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Rock in Rockingham is a three-day indie rock party in Vermont, mounted by the crew of Fort Apache studios in their new country home. Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly are the headliners and the reason we're here, but there's a whole weekend of incredible events built up around them, with lodging included in, in our case, perhaps the gayest B&B in Vermont. Really. The party begins Friday night with New Faces Night at Rick's Bar & Grill.
First up is Dawn Landes, from Brooklyn. She seems pretty freaked out by the whole experience of traveling up from still-somewhat-blacked-out NYC to lit-up-and-lovely Bellows Falls, VT. Her set is kind of schizo, with freaky experimental music and avant-abstract poetry alternating with lovely, folky tunes for guitar and voice. If I have one complaint, it's that I'd like to see the two sides of her talent combined to make lovely, freaky, experimental, poetic songs. She makes tremendous use of loops, playing a guitar line and setting it looping, then adding another on top of it, and more and more and more, building up a one-woman guitar orchestra. I am shocked when she later mentions that she just got the looping machine recently and started playing with it; I'd have bet she's been using it for years.
Next are James O'Brien and the Church of the Kitchen Sink. I am a bit frustrated by this band. The best thing about them are their lyrics, which are amazingly cool and bizarre and evocative. The vocal melodies are also quite good. The principal frustration comes from his singing: if he just had a crappy voice, that would be one thing. Instead, he apparently has access to a really good voice, which we hear maybe 30% of the time, but most of the time he seems to clamp down his throat and choke the music out through his nose, giving it a strangled, nasal, constipated tone. It's a real shame, and the boy needs to practice really hard until he sings well all the time, reliably. Then he'll be pretty great. The Church of the Kitchen Sink, alas, have no promise of greatness. They're all absolutely fine, and resoundingly mediocre. Not one of them ever does anything interesting.
I'm a big Elizabeth Steen fan and I'm really looking forward to her set. The first song she plays is unfamiliar to me, a big treat, and the rest are from Mockery, her album with her band Fritter. Tanya and Dean sit in on a few songs, Tanya singing backup on "Milktoast" and "Scapegrace Sister." (This is the fourth time I've heard some of these songs performed, with a completely different lineup each time!) They sound fantastic, and Elizabeth seems to be getting more comfortable in the frontwoman role. She entertains the crowd with a reading from "The Existential Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld," which is really funny until it occurs to me that this man really does control the US armed forces. Scary stuff, kids.
Next up, The So and So's, from beautiful Boston, MA. I've never seen them before, and I'm really impressed. They are an awesome rock band. The songs are pretty good, and lead singer Meghan Toohey has a terrific voice and great attitude. I have heard of her as a folk singer, but here she's a rocker. The other guitarist and the bassist both sing good harmonies well. The drummer is totally solid but never really does anything interesting. The coolest thing about them is the two guitarists, who switch off lead and rhythm duties and occasionally share the lead in an excellent, really interesting way, so that the lead comprises the lines both of them are playing fused together.
"Headlining" tonight, or at least playing last, is Andrew Bird, from Chicago. Andrew mostly plays violin, and uses loops as described above, picking out a bass line and setting it going, then bowing and singing over it. He also plays some occasional guitar, sings cool, elliptical lyrics in a beautiful, rich voice, and on some songs treats us to extreme virtuoso whistling! I'm serious--you've never heard such incredible whistling in your life, with perfectly reliable pitch and gorgeous tone and tremolo. The only problem is that it's a very low energy set, and I'm very tired at this point, but I close my eyes and drift on waves of weirdness.
After a lovely night, a fabulous breakfast, and a restoring nap in Possibly the Gayest B&B In Vermont, we head over to the big tent in a parking lot which is the venue for Saturday's show. First on the bill today is Boston's own Blake Hazard, joined by John Dragonetti and his laptop. John plays bass on one song, and guitar on the rest; the laptop provides drum machine sounds, of which I am no fan. Blake plays guitar and sings, and it's like it always is when I see her. Her demeanor is so ludicrously sunny and happy that I want desperately to like her, but her songs are pretty and bland and, ultimately, boring. I honestly do not remember a single thing about a single song that she played.
Next is Josh Ritter, whom I've heard of but never heard. He does sunny, folky songs about asking a girl to the prom. He points this last part out, and it's true: even his songs that aren't about asking a girl to the prom are, in some metaphysical way, about asking a girl to the prom. He makes me wish I wrote music, just so that I could write some upbeat, positive songs about darkness and cold and winter to provide some balance in the world. His organist is really good, and his bassist has the most extreme mustache I've ever seen.
Next up, The Stone Coyotes are my discovery of the weekend. They're a three-piece out of western MA, and a family affair: singer/songwriter/guitarist Barbara Keith, her husband Doug Tibbles on drums, and his son John Tibbles on bass. Barbara is a fabulous, wailing rock chick--the killer song "First Lady of Rock" is on the album Born To Howl, which pretty much tells you what you need to know. Doug gets a full, complicated rhythm out of just two drums, hi-hat, and one cymbal! And John steps up near the end with a fiercely complex slap part on one song. I attempt to nucleate a standing ovation, with moderate success.
Juliana Hatfield is daunted to follow them, but the crowd loves her. I honestly don't know why; to me, she's Blake Hazard without the pleasant disposition. I've just never liked her songwriting, and her guitar playing is pretty pedestrian. But it's solid, and she does have a lovely voice, and she gets probably the loudest response of the day so far.
Finally, it's the beginning of the Main Event. Kristin Hersh takes the stage to thunderous applause and plays a set that has me in tears. She starts out with songs from Sunny Border Blue, her 2001 solo album, and an old Muses song or two, before pulling out the big guns. I had accepted that I would never hear "The Letter" played live, since she's said many times (including today) that she hates the song. But she plays it for us, and it is devastating. As I am regaining my composure, Andrew Bird joins her with his "punky fiddle" for five songs, including Throwing Muses' "Hook In Her Head," which is the greatest piece of music anyone has ever written. Oddly, they play nothing from her most recent album, which Andrew plays on, but there's another show tomorrow.
No encore, because Tanya Donelly is the headliner tonight. She starts out alone and acoustic (after some unnerving mic issues) on "The Bees," a fan favorite. She is soon joined by Dean Fisher on guitar and drums, the legendary Rich Gilbert on guitar, pedal steel, and mandolin, and Elizabeth Steen on gorgeous high harmonies, with occcasional keyboard and eggs. With four musicians on stage, the sound is still very solo-acoustic. (Especially since Tanya's attempts to play electric guitar nearly get her electrocuted by a mis-grounded microphone!) She plays a mixture of her solo stuff and Belly tunes, including radically countrified acoustic versions of mega-hits "Feed the Tree" and "Slow Dog." "Keeping You" is sung to her young daughter, playing in the center aisle. For an encore, she calls Heather Rose up to the stage to sing harmony on "Silverfish," and when a second encore is demanded we get a funny and fabulous solo acoustic version of "Red," a big rocker from Belly's last album. They practically have to herd us out of the tent to make us leave.
Sunday's events begin with a train ride/brunch/signing opportunity with Kristin and Tanya. It's a relaxed and friendly and freakishly beautiful time. Then we all head over to the Rockingham Meeting House, a >200-year-old church, for acoustic sets from Tanya and Kristin. I believe these may be the most uncomfortable seats I've ever sat on. We are nevertheless mesmerized and immobile for both sets. Tanya, Elizabeth and Dean play the just-finished (like, three days ago) new album in its entirety. The songs are soft and spare, with lots of Elizabeth's gorgeous piano. Highlights for me, on first listen, are "Devils Everywhere" and "Butterfly Thing," the latter built cleverly around the idea that, if our actions can have huge unforeseen consequences, I'll just stay in my room. She finishes with a few older songs.
Last, Kristin sets up with Andrew Bird and we finally get to hear some songs from The Grotto. They're beautiful and haunting--having a Throwing Muses album come out the same day really freed these songs to be quiet and meditative. After Andrew leaves she plays mostly older solo songs, and then Tanya comes back and they duet on "Two Step," the Throwing Muses breakup song. If there's a dry eye in the house, I certainly can't see it.
No one really wants to leave at this point, but we all have jobs and lives that we must return to, so we make our blissed-out way back to Boston.
