Brightest Young Things

all words and photos: Rachel Eisley

This past Friday night at the Black Cat brought a refreshing collection of musicians ranging from the Virginia, Washington, DC and New York City area, all with several things in common: a channeling of down home alt-country rock paired with expressive and harmonious vocals alongside delightful instruments such as the harmonica, mandolin, banjo and organ.

Borden Grant opened the show, setting the tone for the evening with a polished and energetic set. Self described as a collective of musicians, Borden Grant is indicative of their fellow performers at the Cat whose exact line-ups are more flexible than not, hailing again to their roots in alt-country/bluegrass family style performance. Borden Grant this time around featured Zack Blatter on bass, Ryan Chiachiere on guitar/vocals, Brennan Gilmore on guitar/mandolin/vocals, Bryan Holmes on keyboards/vocals and Rob Hubbard on the drums and has most recently had a residency at Solly’s on U street. By the end of Borden Grant’s set, the crowd was definitely engaged and even dancing a bit, ready for Jones Street Station to hit the stage.

Hailing from Brooklyn, Jones Street Station brought energy and passion to their performance, well managing their variety of instruments and expertly blended vocals. (Especially visually compelling was Jonathan Hull’s harmonica belt which although appeared to be some kind of utility or weaponry holder, was definitely home to more than several harmonicas.) Jones Street Station is comprised of Jonathan Hull, singer/harmonica and accordion player, Danny Erker on mandolin and vocals, Sam Rockwell on drums, Jonathan Benedict on keyboard and vocals and Walt Wells on bass and vocals. Today Jones Street Station releases their second album, In Verses which follows their first, Overcome. According to Jones Street Station’s website, a purchase of In Verses on iTunes will be accompanied with two bonus tracks.

Headlining the show was the Junior League Band who continued to liven up the audience who responded by dancing the night away to the feel-good alt-country/bluegrass jams infused with positive energy and musical complexity. Junior League Band is headed by Lissy Rosemont, lead vocalist, who also plays banjo, and for the first time in several years, performed on the fiddle Friday night in a fantastic duet with guest fiddler Sadie Dingfelder, who used to be with Junior League Band full time but now plays with them from time to time, now performing with the DC based Hot Coffee, Mississippi regularly. The rest of Junior League Band is comprised of: John Lee on guitar, Brandon Kalber on bass, Ian Thompson on drums, and Martin Thomas on harmonica. Junior League Band has gone through various musician changes in the recent past as their vigorous touring schedule didn’t work with some band members work commitments but proved on Friday night that no matter the fluctuations in musicians, the heart and soul of Junior League Band has stayed the same: to celebrate their roots in alt-country Americana with a modern and upbeat twist.

The show ended by all three bands melding together for a fantastic family band style finale of “Goodnight Irene” which brought everyone together onstage one last time. It was just amazing to see and hear the combined musical effort and I’m confident that if someone hadn’t realized that time was running out, they would have continued performing together long into the night!

Previously in Live DC:

• 2/3: Live DC: The Asteroids Galaxy Tour @ RnR Hotel
• 2/3: LiveDC: Smith Westerns @ Black Cat
• 2/2: PHOTOS: Elizaveta @ Jammin' Java
• 2/1: PHOTOS: H Street Karaoke Championship
• 1/31: LiveDC: Carsie Blanton @ Black Cat
• 1/31: LiveDC: Loose Lips/ Lightfoot/ Paperhaus/ Ugly Purple Sweater @ Black Cat
• 1/30: LiveDC: Jeff Mangum @ Lincoln Theatre
• 1/30: LiveDC: Coeur de Pirate @ 930 Club
• 1/26: LiveDC: Ryan Adams @ Strathmore
• 1/25: LiveDC: GHOST @ RNR Hotel