The fourth annual Annapolis Songwriters Festival, held Sept. 11–14, turned the city into a living, breathing celebration of songwriting. Over four days, more than 130 performers appeared across 15 venues — from Maryland Hall and Rams Head On Stage to Calvert Street’s open-air stage, intimate taverns, and even concert boats on the Severn.
Steve Satzberg went around town to capture some of the songwriters in performance.
Like another great musician, Kathleen Edwards contains multitudes: Foul-mouthed at times, she also promised to have the sold-out audience at The Birchmere home early, as she likes “to be in bed at the hotel by 11 watching Hallmark.” She has boatloads of attitude, evident in songs like “One More Song the Radio Won’t Like,” but she also has a soft side that came out in “Hard on Everyone.”
Steve Winwood’s 60-plus year career has gone through many stages: preternaturally soulful teenage singer in the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic, associate of artists like Eric Clapton, and a major solo artist with huge hits in the ’80s. He’s both a fantastic singer and a highly skilled, versatile multi-instrumentalist who’s worked as a session musician for a number of major artists, including some that might surprise you, like Miranda Lambert. In his recent appearance at Wolf Trap, his set spanned the length and wide variety of his career.
When I spoke to James McMurtry last month, he told me having a full band “makes the rockers easier.” But that sells it short: While he rocked out hard with his band in his recent appearance at The Birchmere, the softer songs benefitted from the additional sonic texture provided by accordion and BettySoo’s fine vocal harmonies.
In the early ’80s, if you loved Duran Duran, The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, and other new wave bands, you may have been compelled to seek out various compilation tapes of similar UK groups released on the heels of their American chart stardom.
I sure did. And upon listening to those complication tapes, I discovered amazing artists that I never otherwise would have heard — artists like new wave queen Lene Lovich, who was a popular feature on compilation series like Just Can’t Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the ’80s and Sedated in the Eighties, where I first heard her songs “New Toy” and “Lucky Number,” respectively.
Although Lene toured the USA regularly in the 1980s, I personally never had the opportunity to see her live. And so it’s absolutely thrilling that she’s headlining American tour dates in conjunction with opening for Devo and The B-52s over the next month or so. Locally, Lene Lovich headlines Rams Head on Stage on Wednesday, Oct. 1!
The city drowned itself before the first note. Rain ate the streets and gnawed the highway into rivulets where cars floated like lost souls. Pantera’s “Respect” bled from a passing SUV, a warning and a sacrament. Virginia walked with me up the steps from the parking garage, face unreadable, eyes like floodlights in the downpour.
Inside The Anthem, that scintillating crown jewel of DC’s music venues and wonderful respite from the rain, middle-aged couples tugged at their youth like stubborn zippers. A few dads brought children as offerings to Papa Roach. The pinot noir at the bar tasted like communion wine left too long on the altar.
Americana/Outlaw Country powerhouse band Reckless Kelly has been burning up stages with their high-energy blend of rock and country music since 1996. Fronted by central Idaho natives Willy and Cody Braun, the brothers are part of a rich musical legacy that spans three generations.
The gents are set to release their new album, Alternate Routes, on Friday! But before then, they perform live in a co-headlining show with Roger Clyne at The Hamilton Live in DC on Wednesday, Sept. 24.
A Wet Leg to Stand On: Isle of Wight Post-Punks Continue a Good Run
Words by Mickey McCarter
Photos by Nalinee Darmrong
When Wet Leg released their debut self-titled album in 2022, it blew up quickly, in part because the band found its audience right away. Those folks recently packed 9:30 Club for a sold-out show, dancing and screaming and celebrating being alive and sassy.
In a moment typical of the organized chaos of a Wet Leg show, frontwoman Rhian Teasdale signaled for the audience to scream in the middle of the performance of 2022 single, “Ur Mom,” a typically acerbic and humorously biting putdown of an ex. And the audience screamed their hearts out.
When Lucy Dacus, a Richmond, Virginia native, recently took the stage at the Altria Theater, she didn’t realize every show leading up to tonight was practice for this one. Dacus returned to her roots for a hometown show, part of her final leg of the Forever Is a Feeling Tour.
Longtime fans, locals, family, and friends all crowded the historic theater located on Virginia Commonwealth University’s campus, where Dacus attended.
English punk pioneers Buzzcocks played Riot Fest in Chicago on Saturday, and frontman Steve Diggle took the opportunity to build a US swing around the date. Buzzcocks land at the relatively intimate Union Stage in DC on Wednesday, Sept. 23 — a great opportunity to catch the legendary outfit.
