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| Owls and Reclaimed Materials: Otus Supply |
As I have often lamented on these pages, venues that support live, local, acoustic music are few and far between.
Otus Supply, open since the dawn of the new year in the heart of
Fashionable Ferndale, has been bucking the trend, offering not only
first class "farm to table" fare and made from scratch cocktails, but an incredibly diverse and thoughtful array of musical acts. It is rare for venues now days to have a dedicated music space, yet
Otus Supply is no traditional restaurant, and the venue's
Parliment Room (the name is both a tie-in to the restaurant's owl theme and a not-so-subtle nod to George Clinton's funky contribution to the Detroit music scene) has recently hosted a non-stop parade of both nationally touring bands and the best in local acts. Armed with a free ticket courtesy of the
Southeast Michigan Bluegrass Association and an invitation from Otus' Manager/Promoter Joe Choma, I finally managed to slip away to enjoy a night of hardcore Americana from North Carolina band
Mipso and their special guest, Kentucky's own
Tyler Childers.
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| Songwriter/Storyteller Tyler Childers |
While the
Parliment Room is a "standing room only" venue, there were a dozen or so low-backed bar stools and a handful of high-top table sprinkled through the space. I was fortunate to arrive early and snag a stool a the bar where I could both see and hear the music, and had easy access to the services of the hardworking, professional and very attentive bar staff. Childers kicked off the night with a solo-acoustic set of dirty blue collar original songs and some tasteful covers draw from outlaw and alt-country sources. His cover of Roy Acuff's
Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain had the bearded hipster-heavy crowd and twenty-something bar staff singing along and hanging on every word (I wonder how many of them have even heard the original?) . His guitar playing blends finger blurring Carter-style rhythm riffs with soulful, bluesy fill licks thrown in when you least expect them. His voice is on the raggedy edge of control lending it an instant credibility an vulnerability that blends perfectly with the lyrics of his songs. His original material is well written, interesting and perfectly conveys the dirt-poor Appalachia of his childhood. Childers had an easy-going and relaxed banter on stage and instantly made a connection with his audience, sharing the stories behind his original songs which were often just as emotional and impactful as the songs themselves. When he finished a song and shared with the crowd: "No girl deserves plastic roses on Valentine's Day", there wasn't a person in the crowd who didn't agree--or know why. It is not hard to hear the influence of Woody Guthrie and other great American storyteller/songwriters in Tyler Childer' songs. You owe it to yourself to go hear what he has to offer.
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| Mipso gettin' er done! |
Headlining the evening was Chapel Hill's indie-Americana group,
Mipso. While this was definitely a modern folk rock/Americana band, you could definitely hear the bluegrass and Old-Tyme Appalachian roots to their music. The band is built around a traditional, acoustic instrument mix familiar to most SeMiBluegrass fans--fiddle, mandolin, guitar, upright bass--with the occasional electric guitar/bass part thrown in. A lot of the lead work was shouldered by fiddler Libby Rodenbough who has a distinctive, haunting and richly syncopated approach to melody. It really fit the plaintive and melancholy feel of many of their songs. That is not to say that guitarist Joseph Terrell and mandolinist Jacob Sharp were slouches on their instruments, both pitching in complex and engaging solo work as the night progressed. New to the band was a drummer (I missed his name), who managed to encompass the "drive" of a banjo player without muddying up the sound of the band--a rare skill these days. Bassist Wood Robinson contributed a rock-solid rhythm throughout the night, as well as some killer harmony vocals--as well of the "Tee Shirt of the Night" from the
Bluegrass Situation.
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| Harmony Vocals the way they SHOULD be done. |
It was definitely those vocal harmonies that set Mipso apart. Their original material was easily approachable to the indie-rock crowd, but--at the same time--seamlessly integrated the plaintive, haunting and wistful tradition of mountain music that fans of traditional music could instantly identify with. Many of their songs featured one of the band members on lead while the rest contributed harmony parts on the refrain and/or assorted vocal "fills" to flesh out the sound and give the song some soul. Slow, soulful songs that built to a climax shared the stage equally with with up-tempo rockers and even a quirky Davie Bowie cover. I found their set very enjoyable to watch, yet even more enjoyable when I closed my eyes and listed to the intricacies of what they do. While their more modern material was engaging and entertaining, when the band pulled out the condenser mic and gathered around for a "one mic gospel" number, the night really hit it's stride. Leaning together to both hear each other and take visual clues, the bands' voices combined seamlessly into wave of music that washed out over the crowd mesmerizing and enchanting them. Truly one of the more spectacular vocal performances I've seen. So, when the night drew to its' far-too-early close, I was both impressed and pleased that the band returned for an encore, invited the crowd to gather at the front of the stage, and closed out the night with a non-amplified, A' Capella version of Jimmy Martin's classic
Drink Up and Go Home. A perfect ending to a perfect night.
Miscellaneous pictures from the evening below. Feel free to like/share/tag freely with credit to
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