Categories
Artists Worth Checking Out Reviews

Travelers’ Rest Festival – day 2 review (part 2)

We continue with the second part of our review of the second day of Travelers’ Rest Festival, brought to us by the good folks at Knitting Factory Entertainment and our friends at Big Sky Brewing Company.

Photo courtesy of Amanda Leigh Smith Photography

The next band to play the Main Stage was a mellow indie-pop/rock band from Chicago named Whitney.  They had been touring with The Decemberists since late May, performing at Red Rocks in Colorado, the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, House of Blues in Las Vegas and Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay in San Diego, and the Festival was the last stop on their tour.  The band released their only album in 2016, which has found success on Spotify, reaching the staggering total of more than 25 million streams.  Featuring the falsetto of Julien Ehrlich and the songwriting core of Ehrlich and Max Kakacek, the band played songs from their album, The Light Upon the Lake.  The official line-up for the band now includes Malcolm Brown, Tracy Chouteau, Charles Glanders, Josiah Marshall and Will Miller, in addition to the founding duo of Ehrlich and Kakacek.

The final performer on the Ponderosa Stage was Brooklyn-based punk rock band Parquet Courts.  While this was my least favorite performance of the Festival, the audience was totally into them, jumping and dancing around and fully engaged in the show.  As with most punk rock music, the songs were short, so the band was able to pack a lot of music into their 45 minute set.  Their energy level was atomic, and that energy passed to the crowd, which gave it back to the band in spades.  It was such a huge difference from the music of Ural Thomas, but the appreciative fans didn’t seem to care, and couldn’t seem to get enough of the only true rock band on the Festival roster.

photo courtesy of Zoran Orlic

With the Ponderosa Stage put to bed, the action returned to the Main Stage for the remainder of the Festival.  First up was Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, who wowed the crowd with his well-crafted songs, performing acoustically.  To tell you the truth, by this time in the Festival, I had been working for more than 24 hours, and unable to devote my attention to his set.  I was also trying to recover from the ear-blowing set performed by Parquet Courts, so I pretty much zoned out for Tweedy’s entire performance.

There was about a 45 minute break after Tweedy concluded his set so that the stage could once again be set for The Decemberists, who played their album, The Crane Wife, from start to finish, as they originally intended it to sound.  This portion of their show lasted for about 80 minutes.  After they brought their album to life, they returned for a series of encores and didn’t finish playing until almost 11:45 p.m.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend, full of new friends, new music, and a wonderful experience.  We can hardly wait until next year to do it all again.  Our heartfelt thanks to the production crew from Knitting Factory Presents, who put together one of the finest festivals I have ever attended, The Decemberists for curating such a diverse line-up of artists, the crew of Riversongs Gourmet Catering for keeping us fed, and all the new friends I made among the performing artists and their crews.

 

Categories
Artists Worth Checking Out Monday Mashup Women in Entertainment

Monday mashup 2018: vol. 28

What a wonderful weekend.  Spent it working the backstage gate at The Decemberists’ Travelers Rest Festival in Missoula.  Over the course of the weekend, I heard a lot of amazing music and made some great new connections, including three members of The Decemberists (Chris Funk, Nate Query and Jenny Conlee) and Colin Meloy’s mom), I’m With Her and their lovely families, indie bands Lenore, Matt the Electrician, Tune-Yards, Cardioid, Ural Thomas & the Pain and Whitney, NPR darling Gaelynn Lea, and fellow Virginian Lucy Dacus.  A full review will be coming soon, so stand by for another busy week of articles.  In the meantime, here are five new singles and five new music videos to get your week off to a good start.

NEW SINGLES

Our first single this week comes from the creative minds of two amazing songwriters, Vic Fuentes of Pierce the Veil and Curtis Peoples, as recorded by Peoples.  Here’s one of our new favorite songs, “Castaways.”

Next up is the latest from Sheridan Reed.  We love the groove of “We Should Both be Here,” and are sure you will too.  Enjoy this tune.

https://soundcloud.com/sheridanreed/we-should-both-be-here

Our third single this week is from Americana/roots band HONEY RIVER, and we think this one is a potential mega-hit.  Check out “Peace, Love.”

Our next single is from Dutch band Money & The Man.  It has a harder alternative rock edge and should help shake up your Monday.  Here’s “This Season.”

Our final single today will get you body on the dance floor.  Let’s give it up for “When I Ask You Why,” the latest from dance pop artist and producer Fish Fox.

NEW MUSIC VIDEOS

Our first video this week comes from the granddaughter of Willie Nelson.  She is also a member of the amazing country band mmhmm, which we recently reviewed.  Here is “Mama Cry” from her other band, the Raelyn Nelson Band.

Next up is the latest from Korean-American artist Tiffany Young, who has already accumulated more than 1 million hits on a video that was just released five days ago.  Check out “Over my Skin.”

Our third video is a blast from the past.  The Guess Who were huge back in the early 70s, and they’re back sounding like they never left.  Check out their latest video “Playing on the Radio.”

Next up is “Night After Night” from Rare Americans.  It is a punky indie rock tune which will help propel you into the new week.

We close out the week with the amazing voice of GABI.  This tender ballad will soothe all your troubles away.  Enjoy “Whole With You.”