Fresh Tracks: Ethan Setiawan “Boundless” Featured Track Music Features Track Reviews by Brian Carroll - January 4, 20240 A number of years back I fell hard and deep into the world of acoustic instrumental music. It has always been there and played a more peripheral role in my musical life. I knew a handful of fiddle tunes and enjoyed a good bluegrass jam, but never fully lived in that world until a collection of contemporary roots musicians started releasing projects that grabbed me. Ethan Setiawan was one such musician. Ethan is like Renaissance master painter. The 8 strings of his mandolin as his brush and the air is the canvas he paints with an ethereal palette of moods and colors. "Boundless" may be quick in its length, but pulls you deep into its sonic landscape. Trickling tremolo drenched in
Show Review: Hiss Golden Messenger (9/17/23 Haw River Ballroom) Music Features Reviews by Ken Templeton - September 25, 20230 Towards the end of their phenomenal set at Haw River Ballroom last Saturday, Hiss Golden Messenger frontman MC Taylor said, “You know, this is the first time many of these songs have been played live,” and the crowd roared. Most of the set list was drawn from Jump For Joy (Merge Records), which came out August 25. If you just watched the audience, though, you wouldn’t have known these songs were making their debut. People were singing along; they were visibly excited to hear their new favorite songs. After leading off with “Biloxi,” from the album Heart Like A Levee, the band launched into “I Saw The New Day in the World,” from the new record, and then shifted back to
Show Review: Josh Ritter, Amythyst Kiah (The Carolina Theatre May 16, 2023) Concert Reviews Music Features by Ken Templeton - June 1, 20230 “I’m singing for the love of it, have mercy on the man who sings to be adored.” This line from Josh Ritter’s song, “Snow is Gone,” seems to sum up who he is as an artist. In the twenty years I’ve been going to Josh’s shows, I have never once seen him be anything less than jubilant on stage. He loves it, he is grateful for his audience, and he is unabashed in his joy. He brought the latest iteration of The Royal City Band to The Carolina Theatre in Durham last week, with mainstays Sam Kassirer (piano), Zack Hickman (bass), and Ray Rizzo (drums) joined by Jocie Adams (clarinet) and Matt Douglas (saxophone, lead guitar). I loved the songs
Show Recap: Sierra Hull & Justin Moses – Down Home Concert Series (February 24, 2023 Raleigh, NC) Concert Reviews Music Features by Ken Templeton - March 3, 20230 When Sierra Hull and Justin Moses took the stage last Friday night, they didn't waste any time. After a brief hello to the crowd, Sierra said, “Well let's get picking.” From the first note, their effortless virtuosity was on display. For most of the evening, Justin played guitar and Sierra played mandolin. However Sierra also played guitar brilliantly, and Justin showed off his range by also playing mandolin and dobro. Sierra was the 2022 IBMA mandolin player of the year; Justin is the reigning IBMA dobro player of the year. Needless to say, this is a couple who push and stretch and encourage each other to new musical heights with each song. Most of the songs on the setlist were from
Live Review: Jake Blount (The Pinhook, Durham, NC September 7, 2022) Concert Reviews Music Features Reviews by Ken Templeton - September 13, 20220 Last Wednesday was kind of a homecoming for Jake Blount (he/they). They told the crowd at The Pinhook here in Durham that years ago they played his first professional show in Durham, North Carolina. The concert was the kickoff of Jake's tour in support of his forthcoming album The New Faith, one of the best records I have heard this year. The New Faith is an Afrofuturist consideration of our ongoing climate catastrophe. Jake alluded to the speculative fiction of N.K. Jemisin and Octavia Butler, but also reminded us that Afrofuturism has been around for a long while–ever since the invention of race. They shared scholar Isiah Lavender III’s notion that science fiction is exactly how Black people should engage
Show Review: Andrew Marlin at The Nightlight (Chapel Hill, NC June 9, 2022) Concert Reviews Music Features Reviews by Ken Templeton - June 16, 2022June 16, 20220 “I’ve seen a lot of shows here, and it’s real nice to finally get to play The Nightlight,” Andrew Marlin said last week. The Nightlight, in Chapel Hill, has low ceilings, a few skylights, a bar, and a reading nook in the back corner with a couple of couches, a coffee table, and bookshelves with paperbacks tumbling onto each other. It kind of felt like we were in a ship bottom, so even though I knew the music would be excellent, I was curious if the room would swallow up the sound. It was awesome—as I was walking out, I heard three different people go up to the sound engineer and thank him. Nightlight is one of the few venues I
SHOW REVIEW: The Lumineers / Caamp (5/24/22 Coastal Credit Union Music Park Raleigh, NC) Concert Reviews Music Features by Ken Templeton - June 1, 20220 In April of 2012, I went to Bull Moose Music in Brunswick, Maine, to get the CD of this band I’d been obsessed with since hearing their four-track session on daytrotter. The guy behind the counter looked it up on the computer. “The Lumineers? Hmmm…we should have one.” They’d ordered one, because this was before The Lumineers were The Lumineers. I looked on youtube for clips of shows, and found mostly house concerts in Denver: Jeremiah, Wesley, and Neyla in the middle of a small mob of their already-devoted fans. Fast forward ten years and they’re playing to a crowd of 20,000 in Raleigh, NC. And unlike many bands that have had this kind of success, The Lumineers have not really
Song Premiere: “Big Dig,” by The Still Point Featured Track Music Features Reviews by Ken Templeton - March 18, 20220 At Red Line Roots, we pay attention to community. This whole thing started when Brian decided to lift up some of the artists he admired in Boston by writing about their work. Brian lives in Vermont now, and I live in North Carolina. So, our definition of what RLR is about has shifted a bit over the past few years. We will always love Boston, but we’re also mindful of our new communities and making sure to attend to what’s happening in our respective backyards. This time of year, my backyard is full of songbirds and Brian’s is full of snow. Anyway, imagine my delight when I received an email about The Still Point’s new record, Full Circle. Hayes Cummings,
The Tallest Man on Earth Daughter of Swords (Haw River Ballroom – February 26, 2022) Concert Reviews Music Features by Ken Templeton - February 28, 20220 There’s just no other word: this show was cathartic. After two years of postponements and cancellations, Kristian Mattson, aka The Tallest Man on Earth, is back on stage, and he brought everything he had. There were times when his performance evoked the title of his last album–I Love You. It’s a Fever Dream–in the best possible way. Daughter of Swords opened the show, and she is a totally transfixing singer, often seeming transfixed, channeling a sound out of time. She holds notes, and bends them in unexpected directions. “Long Leaf Pine” was a highlight of her opening set, and the final song reminded me of Richard and Linda Thompson’s ability to say so much with a simple, telling turn of phrase.
6 more good things from 2021 Columns Editor Picks Music Features Reviews by Ken Templeton - December 22, 20210 As we shift into a whole new phase of things that could have been prevented, it’s helpful to know about some good things from 2021. Brian wrote about 7 Good Things the other day. Honestly, every single one of his recommendations is on my list too. So, I thought I would just add 6 more, to bless you with a lucky 13 to close out this year. Here are six records that sustained me in 2021. Allison Russell, Outside Child In a year that has required all of us to expand our capacity for grace, this album is an object lesson. Allison Russell’s autobiographical expression of abuse, liberation, and forgiveness is testimony to the power of love. When I say love, I’m thinking of