Providence Music: What the Hell Is in the Water down There?
It’s true, I often times am so engulfed in what is happening here in Boston (and more accurately Cambridge/Somerville) I can forget that we are a “regional” and occasionally national footprint here in the Red Line blogosphere (someone punch me for using that word next time you see me).
Over the past year and with much due credit to this month’s featured artist, Ian Fitzgerald, I have tapped much further into our musical brethren (and sisters) in that small city just about 45 minutes south of my home. So here are some of my favorite Providence exports for your exploration and pleasure:
1) Jeff Byrd and Dirty Finch – While the boys of the Finch make their homes spanning from Foxborough, RI to Kingston, RI, I still somewhat consider them a Providence based band. They play there quite often and as the largest city in their reach, it makes sense that it would be their home. With their roots deep in the Americana music of the 90s and early 2000s (namely Uncle Tupelo. Ryan Adams and Wilco) they are hard set on the harmonies, melodic guitar riffing, and great and catchy songs. The majority of gigs I catch these fellas play are long ones and they often times work in some Ryan Adams or Petty into their sets…though the majority is originals that folks quickly latch onto and love. All the fellas in the band are great players and pretty rad dudes if I do say so myself. Plus that Byrd character is a stud.
2) Haunt the House– Will Houlihan’s song “Vampyre” and the arrangement is quite possibly THE most stirring and emotion evoking song that I have ever heard in my life of hearing songs. All of his other songs, pretty much the same story there…incredibly poignant and beautiful and sincere music pours from this gentleman’s soul. His full band just blankets that feeling with you contained within the cloth and warms you deep inside. Brilliant, truly brilliant. I love this guy. Perhaps a bit further south than what constitutes “Providence” but for the sake of including him in this list I am going to generalize Westerly to be within Providence.
3) Joe Fletcher – Ok, ok, ok, Fletcher may be transplanted to Nashville but the dude’s heart still is and always will be in Rhode Island. And Rhodey loves Joe as much as Joe loves it. This guy is the epicenter of great folk/roots music coming out of this town with a keen focus on writing a damn good song and putting it to music you can stomp around and drink whiskey to. Joe is one of those guys who deserves all of the successes he has attained to date, and far more as far as I am concerned. Always looking to hoist his friends up when he can, he is a songwriter’s songwriter and a musician’s musician. A hell of a guy, who can tell a hell of a story, and keeps you hanging on every single word.
4) Smith & Weeden– These boys are pretty new to me and after watching Jesse running his shit at Newport this year (doing sound in the Late July tent) I needed to take Michael Panico’s advice and dig deep into what these fellas were laying out. I was not disappointed. They just have that groove that you latch onto and it moves you in a way you can’t quite describe. Its rock n’ roll, but not the generic stuff that so many bands are churning out as recycled versions of Chuck Berry from days past. These boys inject some of their own flavor into this brand of music…and its that secret ingredient that you aren’t sure what it is but you know you need more of it.
5) Allysen Callery – She plays finger style guitar as good as if not better than anyone I have ever seen. Oh wait, and she writes great story songs? Oh wait, and she has a beautiful voice and killer arrangements? Yeah. I was lucky enough to come across Allysen through Red Line actually when she sent me her record a while back. We had run in the same circles through AS220 and I had known her name, then she sent this record and I was made a believer. Her songs are almost otherworldly in their beauty and bring you some place else.
6) Tracie Potochnik– Ian introduced me to Tracie when he asked me if I wanted to share a gig with himself and her…I did, and was blown away by her ability to make a room shut the hell up and just listen. Another gal with a voice that can stop time with a hush, or power through the rowdiest of crowds when necessary. Yup, its good folks…its real good.
7) The Low Anthem, Bryan Minto, and the Columbus Theatre– Ok, this may be a package deal, but the Columbus and the beautiful people behind it have become a force of nature all their own. Producing some of the best records to come out of the Northeast in the past year (see Dan Blakeslee, Smith&Weeden, and The Low Anthem’s highly anticipated next release…). The Low Anthem in its form circa 2008 released one of the records that was incredibly influential on how I view music today. I caught them at the Lizard Lounge with Annie Lynch and was immediately addicted to what they were doing. Today, they are taking a piece of history in the form of a theatre and rewriting new pages for the books with the music they love as the subject matter…while continuing to make music of their own that shakes up what sounds can be made by what objects. A fine gent named Bryan Minto is also interwoven in this tapestry. As a killer harmonica player in his own right and with the blues explosion The Cannibal Ramblers, he is tapped into the music end of things pretty tight. Also, he is just a damn good dude who loves this community as much as anybody (and probably much more).
So check all of these people out, listen to their music, buy their records, and count your blessings that we have another city of incredible talent just under an hour away from us.
