Sera Cahoone, Stoneseed and Cassie Lewis (the Foxxtones) @ Neurolux (5/28/13)

I like Sera Cahoone so much that I gave a copy of her album Deer Creek Canyon to my dad as a present.  Seeing as how my dad taught me a lot about music and writing (indeed, this blog probably wouldn't exist if it weren't for him), I can think of no higher compliment.  Her show at the VaC back in November was one of my favorites of last year, so when I saw that she'd be coming back, I immediately marked the concert down on my calendar.

I counted about twenty people when I got down to Neurolux, including Sera Cahoone and her pedal steel player.  When she played, I counted around forty-five.  A solid turnout.

Cassie Lewis from the new local duo the Foxxtones opened the show.  Her partner, Taylor Rushing, didn't make it to the gig for reasons unknown.  With a voice like hers, however, she didn't need much accompaniment.  Lewis's rich, blues-mama vocals were so strong and massive that she drowned out the handful of folks chatting behind me.  It was thoughtful of her to step a foot back from the mics when she really started belting; if she hadn't, she might have blown out someone's eardrums.  Thanks to all of this firepower, Lewis's honky-tonk-steeped originals sounded right at home next to her covers of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and "Jolene."

Stoneseed played next with a new bassist.  Their lived-in blues/folk tunes and smooth, politely funky grooves proved just as enjoyable here as they did at the Tater Famine show back in January.  Ty Clayton's gritty baritone laid on the drawl a little thick at times, but he had brains enough not to rely on it too much.  It didn't hurt that he had Lindsey Hunt Terrell's coolly sultry vocals and sweet, yawning violin backing him up.  Their lyrics about whiskey, dark days, heading down the road and the like had a touch of corn in them, but their music was both slick enough and earthy enough to make it feel like part of a balanced diet.

Before she played, Sera Cahoone received a gushing introduction from Radio Boise DJ Wendy Fox.  I don't fault her for it: as both I and Neurolux regular/Merle Haggard devotee Greg Wiggins said afterwards, this was country music as it should be.  Her lyrics' occasional eschewal of rhyme only enhanced their air of intimacy and emotional frankness; it was as if she didn't have the time or the patience to gussy up what she felt.  Her simple, evergreen melodies, on the other hand, showed plenty of polish.  Both ends met the middle in Cahoone's singing.  Confident but not preening, sensitive without drowning in her own tears, her clean vocals felt as easy as talking but hit just the right nuance with every note.  Add on her sure sense of rhythm, her chatty, down-to-earth stage presence and Jay Kardong's elegant pedal steel embroidery and you had one of the loveliest performances that I've heard this year.

The rest of the audience seemed to feel the same way: they whooped and cheered wildly throughout.  "You don't have to clap along," Cahoone said at the start of "Nervous Wreck."  Most of the crowd did.

You can find info on these acts on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Radio Boise.  If you like what you've read and would like to help keep it going, click the yellow "Give" button and donate whatever you can.  Even $5 would help.

Sera Cahoone, The Parson Red Heads and Desert Noises @ the VaC (11/3/12)

Prior to seeing ads for this show, I'd never heard of Sera Cahoone.  The fact that Desert Noises was opening for her seemed like a good sign, however, so I marked this one down on my calendar.  Then I listened to one of Cahoone's songs and felt even more confident that I'd made the right decision.  If you haven't heard "Worry All Your Life," give it a play.  Its tender admonition to not do like its title says makes it a small miracle, given that indie-folk sometimes seems like the exclusive domain of depressives and neurotics (not that Cahoone doesn't know where those folks come from: she also has a very good song entitled "Nervous Wreck").

I counted a little over fifty people when I arrived at the VaC.  The crowd seemed comprised mainly of the younger, collegiate/post-collegiate set.  Looking back, that feels like just the right crowd for this music.

Desert Noises opened the show.  Seeing this Utah-based band for the third time, I was struck by what I might call the hard-rocking wistfulness of their music.  The mature ease and confidence of their twangy riffs and loping, strutting, swinging grooves counterbalanced the fragile, almost childlike lyricism of their melodies and lyrics (and vice versa).  Part of me wants to liken it to kids playing dress-up with grown-up clothes, but that sounds way too icky and condescending.  Main point: they pulled off the neat trick yet again of sounding both fresh and steeped in tradition.

Up next was Portland group the Parson Red Heads.  Talk about steeped in tradition: their pristine harmonies called to mind CSN, their terse solos called to mind Neil Young and Crazy Horse, their jangly riffs called to mind the Byrds, and I'm pretty sure I heard some Tom Petty, Bob Seger and Eagles in the mix too.  The fact that they held up under the weight of these influences was a compliment to said harmonies, solos and riffs, but it was even more so to Charlie Hester's bass and Brette Marie Way's drums.  And to the pinch of arty drone that they tossed in, which they put to excellent use on their set-capping cover of Thunderclap Newman's "Something in the Air."

Sera Cahoone closed out the night.  This Seattle-based musician managed to do one better than her openers: not only did she make her folk and country influences feel fresh, she made them feel as lived-in as your favorite jacket.  Gorgeous melodies consistently met with considered, luminously plainspoken lyrics, and the unaffected, unassuming ease with which Cahoone sang them rendered both even more attractive.  Her band followed suit: the weeping pedal steel, fluid dobro and lithe rhythm section added just the right colors and shadings, nothing more and nothing less.  Mature in the best sense of the word.

You can find info on these acts on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Duck Club Presents.