Click here to see the photos.

The Shackeltons brought their set of intense indie rock mixed with a little bit of theatrics back to the Abbey Bar at the Appalachian Brewing Company on 04-15-2008 thanks to Round Table Presents. 

Keeping with the Shackeltons’ tradition of flowers and trees being on stage, the stage was covered with the in-season cherry blossom branches.  You instantly notice the stage decor when they are set up but attention is quickly diverted to the performance once they start to play.

The music is always intense and pulsing and there is never a dull moment when the Shackeltons are on stage.  Whether it is the dramatic moves or the intensity of the performance, the Shackeltons live shows draw listeners back for more time and time again.  They are still road testing some new songs and they hope to record a new EP sometime this summer.  Their music blends the sounds Pixies with Fugazi and The Strokes into a rocking soundscape with themes of  hope, love, and hurt.

Shackeltons are from rural Chambersburg, PA and consist of:
Mark Redding – Vocals
Eric Fisak – Guitar
Justin Mcdaniel – Bass
Sean Hallock – Drums
Dan Schuchman – Guitar

Although they are a small town band they have received very positive mentions from Spin and Rolling Stone magazines as well as having been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered.  Their airwaves picked up when WXPN in Philadelphia started playing their self-titled album on YRock.  If you have not done so yet, go out and buy this CD or at minimum visit their myspace page and get to one of their shows…. They are intense and are consistent.

Hopefully they return to the area soon.  The Shackeltons are only one step away from breaking out and being huge….. Hopefully the next album will be the conduit that will allow them to make the next step, if the new music they are playing live now is an indication of what is to come their future is bright.

Click here to see the photos.

Ray Lamontagne played the Tower Theater in Upper Darby (Philadelphia, PA) on 04-04-2009.  This was the second time that I had the opportunity to photograph the prolific singer songwriter, Ray Lamontagne. 

Ray Lamontagne broke out on the music scene with his debut, Trouble, and took the whole singer/songwriter community by surprise.   A few songs off this debut album widespread in popularity, one was even performed on the mega-pop show American Idol (“Trouble” was performed in 2006 and 2007 on American Idol).  The amount of publicity Ray gained from this first album was a blessing and a curse in a way.

Ray Lamontagne at a time was a carpenter living with his wife and kids in an RV on his property while he was building a log cabin.  When the cabin was finally finished and they decided to sell the RV to buy Ray a Martin guitar to write music.  Needless to say the career that followed immensely improved the well being for him and his family.  But at the same time, Ray Lamontagne suffers from a bit of stage fright and other anxieties partially due to his rough childhood.  As result, Ray does not do a lot of interviews and likes to keep the stage and audience darkly lit to keep them isolated a bit.

Ray’s live performances are astonishing.  He has one of the best male vocals I have ever heard, a raspy and soulful mix that lends well to his creative songwriting.  His songwriting has always been in comparison to the great Van Morrison and his touring band performs them well.

The most rocking song of the night was certainly “Meg White” off Gossip In The Grain.  The drums for this song are thunderous much like Meg White’s own drumming technique with The White Stripes.  While the song was not as an obvious high point for me on the album, it certainly grabbed my attention live.  The most captivating song of the night was easily “Jolene” which was performed solo by Ray and the audience was completely silent throughout the entire song.

Ray pieces together words and music with some of the best writers in the world.  I can not wait for teh next album and tour that Ray produces, if you have not heard his music yet go out and buy “Trouble” and start there.

The setlist for the night was as follows:

You Are Best Thing
Hold You In My Arms
Let It Be Me
I Still Care For You
Empty
Henry Nearly Killed Me (It’s A Shame)
Allie, You Ought to Be A Married Woman By Now
You Can Bring Me Flowers
Roses
Burn   **(Ray solo, no band)
Jolene   **(Ray solo, no band)
Achin’ All The Time
Meg White
Hey Me, Hey Mama
Shelter
Trouble
Three More Days
Gossip in the Grain
All The Wild Horses

Jennifer Condos: bass
Eric Heywood: guitar
Ethan Johns: drums

Click here to see the photos.

The Low Anthem opened for Ray Lamontagne at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby (Philadelphia), PA on 04-04-2009.  The entire evening was well planned and well executed.  The photos for Ray Lamontagne’s set will be posted tomorrow so make sure to come back here tomorrow night. 

This was my first time seeing The Low Anthem, I had heard a few of their songs on Philadelphia’s WXPN radio station.  Their material suited the quiet and intimate setting that Ray Lamontagne’s usually set so it was a good choice as an opener.

Their songs are pretty low-key with exception of a few rockers.  Their really was nothing in between, it was full out rock similar to Tom Wait’s rockers or a subdued mellow sound akin to Alexi Murdoch or a Nick Drake type songs.  The slower songs are stunning and textured. 

The band plays a multitude of instruments including  a WWI portable pump organ, 2 clarinets, upright bass, alto (E flat) Horn, banjo, harmonicas, guitars of course, as well as some sort of instrument that looked like a stand that held small cymbals that were played with a bow.  Their songs spoke of ghosts, railroad stories, scientists, history, as well as traditional Americana tales.

During their set they played all the songs that are currently available to stream on their myspace site, I encourage you to take a listen.  The songs include: Charlie Darwin, To Ohio, The Horizon Is A Beltway, Home I’ll Never Be, and Yellowed By The Sun.

Click here to see the photos.

G. Love And The Special Sauce played the Chameleon Club in Lancaster, PA on 03-30-2009.  To a packed and hot venue awaiting them.

Fans showed up in hordes for this show.  And being that G Love is from nearby Philly, I suspect a lot of people made the one hour drive to get to Lancaster that night and make it a pseudo-hometown show.  The venue was packed, if it was not a sold out show I’d be surprised to hear it.  I showed up a little late in the middle of the opening band, The Movement, and the whole downstairs was packed, the second floor balconies were packed, and I was finally able to get the only vantage point left in the building up on the third floor in the far corner…..  It was probably the most crowded show I have ever seen at the Chameleon Club.  As result, the photos are only from one angle and unfortunately do not cover the whole band.

This show was only two months after G. Love announced that bassist Jimi “Jazz” Prescott would no longer be a member of the band.  But the band had obviously put in some practice time because the songs were performed without missing a beat.  From one song right into the next, G Love and the Special Sauce wasted no time and spared no energy.

G Love alternated between his slide guitar playing, his harmonica, or entertaining the audience by dragging the microphone out the the edge of the stage and singing over top them.  He had a few guests on stage though I am not familiar with whom they were….  If anyone has a setlist let me know what the songlist was.  It was a fun night, as it always is with G Love.

Click here to see the photos.

Josh Ritter played the State Theatre in State College, PA on 03/28/2009 as part of the “Teeny Tiny US Tour”.  This was the second of two consecutive nights of seeing and photographing Josh Ritter and full band. 

The venues were completely different between the two nights.  The first night was in a college basketball gymnasium and this show took place in a nice theatre.  Both venues provided excellent sound and visuals. 

Josh’s performances are always full of energy and give off a great positive vibe.  Josh’s seemingly endless smile and funny stories immediately rub off on the audience.

One highlight of the night for me was the politically charged “Girl In The War”  which he played solo, acoustic and unamplified.    The entire audience was silent and all attention was on Josh’s naked performance.  It is not uncommon for him to play this song in this arrangement but it is always a highlight when he does.   I heard an older gentleman behind me give a consoling sigh when Josh sung the line “I got a girl in the war man I wonder what it is we done ” almost as if they were having a conversation and the man was sighing in disbelief in response to Josh’s situation.  Just like many of Dylan’s wartime songs from the 60′s, this song strikes the heart of many especially the times we live in today.

Before “You Don’t Make It Easy Babe” Josh noted the entire band was wearing suits as part of his secretive plan to make money on the side while touring.  He noted that now that they tour with a bus instead of a small van they have some extra storage space and that he was thinking about using that space by starting a traveling funeral parlor.  The funeral parlor would make the band some extra money traveling from town to town along the tour. Josh figured that in order to operate a funeral parlor you need to own a suit so he made the whole band buy suits, unbeknown to them his intentions. 

This tour features some new songs that Josh Ritter and band are performing and could possibly be on the next album.  My favorite of these new songs is “The Curse”, it is a riveting and haunting tale.  This song featured Josh on vocals only which was the only song of the night he did not play guitar on.  I wish I heard the song a few more times because at this point I can’t even begin to determine what this song is really about.  In a recent Esquire.com interview it was noted that “Lately he has been visiting museums because he’s writing a song about a mummy.”  I can only presume this is the song in reference.  Reading the lyrics I believe this song goes a little deeper than just a Pharaoh/Egyptian story.  I will just give you that as a teaser and then tell you to go seek it out.

His backing band is incredible and provide a lot of the energy to the shows.  Zack Hickman plays the bass guitar keeps the lower frequencies beating (though he is probably better known for his handlebar mustache  ), Sam Kassirer plays great melodies on keys, Austin Nevins plays the lead guitar and matches Sam’s melodies, and Liam Hurley (drums) keeps the whole band moving in time.  Who wouldn’t be energetic backing up Josh Ritter each night though… The guy has a radiant personality in person.

Josh Ritter is easily one of the most upbeat and inspiring musicians I have ever met.  He was the first musician to asks me more questions than he answers about himself.  He is genuinely interested in every person he meets and is very humble about himself.  I stood nearby for about an hour while he talked to various fans and during that time he never seemed to be in a hurry, took as much time as everyone wanted, he asked many follow up questions.  In fact, the poor guy never even got to finish his beer because he was so busy talking to people.

The setlist for the night was:

Rumors
Right moves
Southern Pacific
Monster Ballad
Lillian, Egypt
Empty Hearts
You Don’t Make It Easy Babe
Another New World
Good Man
Folk Bloodbath
Orbital
Kathleen
Mind’s Eye
Girl In the War (Solo acoustic w/ no microphones or amplification)
Bad Actress
Harrisburg
To the Dogs or Whoever
—–
The  Curse
Snow Is Gone

Click here to see the photos.

Josh Ritter played Messiah College in Grantham, PA on 03/27/2009 to a packed gymnasium as part of the “Teeny Tiny US Tour”.  This was the first of two consecutive nights of seeing and photographing Josh Ritter and full band.  Just to give you an idea of what is ahead, this show was also the beginning of a week packed with great performances which included Josh Ritter (twice), G. Love and the Special Sauce, and then finally Ray Lamontagne all in one week.  So keep your eyes open for more posts , use the RSS feeder to make that easier if you like.

Josh Ritter is one of those legends in the making.  All of his works have been praised by even the industries snobbiest and selective reviewers.  Yes, even pitchfork media gave “Hello Starling” an 8.3.  Most reviews note his songwriting skills to be up there with the greats such as Dylan and yes, he really is that good.  But, not only can he pen a great song but his performances are always full of energy and give off a great positive vibe.  Josh’s seemingly endless smile and funny stories immediately rub off on the audience. 

Just before he played possibly his biggest hit to date, “Kathleen”, Josh explained that the next song was about a girl he had grown up with and was really close to all through school.  He said that she was 10 feet tall and 40 years older than he was, yet still in the same grade as he was.  He said that her arms were bigger than his legs and she wanted to be a WWF wrestler and still wonders where she is today then Started the song.  Josh also likes to poke fun of Dick Cheney at each performance.  Before “You Don’t Make It Easy Babe”, Josh dedicated the song to a person that was in the group from the very beginning and was a huge part of the band and unfortunately he had to leave the band for a job.  He explained that he had a tremendous high soprano voice and that his name is Dick Cheney.

This tour features some new songs that Josh Ritter and band are performing for the first time and could possibly be on the next album.  My favorite of these new songs is “The Curse”, it is a riveting and haunting tale.  This song featured Josh on vocals only which was the only song of the night he did not play guitar on.  I wish I heard the song a few more times because at this point I can’t even begin to determine what this song is really about.  In a recent Esquire.com interview it was noted that “Lately he has been visiting museums because he’s writing a song about a mummy.”  I can only presume this is the song in reference.  Reading the lyrics I believe this song goes a little deeper than just a Pharaoh/Egyptian story.  I will just give you that as a teaser and then tell you to go seek it out.

His backing band is incredible and provide a lot of the energy to the shows.  Zack Hickman plays the bass guitar keeps the lower frequencies beating (though he is probably better known for his handlebar mustache ), Sam Kassirer plays great melodies on keys, Austin Nevins plays the lead guitar and matches Sam’s melodies, and Liam Hurley (drums) keeps the whole band moving in time.  Who wouldn’t be energetic backing up Josh Ritter each night though… The guy has a radiant personality in person.

Josh Ritter is easily one of the most upbeat and inspiring musicians I have ever met.  He was the first musician to asks me more questions than he answers about himself.  He is genuinely interested in every person he meets and is very humble about himself.  I stood nearby for about an hour while he talked to various fans and during that time he never seemed to be in a hurry, took as much time as everyone wanted, he asked many follow up questions.  In fact, the poor guy never even got to finish his beer because he was so busy talking to people. 

The setlist for the night was something like this: (Note: The official paper setlist for the night varies from what was actually played, this should be what was actaully played)
Rumors
Right moves
Southern Pacific
Lillian, Egypt
Empty Hearts
You Don’t Make It Easy Babe
The  Curse
Good Man
Folk Bloodbath
Orbital
Kathleen
Mind’s Eye
Another New World
Bad Actress
Harrisburg
To the Dogs or Whoever
—–
The River (Josh Solo, acoustic) **
Snow Is Gone

**Bruce Springsteen Cover