Live Review: Big Thief @ The Anthem — 4/21/22

Posted on 04/28/2022 by Casey Vock in Live Review and tagged Adrienne Lenker, Big Thief, Brooklyn, Buck Meek, folk, New York City, The Anthem.

Adrianne Lenker leads Big Thief in a performance at The Anthem on April 21, 2022. (Photo by Casey Vock)

How do the very best musicians keep their creative focus amid skyrocketing popularity and success? Aiming to reduce external noise and interruption might very well help a band or a group preserve and even hone its identity in the same direction and with a similar rationale that inspired the endeavor to begin with.

Big Thief, the beloved and inexplicably bewitching indie rock group out of Brooklyn, has somehow adhered to what appears to be a fundamental set of guiding principles while managing meteoric growth since its inception less than seven years ago.

At a highly anticipated appearance at The Anthem in DC recently, Big Thief was able to shrink the ultramodern venue, effectively diffusing any potential distraction presented by its large size and cutting through its deep space to reach the audience clear and to emotional effect.

Preview: Big Thief @ The Anthem, 4/21/22

Posted on 04/08/2022 by Parklifer in Preview and tagged Adrianne Lenker, Big Thief, Brooklyn, Buck Meek, folk, New York City, The Anthem.

Big Thief (Photo by Alexa Viscius)

Big Thief’s Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, out now on 4AD, is already one of the most raved about albums of 2022. The band tour in support of the album with a date at The Anthem in DC on Thursday, April 21.

Live Review: Buck Meek @ Jammin’ Java — 11/5/21

Posted on 11/08/2021 by Mark Engleson in Live Review and tagged Big Thief, folk, Jammin' Java, Texas.

Buck Meek performs at Jammin’ Java on Nov. 5, 2021. (Photo by Casey Vock)

Buck Meek is best known as the guitarist and harmony vocalist for the band Big Thief, but he also makes excellent records of his own. On Friday evening, he appeared with his band at Vienna’s Jammin’ Java for an intimate performance.

A native Texan, Buck was raised in Houston and Wimberley, a small town in the Austin hill country that’s currently home to musicians like Ray Wylie Hubbard and recent Grammy winner Sarah Jarosz. By the age of 6, he was already playing guitar, having learned the instrument from his mother, and, in his teens, he was playing outlaw country and jazz manouche. He later attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, graduating in the late 2000s.

Song of the Day: “Shoulders” by Big Thief

Posted on 05/12/2021 by Parklifer in Preview and tagged Big Thief, Brooklyn, folk, New York, Song of the Day.

Big Thief (Photo by Robbie Jeffers)

Big Thief have announced a North American Tour and also recently released a live album, Big Thief – Live at The Bunker Studio, including video footage of all the songs.

The bulk of these recordings are culled from 2019’s widely praised Two Hands and UFOF.

Live Review: Big Thief @ 9:30 Club — 11/10/19

Posted on 11/13/2019 by David LaMason in Live Review and tagged 4AD, 9:30 Club, Big Thief, Brooklyn, folk, indie rock.

Big Thief performs at the 9:30 Club on Nov. 10, 2019. (Photo by David LaMason)

Big Thief is one of those bands that is as true to the idea of a band as can be. Each time I’ve seen them, I come away with the feeling that each piece of the whole works so well together. And that cohesion over each record seems to get tighter and seem like second nature. Even when, as she did Sunday night to a sold out audience at the 9:30 Club, singer/guitarist Adrianne Lenker started the evening solo for a newish song “Zombie” (which has been in rotation for their live shows for the last year or so). The rest of the band focused their attention as if performing along through some telepathy.

Live Review: Adrianne Lenker @ Metro Gallery — 2/16/19

Posted on 02/19/2019 by David LaMason in Live Review and tagged Adrianne Lenker, Big Thief, Brooklyn, folk, Metro Gallery, Saddle Creek.

Adrianne Lenker mesmerizes at the Metro Gallery on Feb. 16, 2019. (Photo by David LaMason)

Adrianne Lenker, front person for the band Big Thief, creates the kind of music that is both beautiful and heart breaking. It’s also easy to lose yourself in the stories she tells. And tell them she did at Metro Gallery in Baltimore recently.
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Snapshots: Big Thief @ Black Cat — 9/9/17

Posted on 09/12/2017 by David LaMason in Live Review and tagged Adrienne Lenker, Big Thief, Black Cat, Buck Meeks, capacity, folk, James Krivcheniathe, masterpiece, Max Oleartchik.

Adrienne Lenker of Big Thief pulls all the heartstrings at the Black Cat on Sept. 9, 2017. (Photo by David LaMason)

Big Thief have recently released Capacity, their second full-length LP, on Saddle Creek, but the songs on the album belie a maturity and songcraft light years into the future. On Saturday, Big Thief played many of these new tunes to a sold-out crowd at the Black Cat.

Don’t Miss: Big Thief @ Black Cat, 9/9/17

Posted on 08/31/2017 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged Big Thief, Black Cat, Brooklyn, folk, Lucy Dacus, Saddle Creek.

Big Thief (Photo by Shervin Lainez)

Folk quartet Big Thief released their second album Capacity on June 9 via Saddle Creek, and they have been touring extensively to support it. Big Thief perform next in DC at Black Cat on Saturday, Sept. 9 in a co-headlining show with Lucy Dacus.