DC’s top blog for live concert reviews
Chris Smither (Photo courtesy the artist)
It’s amazing what one man, with one acoustic guitar, sitting in a chair onstage, can do. What his facial expressions and gestures can add to his songs. How he can intoxicate you with just a glass of the dry wine of his wit. Seasoned musician Chris Smither injects so much life and so much humor into his live performance, yet with such understated taste. He did so much at The Hamilton Live recently.
My Brightest Diamond dances the night away at the Rock and Roll Hotel on May 16, 2019. (Photo by David LaMason)
My Brightest Diamond, the creative vehicle for artist Shara Nova, has constantly evolved over the past decade. The evolution continued at Rock and Roll Hotel recently.
Emma Ruth Rundle (Photo by Geert Braekers)
American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and visual artist Emma Ruth Rundle, touring with post-rock titans MONO, performs at Union Stage on Thursday, May 23.
Chris Smither (Photo by Jeff Fasano)
Singer-songwriter Chris Smither performs at The Hamilton Live on Friday, May 17. Chris released Call Me Lucky, his latest record, last year via Signature Sounds/Mighty Albert with distribution by Redeye. Recorded at Blue Rock Studio in the Texas foothills and packed with Smither trademark songs that offer commentary on the human condition with a wink of an eye, the album pulls from deep in the soul and a couple of surprise covers that remind us of Chris’ deftness as a song interpreter as he makes the songs his own.
Prior to his DC concert, Chris took a phone call from Parklife DC’s Mark Engleson, who asked him about his relationship with New Orleans and the blues, meeting your heroes, and his advice for the younger generation. [This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
Lissie performs at City Winery. (Photo courtesy Reybee)
Lissie was born a rocker. Before she released her first album, To Catch a Tiger, she toured as the opening as the opening act for Lenny Kravitz. She caught fire early, landing songs on The O.C., Veronica Mars, and House, and that was before she’d even moved to Los Angeles. But as her career progressed, she’s moved toward increasingly bare, stripped-down arrangements. And that’s what she brought to City Winery DC recently.
Odetta Hartman performs at the Kingman Island Bluegrass & Folk Festival on May 4, 2019. (Photo by Matt Ruppert)
The Kingman Island Bluegrass & Folk Festival was held in northeast DC last weekend. It featured numerous local bands and artists, as well as a few that came from out of town for the festival. With four stages of music, the festival ran from noon to eight o’clock.
My Brightest Diamond (Photo by Shervin Lainez)
My Brightest Diamond released A Million and One, the band’s fifth studio album, late last year via Rhyme & Reason Records. The project of singer-songwriter Shara Nova is on tour with a stop at Rock and Roll Hotel on Thursday, May 16.
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