This past Saturday night, the fantastic Bobby Bare Jr. and the current iteration of his backing band, the Young Criminals’ Starvation League, came through town, playing one of his favorite venues in town — the always perfect Tractor Tavern. I’m glad I got to see Bobby come through this time, because he’s one of my most favorite acts to see live, and it had been nearly three years since I’d last seen him — the longest such stretch I’ve gone without since I first saw him ten years ago.
The band played a 90 minute set full of songs both old and new. For this go-round, The Young Criminals’ Starvation League had two members in addition to Bobby — Matt Rowland (with a massive beard) on keyboards and backing vocals, and Doni Schroader (dressed in a skeleton costume) on drums — and they played well. Both Rowland and Schroader helped Bobby make his new album Undefeated, his fifth album with the YCSL, and eighth full-length if you include his Bare. Jr. albums and the live album that came out in 2006.
While Bobby proceeded to get drunk on stage, encouraging the packed-but-not-quite-sold-out crowd to drink along with him, the band would play classic rock standards in the background. Per usual, Bobby did a lot of talking with the crowd, and the crowd was more than happy to converse with him, even though his speech grew slurred by the end of the evening. His drunken state didn’t slow down the songs, or Bobby’s ability to absolutely slay them on stage. Bobby’s style is sloppy even when he’s sober — the words don’t roll off with clarity, but with a slight, purposeful off-beat slowness to them. Bobby’s a kind of country/rock n’ roll Snoop Dogg. And it’s brilliant.
He of course played “I’ll Be Around” — arguably his biggest “hit” to date (excepting the grammy-award winning work Bobby did as a kid when singing with his dad, Bobby Bare, Sr.) One of the highlights of the set was “The Cover of Rolling Stone,” which you’ll probably remember from the song’s 1972 version, sung by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show. The song was written in the early 70s by Shel Silverstein (of Where the Sidewalk Ends fame), who has a long history with the Bare family. Silverstein, Bare Sr. and Bare Jr. teamed up on many a song when Bobby was younger. To hear Bobby perform this song here, today, it’s nothing short of pure magic.
The band ended up playing two encores — one of which was entirely faked. “We’re going to pretend we just walked off stage and then came back.” They then played one song, and left the stage for what I thought would be for good. But no, the house lights and music didn’t come up, so the crowd kept cheering, and the band came back out in short order. They then proceeded to get the entire crowd moving with “Rock n’ Roll Halloween” — an awesome, name-dropping sendup of people in famous costumes.
This wasn’t the best Bobby Bare Jr. show I’ve seen. But, at 11 performances logged, there’s bound to be some good ones and some “just fine” ones. This was in the “just fine” category for sure, and I’ll come back next time he comes through town, expecting nothing less than the same.
Nashville’s finest country rock n’ roller will be in town this Saturday night, at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard. Bobby Bare Jr., whose second home is Seattle thanks to all the love KEXP has given him over the years, will be playing an electrified show with his band, touring on the heels of his newly released eighth full-length album Undefeated.
If you like poetic, beautifully arranged music performed perfectly sloppy, then you should come out. Bobby’s voice, which cracks into a yodel when he’s feeling daring, is full of gravel and pain. And his songs can be quite dark, or funny, or sad. It’s a good combination, and he has never let me down in a live show. The Tractor’s a fantastic venue for Bobby and his band. Intimate, the stage only 3 feet off the ground, come prepared to drink and get happy with us.
Bobby’s in town with Cahalen Morrison and The Country Hammer. Tickets are still available (only $10!). See you there?
[Part One of Tony’s 2013 Doe Bay Fest coverage can be found here.]
Courtney Marie Andrews is only 22, but she possesses the voice of an old soul–bittersweet, spare, and evocative. Her somber, lovely songs provided the perfect soundtrack for the overcast but abidingly pretty Doe Bay grounds when she opened up the Otter Cove Stage Saturday morning. The Passenger String Quartet were once more on hand to lend shading to an already-strong batch of songs.
Curtains for You frontmen Michael and Matthew Gervais, officially playing as Mikey and Matty, followed Andrews at Otter Cove. Their winning pop songs received a mini-Pet Sounds treatment by an all-star band comprised of the PSQ, Maldives drummer Faustine Hudson, Seattle Rock Orchestra bass player/mastermind Scott Teske, and Doe Bay headliner Ken Stringfellow. This entire ensemble (including Teske and the Gervais Brothers, three of the tallest guys at the Fest) fit under a tiny awning shielding them from persistent sprinkles, a hat trick that stood as one of Doe Bay ’13’s logistic miracles. Oh, and they sounded great, too.
Dillon Sturtevant and Brian Noyeswatkins of Tomten. (photo: Tony Kay)
Doe Bay’s 2013 programming allowed fans to catch most acts without conflict, but counter-scheduling forced me to miss the very awesome tuba-punk stylings of Orcas Island trio Onodrim in favor of a Field Stage set by Seattle pop band Tomten. Thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed. The latter’s long-player Yesterday’s Childrenspent an awful lot of time on my earbuds last year, and Tomten’s easygoing, irresistible set went down great as the sun began reappearing. Lead singer/keyboardist/songwriter Brian Noyeswatkins’ playful, charmingly odd songs made subtle nods to musical forebears like Ray Davies and Jarvis Cocker without ever descending to simple imitation, and he and his band of unassuming pros knew how to play the hell out of ‘em.
Animal Eyes, a Portland-by-way of Alaska combo, followed Tomten with some impeccably-played, galloping pop that sounded like a more upbeat cross between Devotchka and Ravenna Woods. They’re a young band still working out their identity, but they’re damned impressive live, and the raw materials of brilliance–impressive instrumental chops, complex rhythms and harmonies, and imaginative songwriting–were present in spades. I can hardly wait to hear what they’ve got up their sleeves next.
Like Animal Eyes, The Torn ACLs are a band whose youth practically bursts from every note they play, but unlike their mainstage predecessors, The ACLs pound out a more straightforward variety of pop (think Ben Gibbard fronting Weezer or Vampire Weekend, and you’re about there). Unashamedly awkward and energetic as hell, they brought a sense of pogo-inducing energy to the laid-back Field Stage crowd.
Alice Sandahl and Shana Cleveland of La Luz. (photo: Tony Kay)
Seattle quartet La Luz use vintage sounds (in this case, the lo-fi sting and swing of garage rock and surf music) as their starting point, and then like any good rock band, they run with them. The Seattle quartet provided one of Doe Bay ’13’s most bad-assed sets, tearing through their songs with the concise coolness of a James Dean-era motorcycle gang and even inducing one audience member to do The Worm onstage. Guitarist Shana Cleveland fired out some mean surf licks, and the entire quartet contributed seductive, glacial harmonies.
Cumulus have been netting some serious local buzz lately, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign and their recent signing to Chris Walla’s Atlantic subsidiary label Trans- Records. But by the end of their propulsive Field Stage set, all I cared about was hearing them again, and soon. The band presented their winsome, insanely catchy pop with a twist of shoegazing shimmer, and sported just enough tweaks to more than justify all the hype. ‘Tis a foolish mortal who’s not utterly band-crushing on them after their performance.
Sometimes, all you need for a party is some good-time blues and soul, played to perfection. That’s precisely what Quinn Deveaux and the Blue Beat Review delivered, strutting through a smooth and charming set of covers and originals with enough snap to render ‘em much more than just a competent cover band.
The sounds made by Portland quintet Radiation City defy easy categorization (the Andrews Sisters fronting Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys while playing new wave covers, maybe?). Then again, a lot of luminously beautiful things in life can’t be easily pinned down. Graduating from last year’s Otter Cove to this year’s Doe Bay Field Stage, RC made the most of their increased audience, delivering unbridled energy and showmanship to match their songwriting brilliance (then again, that sense of fun shouldn’t surprise anyone who read their interview with Kelsey a few weeks back). Best new-ish band in the Northwest right now? Could be…
Built to Spill: Built to rock. (photo: Tony Kay)
Built to Spill provided an appropriately epic capper to Doe Bay’s official onstage roster. The Northwest indie rock godfathers hauled out a virtual greatest-hits collection culled from their sizable catalog, with band leader/singer/songwriter/guitarist extraordinaire Doug Martsch amply demonstrating why he’s worshiped by peers and acolytes the world over.
Simply put, he’s indie-rock’s Neil Young–a songwriter of clarity and depth who plays his instrument with a combination of technique and restless ferocity that remains a beauty to behold (fellow axe-wielders Brett Nelson and Jim Roth are no slouches, either). Fittingly, the band closed their set with a blistering cover of Young’s “Cowgirl in the Sand,” joined by at least a half-dozen guitarists from other acts who’d shared the Doe Bay Field Stage over the preceding 36 hours.
It wouldn’t be a Doe Bay Fest without unofficial festival house band The Maldives playing a full-fledged set of their own. This year, they tore up the Yoga Studio for a late-night session that once again steamed windows and put the rock in roots-rock.
Saturday night segued into Sunday morning with several secret shows popping up hither and yon at the resort. Sadly, I missed Doug Martsch fronting the Passenger String Quartet. But a late-night acoustic set from Star Anna, Quinn Deveaux, Bobby Bare Jr., Ken Stringfellow, and Seattle singer/songwriter Vikesh Kapoor more than made up for it. Star Anna’s astonishing, mournful cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” just might’ve stood as the most transcendental three minutes of Doe Bay 2013.
Doe Bay Fest doesn’t so much end as coast away on a mellow vibe of sunshine and relaxed, off-the-cuff music sessions throughout Sunday. This year’s festival was no exception, with several acts bringing their A-game to the modest environs of the Doe Bay Yoga studio. Before heading back to the mainland, I caught stirring sets by Kapoor (whose eerily Dylanesque delivery and strong songs sorta induced chills) and OK Sweetheart mastermind Erin Austin (whose soulful singing sent her set of addictive Brill-Building flavored pop songs into the stratosphere). If you had to return to the mundane necessity of the real world, you couldn’t have asked for a better send-off.
The sun-kissed, music-drunk afterglow of last weekend’s Doe Bay Fest still hasn’t quite dissipated for me.
I’m not the only one. For six years now the outdoor music festival, nestled on Orcas Island’s breathtaking Doe Bay Resort, has served as equal parts summer camp for grown-ups and ground zero for some of the most consistently rewarding live music experiences in the Northwest. And its laid-back, music-and-friendliness vibe renders it unlike any other outdoor festival out there.
This was my third year volunteering for Doe Bay Fest, and my fourth year of attending overall, so like a lot of my sun-baked fellow festgoers I’ve got plenty of fond memories to go with each iteration of the Fest: Late nights contemplating spectacular views of the San Juans; strolling through the lush trails that thread through the resort; partying until sunset with tassels of old and new friends; and most importantly, music. Lots and lots of music.
Enclosed, please find my complete (or at least as complete as my sun-kissed, music-drunk mind permits) rundown on Doe Bay’s musical highlights. Pardon the length, but there was such a smorgasbord of sonic riches I’d be remiss if I didn’t touch on everything I heard.
I spent much of Thursday en route to the Festival, which meant I missed that evening’s Conor Byrne-sponsored Open Mic Night (always a spectacular experience). Fortunately, Friday provided plenty of great moments.
Naomi Wachira at the Doe Bay Otter Cove Stage (Photo: Tony Kay)
Doe Bay’s programmers have always possessed an uncanny ability to find solo acoustic acts who transcend the confines of the solo-voice-with-guitar formula.
Recent Seattle Weekly cover girl Naomi Wachira brought that transcendence to the forefront, opening Doe Bay ’13’s Otter Cove Stage Friday afternoon with an absorbing set of redemptive, socially-aware folk songs infused with a smokily-tinged, soulful singing voice. The Passenger String Quartet stepped in to back her for the tail end of her set, lending gently-sweeping romance to her quietly commanding presence.
Thanks to a last-minute rescheduling shuffle, Star Anna wound up playing her solo acoustic set on the smaller Otter Cove Stage in lieu of the larger Field Stage. It turned out to be a real blessing. Star Anna is gifted — cursed, maybe — with one of those voices that seems to capture every drop of melancholy and emotional ache that a human can experience, all within the spontaneous upturn of a single sung note. Virtually hiding behind a black hat and dark sunglasses, she provided a darkly mesmerizing contrast to the scenic natural beauty of the surroundings.
Every year, there’s always at least one act at the Fest that comes roaring out of nowhere to blow the tops of festgoers’ heads off. This year, that act was You Me and Apollo, a scrappy Colorado quintet that had listeners on their feet and shaking tail feathers with an unlikely but incredibly winning blend of dirty guitar rock, Stax/Volt soul, and roots music. Lead singer Brent Cowles’ voice ricocheted between a garage-rocker’s bobcat wail and a Temptations-style falsetto on a dime, Tyler Kellogg’s drums and Dave Cole’s bass formed a potent rhythm section, and Jonathan Alonzo and Morgan Travis provided texture without overwhelming Cowles’ memorable songs. If there’d have been a roof to tear off of the outdoor stage, they’d a ripped the sucker clean away.
Seattle rock power-duo The Grizzled Mighty christened the main Field Stage Friday afternoon with a crushing collection of monster rock blues songs that fit the epic environs like a war hammer in Thor’s right mitt. I’ve heard Ryan Granger and Whitney Petty work their rough magic several times, and this was by far the strongest I’ve heard ‘em.
Smokey Brights stepped up to fill Star Anna’s mainstage slot afterwards, and they handled their last-minute ascension to the Field Stage like champs, selling their merge of Americana earthiness and R & B jump with dust-kicking energy. Ryan Devlin and Kim West delivered the most chemistry-fueled harmonies I’ve heard onstage this side of Fleetwood Mac.
Back in the day, Ken Stringfellow was one-half of the singing and songwriting nucleus of Seattle’s finest pure-pop band, The Posies, but his mainstage gig largely drew from his excellent solo full-length, Danzig in the Moonlight. Stringfellow’s new material delivered continental diversity in service to indelible melody, and true to the sophisticated but never stuffy nature of the material, he cut the Fest’s most dapper figure in a damned smart suit. Capably backed by most of The Maldives and Curtains for You’s Matthew and Michael Gervais, Stringfellow sang in an inimitable tenor gloriously untouched by time, and the guy’s so off-the-cuff funny he could teach a 101 Course in Onstage Banter (“We’re putting the end of the world in the middle of the set, where it belongs”).
Friday’s final two acts turned Doe Bay’s mainstage into a major dance party. Fly Moon Royalty delivered a pulsing set of electro-soul gems, with diva Adra Boo swinging confidently between icy cool and sensual heat at the front, and DJ/producing foil Action Jackson beaming in rich, baby-making sonics as the backdrop. Between Boo’s powerhouse presence, Jackson’s wryly inanimate persona, and three great dancers onstage, there was irresistible theatricality to bolster the grooves, too.
Shabazz Palaces (Photo: Tony Kay)
Shabazz Palaces, meantime, were a flat-out revelation as they closed out Friday’s mainstage. Anyone who’s heard the duo’s phenomenal debut Black Up understands the twisty brilliance of their sound sculptures, but live, they’ve sometimes seemed like mad geniuses very much in their own world, hiding behind their equipment while they crafted their musical pocket universe.
They offered an exhilarating fuck-you to that perception Friday night, with Ishmael/Pallaceer and Tendai oozing audience-engaging swagger to go with the immersive beats and melodies and consciousness-raising rhymes. Cue devotional extension of arms and chants of “We’re not worthy….”
Doe Bay’s Yoga Studio traditionally doubles as a packed after-hours music venue during the festival, and Friday night saw great sets from stripped down Seattle trio Lonesome Shack (whose wonderfully rough-hewn blues looks to be going in a slightly more sinister direction), and Bobby Bare Jr’s Young Criminals’ Starvation League. Bare’s ragged howl of a voice, his cluster of uniformly great country/rock/folk songs, and the YCSL’s ace instrumental backing were (and remain) an utterly irresistible force live.
As is customary, the partying (and the music) often trail well into the wee hours at the Festival, with spontaneous jam sessions sprouting all over the resort’s ample grounds like so much sonic foliage. Before the party (and sleep) carried me into the darkness, I caught Ken Stringfellow and the Gervais brothers bashing out Posies and Curtains for You songs on the porch of the Doe Bay General Store. And for the record, hearing Stringfellow deliver a stark and heartfelt cover of Big Star’s “Thirteen” under the stars is as close to dying and going to Pop Heaven as any listener can get.
