Brightest Young Things

All photos by Shauna Alexander

All words and enthusiasm, in many parts, by Alec Oyhenart

I. Certain things you ought to know

Something about my supercharged fan-sense caused me to be on the Drag City website a few weeks ago and noticed that tour dates for Joanna Newsom had been announced and that she'd be at Sixth and I in a month. The synagogue's website had no information on this, so I sent a somewhat breathless email to the booking contact asking when I could buy tickets, who she was touring with, what type of harp she was using, etc. I bought tickets at 10am sharp when they went on sale, and then again (in person, this time, as the box office is right next to one of my preferred coffee shops) when the second show was announced. There was no way I was going to miss Joanna. I considered going to Charlottesville for night 3, but cooler heads prevailed.

That's meant as a preface to my review of spending two nights sitting in pews listening to wordy, virtuosic harp-folk. Some people have been, are, and will continue to be turned off by the idea, and that's ok-- I can kind of see why that'd sound less than fun for people who like their music, I don't know, less allegorical? More upbeat? Less than 10 minutes at a time? I'm not out to convince you that you should go out and dive headfirst into the new, admittedly overwhelming-at-first triple album, Have One On Me, that Joanna just released on Drag City*.

That being said, I was joined by several hundred of my closest, well-dressed, mostly bearded or pretty dress-ed (some both), almost entirely coupled** friends for two nights, and I was pretty amped. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect, and much like with the new record, I left entertained, thoughtful, and pleasantly surprised. The songs came off like dynamic, living, accessible pieces, played by terrific musicians who still fuck up every once in a while-- not like little glass figurines to keep on the shelf and admire from afar. They kept Shauna's attention even though she had never heard a single Joanna Newsom song (all of this is true and quite hard to do -ed); the band was charming and the crowd was appreciative; I can't remember the last time a standing ovation was so deserved and felt so spontaneous. Hopefully a few people who had attended without being obsessives finally saw what the fuss was all about.

II. Into the weeds

A line formed around the block well before 7pm doors both nights, even in the rain. Sixth and I serves no refreshments, so it was pure harp-frenzy and not desire to beer up beforehand that drew people out. The space itself is gorgeous, as is well documented by Shauna's photos, with a wraparound balcony, very good sound, and very few bad seats. I sat in the balcony on the first night, furiously scribbling notes and geeking out, and right up front the second night, and got a pretty good look at what was going on onstage.

The openers were The Moore Brothers, from Joanna’s (and some Ys Street Band members') hometown, Nevada City, CA. They passed their acoustic guitar between the two of them for the entire set and had Neal Morgan, Joanna’s drummer and now Drag City labelmate, play on the last two or three songs (more on him later). The one thing you should take away from them is that their voices are gorgeous-- I heard some grumbling, especially the first night when their songs erred either on the side of goofiness or forgettable-ness-- but honestly, I'm not that offended by it. They could fucking sing. Their second night show was much better, though it started with an a capella, garbled-lyric version of take me out to the ballgame. Apparently they are baseball fans? Or doggerel fans? Either way, upon further reflection, I have positive associations, especially their Zombies-esque closer on night 2. Also, one of the brothers, the one with the voice I liked best, (from my notes): "looks like the calmest, stillest, honey-voiced jack black in the world." I mean that as a compliment.

Both nights The Moore Brothers played a quick 10 song, 30 minute set, starting promptly at 8. Joanna then appeared, smiled at the audience in her pretty dress and tall heels, and started to tune her harp, which lasted about 25 minutes each night, then left the stage until around 9:25 when the show started. For a room full of ravenous Joanna fans, that was a torturous hour.***

Now, before we get to the songs, let's talk about the lineup. Her harp was positioned front and center, flanked by the band. Ryan Francesconi is the maestro behind the arrangements on the new record, and sat to Joanna's right. He ripped on a stringed Bulgarian instrument (tambura), banjo, and electric guitar, plus recorder and some sort of wooden flute (kaval). He was wearing an all black 3 piece suit each night, and had a kind of super-intense, humorless Jeff Goldblum-meets-Sasha Baron Cohen aspect to him. Let me be clear: he was amazing. Behind him were two female violin/violists with awesome names, who also sang; next to them was a trombonist who looked like Bradley Whitford mixed with Neil Patrick Harris (again, in a good way, I am just being a nerd), and to Joanna’s left was Neal Morgan, the drummer and singer who was possibly the most expressive and inventive percussionist I have ever seen (and a nice guy!). This was the Ys Street Band, and their arrangements were one of the most remarkable parts of the show.

III. Setlists/Songs/Yowlin’

For reference purposes, here are the setlists-- a / indicates that they played a different song on night 1 and night 2. You'll notice that the sets were very similar.

(Joanna solo harp)

• '81

(full band enters)

• In California / Kingfisher
• Book of Right-On

(Joanna moves to piano)

• Easy
• Soft as Chalk
• Inflammatory Writ
• Good Intentions Paving Company

(Joanna back to harp)

• Have One On Me
• You and Me, Bess (joined by Moore Bros on backup vocals)
• Emily / Monkey and Bear

• Encore: Baby Birch

The setlist steered clear of the many devastatingly sad songs in her catalogue (to my chagrin), but it flowed really well and included some old favorites-- as soon as she struck the low harp notes that begin Book of Right-On, people went nuts. You've gotta play the old hits, such as they are.

Interestingly, the old songs all sounded a little different-- Joanna had vocal fold nodules that were surgically removed after the Ys tour, and couldn't speak for an extended period of time. My understanding is that she took some singing lessons afterward, which explains why her voice sounds different. One of the most striking things about the new record is that her voice's signature, uniquely divisive abrasiveness has all but disappeared. In the book of right-on, her high parts came through in a controlled, beautiful vibrato, and the lower parts were smoky and heart wrenching.

Live, the new songs were almost album quality, including the singing, and the older songs got a new spin through different arrangements and the new, smoother vocal style-- for instance, they played Inflammatory Writ in a kind of loping shuffle, with banjo and fiddle, that almost made it sound like a Will Oldham song****. They tended to downplay the very saddest parts of the songs they did play, instead emphasizing the uplifting parts, like the last chorus of Emily, which worked perfectly for the setting and the band setup. Would I have been happy if they played Jackrabbits, Go Long, Sadie, Clam Crab Cockle Cowrie, Autumn, Sawdust and Diamonds, and Peach Plum Pear? Of course. But it's probably for the best that I wasn't the guy sitting up front gettin' all choked up. The nice thing about hearing these songs live is that, while the lyrics still hit you (especially if you know them all really well), it's not the same as listening to them by yourself over and over-- she didn't knock you over the head with meaning, but the lines that I already loved ("dumbstruck with the sweetness of being"; "and all these songs when you and I are long gone will carry on"; "your god-awful lawlessness"; "my heart made the sound of snow falling from leaves") came through and bowled me over on their own.

Harp-wise, what can you say? She rules. I was expecting, and received, such thoroughly dominating harp playing that I didn't really think about it afterward. I noticed the first night that Neal was so transfixed by her playing on have one on me that he almost missed his cue to come in, and I don't blame him. More amazing is how she manages to phrase the vocals so naturally even when playing unbelievably complicated harp passages.

IV. Chickenscratch

I can't add too much about the arrangements past what I've already said; my notes are all very, ahem, enthusiastic. Excerpts:

• ('81): "Owned."
• (In California): "Arrangement killed--singing super expressive, smoky. Best drummer ever"
• (Book of Right-On): "Harp solo!"
• (Soft as Chalk): "Sweet spaghetti western guitar"
• (Good Intentions Paving Company): "Reggaeton beat. 'Bone solo!!!"
• (Have One On Me): "Amazing banjo. The best. Best drummer ever. This song utterly owns. Best poisoning song ever. Mesmerizing harp."
• (Emily): "YES"
• (Monkey and Bear): "KILLED"
• (Baby Birch): "Insane chaos guitar"

As you can tell, I was feeling it. I thought they were a bit more together the first night, and the second night they had a few sound and equipment issues that stopped them from feeling super comfortable in places, though I have to reiterate how much Monkey and Bear killed.

V. Conclusions

Overall the two nights made a very strong case for how warm and musical Joanna’s songs can be. She gets this bizarrely bad rap for being too difficult, too medieval, too long, too sad, too abrasive, too everything-- but, honestly, I think the shows proved that you don't have to be a super obsessive fan to enjoy her songs. They were filled with hooks, warmth, and emotion, and I think we all had a great time. Seeing actual humans play these songs, play them well, screw up little things every once in a while, and tell jokes***** really humanized them for me. Plus, seeing Joanna in front of a gigantic stained glass window just felt right. Next time I'll probably opt to see three shows in a row.

Appendix

* Similarly, I would ask you to stop inviting me to dance parties. Can we call it even?

** This hunch was confirmed by how high the beautiful-people-to-missed-connection ratio was (note that one of the two is to Joanna herself)

*** In this, as in this entire review, I can only speak for myself but I suspect I am not alone.

**** If they ever collaborate on this song I will literally die of happiness.

***** Neal, the drummer, had banter duties when Joanna was tuning mid-set. The first night he threw it out to the audience and had some pretty hilariously awkward interaction (Crowd: What's your favorite song? Neal: "Who is that addressed to?" Anyone! To questioner: "What's your favorite song?" Go Long! "Eh." -- he may have been biased by the fact that it has no drums in it, and it's super sad, and it's one of my favorite songs). The second night he had a better idea-- he took the breaks to tune as an opportunity to thank all of the VIPs. "I'd like to thank Vice President Biden for coming tonight." (After Joanna mentions she has to tune her F string): "Speaking of F, I'd like to thank Barney Frank for coming." During the encore, "One last time, I'd like to thank Tim Geithner for coming." Joanna gave him these absolutely blank death stares after these jokes, which only increased the comedy, but he cracked her up during the encore-- and she transitioned by saying "And now for a total bummer," to which Neal replied, "Yeah, Geithner requested this one." I'm sorry, maybe it's pandering, but I liked that particular series of DC jokes.

Previously in Live DC:

• 5/24: LiveDC: The Adicts @ RNR Hotel
• 5/24: LiveDC: The Donkeys @ Black Cat
• 5/23: LiveDC: The Barr Brothers w/ Kishi Bashi @ The Hamilton
• 5/23: LiveDC: Damien Jurado @ Black Cat
• 5/23: Report: Soundbites 2012
• 5/22: LiveDC: Spirit Animal @ Red Palace
• 5/22: LiveDC: Astra Via @ Black Cat
• 5/22: LiveDC: Father John Misty @ Rock & Roll Hotel
• 5/22: LiveDC: Drive-By Truckers and Lucinda Williams @ Merriweather
• 5/22: Photos: Summer Camp takes the "Ladies of Town" Drag Show