens when cameras are permitted.
Maybe you like the artists covered here or just have an interest in the local scene. Welcome!
See also amusedtolife.com, where I catalog those things that I pursue that are thought provoking, fun, or otherwise enjoyable enough to bother writing about them, which is an amusement as well.
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