Anyway, I want to use this space to talk about the two acts
that opened for Joshua James that I'd never heard of before. See, I only found out about Joshua James because
he opened for someone at RIBCO in Rock Island in 2009. I’d never heard of him, either,
but I left RIBCO obsessed. Sometimes you know after a song or two that a
person/band has it. Joshua James had it.
The two opening acts last night have it.
Armon Jay took the stage alone with his acoustic guitar, and
sang his own version of singer-songwriter, folksy music. And then he sang “To
Be Honest.” This song will instantly relate to anyone that’s ever gone through
difficult stretches of introspection and self-doubt. Naturally, this was the
song that I identified with most.
On his album, Everything’s
Different, Nothing’s Changed (produced, coincidentally, by Joshua James),
he pieces together a nice blend of folk and Americana, with a
should-be-on-the-radio song “Carry Through”
directly preceding the aforementioned “To Be Honest.” The album is on
iTunes here, and if you listen close enough, you’ll swear you hear Justin
Vernon (Bon Iver) singing harmonies at the end of the title track.
Neulore has a new album coming out on September 23, but we
got to hear a number of the songs off it. In fact, 3 songs off the new album
Animal Evolve are already available on iTunes. All three plus “Native Skin”
were on the pre-release EP they had at the show. You might recognize the song “Shadow
of a Man” from an episode of Grey’s Anatomy last year (at least that’s what
they told us, and appears true via Google).
This two-man act, with a couple guitars and a kick drum, produced
a full sound with beautiful, simple harmonies. Here's their "Shadow of a Man."
Hope you enjoy the music folks.
*lyric from The Beautiful Girls' "Music"
No comments:
Post a Comment