Pages tagged “the swell season”

Glen Hansard might be the most gracious man in the business. When he and the angel-voiced Czech singer Marketa Irglova made the film Once—shot in Dublin over a mere 17 days for $160,000—the last thing on his mind was that it would lead to worldwide acclaim, a sold-out cross-country tour or even an Academy Award.

Gillian Welch is my second favorite live performer. She and David Rawlings are so consistent, it's like all they need's a few instruments and each other. And there's something about seeing them at a festival that makes me think they should only ever perform outdoors--a natural setting somehow authenticates the songs. On the AMD stage Sunday, played a lovely mixture of old favorites like "Look At Miss Ohio," live favorites like "Throw Me A Rope," and a couple of soon-to-be-favorites--one about a knuckleball catcher and one about a sweet tooth. They even invited Alison Krauss (who played the same stage night before with Robert Plant) onstage for an a capella rendition of "Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby." I can't wait for her new record.

For me, the last day of a festival can go either way: I've either hit my stride and am entertaining delusions of being able to keep up the pace for another few days, or I'm dragging my feet through the dust, struggling to make it from tent to tent and ruing the fools who thought hosting an outdoor music event in [insert Southern state here] in [insert summer month here] was a good idea.

If there's one thing I have in common with the fourteen-year-old indie girls of America, aside from the inability to properly apply eyeliner, it's that I can credit Zooey Deschanel's involvement with She & Him with introducing me to the duo's inarguably more musically established half, M. Ward. His dreamy, bottom-of-a-deep-dark-well crooning on "You Really Got A Hold On Me" and "I Should Have Known Better" on Volume One gave me the long-overdue push to explore his solo catalog. It's proved to be an absolute revelation but also a never-ending source of guilt for not listening sooner. I've been actively atoning all summer and decided to further pursue absolution by seeing him live this afternoon on the WaMu (R.I.P WaMu) stage. 

Hello again from Manchester’s Country Inn & Suites, where a bunch of us have temporarily retired from Bonnaroo to escape the drizzle—and Metallica.