“I didn’t write songs for four years,” Laura Veirs told the audience during her recent performance at Jammin’ Java. She added, “I thought I might be done.” During that period, she was “busy with other things.” But, eventually, the songs started coming to her again. In August, she released Temple Songs, which she self-produced and play all the parts on, except for sax, which was played by her “new husband, who is hopefully the last husband.”
Throughout her set on Oct. 8, Veirs was accompanied by her longtime associate, Karl Blau, who also opened the show, on electric guitar. They’ve been playing together for nearly 30 years, since they met in a record store in Anacortes, Washington. It was the first show of their US tour through the Northeast and Midwest, after playing in Britain and Ireland. After their US dates, they’ll be playing in Europe. She noted how her song “Shadow Blues” was inspired by one by Karl called “Shadow.” Her outfit for the evening was delightful: a red set with animal prints. It suited her personality; even at her most defiant, she has an undeniable sweetness and a joyful, quirk charm.
But defiant she was: “No Masters,” one of the songs on the new album, is about “fighting the man, which is something we should all do.” Another new song, “Arc Still Bends,” was inspired by a famous quote by Martin Luther King: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Laura admitted recent events have made her skeptical about this, but she tries to believe. I recently found myself saying, “I knew the arc of the universe was long, but I underestimated how long.” On a more abstract, philosophical level, I’m skeptical of any statement about history having a general shape, be it King’s or Marx’s or Ronald Dworkin’s proposal that the law works itself pure. As much as we like to see trends and meanings in the world, they can be projections rather descriptions.
Stream “No Masters” and other songs by Laura Veirs on YouTube:
Laura wrote the song on a retreat at cabin owned by a fan in Alaska, which she described as her most successful writing retreat, as it’s been her only writing retreat. She also wrote “Flying Into The Darkness,” which she ended her set, during that week, about going into the notoriously dark Alaska winter, a subject that’s proved fertile for a number of horror movies and TV shows (True Detective, 30 Days of Night).
Veirs opened her set with another Temple Song, “Feelin Returns.” “Sword Song,” an older tune, is about forgiveness, which she admitted can be challenging. Before playing “Lonely Angel Dust,” she gave a shout-out to her faithful merch and social media manager, Twix. I’m proud of myself for resisting the urge to say I prefer Kit-Kats.
Between songs, Laura mentioned their previous appearances at the venue, including one with Thao Nguyen when she was just getting started. The audience helped her with supplying some of the dates.
“Best Kept Secret,” which was part of her collaboration with Neko Case and k.d. lang (Case/Lang/Veirs) was inspired by a friend who lives in Los Angeles. She took a number of requests in the latter part of her set: “Galaxy,” “Spelunking,” and “Gravity’s Dead.” “Spelunking” struck a particular chord with me; it’s about showing your full self to someone and hoping they’ll love you. I deliberately engaged in a strategy of anti-masking when it came to the world of dating: I cultivated an appearance somewhere between Jack Black and Jerry Garcia and front-loaded the weirdness in my profiles so I wouldn’t end up on disastrous dates like the one where she said my shaking leg made her seasick. It worked: my partner moved in in May.
The set also included a sing-along to with Laura and Karl duetting on the Dolly Parton-Kenny Rogers classic “Islands in the Stream” and “If You Could Call Someone.” For her encore, she played “Sunlight and Doom,” which was inspired by the ancient Greek poet Sappho.
I was excited to get to see Karl Blau. I first learned of him when I found Introducing Karl Blau, a 2016 collection of classic covers, during a period of intense discovery. I was excited that, with the album celebrating its tenth anniversary, he played some of those songs, including Tom T. Hall’s “Homecoming” and the Walker Brothers’ “No Regrets.”
Watch the official music video for “That’s How I Got to Memphis” by Karl Blau on YouTube:
Karl shared the anecdote that “Let the World Go By” was written by the same guy who did the “plug it in, plug it in” air freshener commercial jingle. Karl also played “Natural Limit,” which was written Zach Miller of Dr. Dog. He also did some of his more recent, including “Bee Song” from last year’s Vultures of Love, “Gray Area,” “ and See-Wee-T” (I’m certain this isn’t quite right, but I haven’t been able to find that). He ended his set with “Pasadena.”
I was delighted to finally have a chance to see Karl; the last time time he was in DC was at Comet Ping-Pong, and I’m too damn old for how late their shows start. It was a special treat to get to hear him do songs from Introducing. I’d seen Laura before, but it was many years ago, before the pandemic. Her show was a welcome delivery of light and joy.
