Yellow Red Sparks, Ronnie and the Reagans and Starlings Murmurations @ Gramma's House (8/9/13)

I'd heard of Gramma's House but never actually seen a show there.  This show caught my attention for that reason.  It also caught my attention because it was a collaboration between Evil Wine/Wes Malvini and Heather Roberts, who's started promoting shows under the name Ten Gallon Cat.

I counted thirty people when I got to Gramma's House.  The place turned out to be across the street from my old high school.  Walked by it for half my life.  Who knew?  Anyway, Wes Malvini put the final headcount at around forty.  Not bad at all.

Starlings Murmurations opened the show.  Kirsty Scott played without her iPad recordings this night, which she said she found a bit strange (so did playing without a monitor, she added).  She did fine, though, since she still had one of the most gorgeous voices in the Boise music scene.  Stretched out a bit more with it too.  The darkness added an appropriately intimate feel as well (though Malvini did set up a light behind Scott midway through her set).

Ronnie and the Reagans played next.  This Idaho Falls group impressed me when I caught them at the Crux back in April.  With their funky beats, fluid basslines and lyrical guitar solos, their expanded lineup impressed me just as much.  It's just too bad I probably won't see it again; Franklin Tillo said that this was the band's second-to-last show as a quintet.

The things you get to see at house shows.

Last up was Los Angeles band Yellow Red Sparks.  It's always nice when a folky band doesn't lay on the cornpone too thick.  Indeed, the lovelorn lyrics, winsome melodies and smooth, swinging beat won me over so thoroughly that when the group invited the audience to sing along to an excerpt from Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love," I did (also, I just love that song).  Most of the crowd didn't, but they did give the band some good whoops and cheers.  The handful of numbers that Yellow Red Sparks played unplugged and without mics added to the set's intimacy.

You can find info on these acts, Evil Wine and Ten Gallon Cat on Facebook and elsewhere online.