POSTED: Tuesday, December 14, 2010, 5:00 PM
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| photo by Sean Kearney |
| Crooked Fingers |
Eric Bachman, better known for his work for the North Carolina group Archers of Loaf, checked in at Johnny Brenda's Friday night with his solo project, Crooked Fingers. Under that moniker, Bachman has released five pretty impressive albums of folk rock tracks with thoughtful lyrics. Supported by Strand of Oaks and Cotton Jones, Johnny Brenda's played host to an impressive evening of folk music.
Timothy Showalter (aka Strand of Oaks) a long haired, bearded Wilkes-Barre native, took the stage amongst about a dozen pedals and a few dozen people. With echoed vocals and a simple one-man-and-a-guitar presentation, Strand of Oaks is a sight to be seen live. There's a quiet intensity to these songs, many of them off his newest album Pope Killdragon. With Showalter's Robin Pecknold-like delivery there is a comforting sense of the familiar, but the instrumentation throws us a folk curveball. Showalter uses loop pedals to fill out the multiple layers that would normally be missing with a one man show. The result is a fleshed out performance with multiple guitar sounds and soothing, under water sounding rhythm parts. Of course, none of this would mean a thing if the songs weren't actually good, but every song off Killdragon is worth listening to. The small whispered instead of speaking during the set, which says a lot about a bar crowd. The only thing wrong with the set was that it was a bit too short. It seemed like everyone in attendance could have gone for more. Strand of Oaks has a ton of upside, so I'd suggest going to these small shows while you can.
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| photo by Sean Kearney |
| Cotton Jones |
Cotton Jones of Frederick, Maryland, took the folky night into a different direction by doing more traditional sounding folk songs with a bit of a psych twist upon them. There's a little bit of a difference between recorded and live tracks, as live they tend to have a more organic folk sound, whereas on the album the songs are a bit more effected. Willie Nelson-like male vocals matched with a female voice over top of lazy folk to classic folk rock rhythms provided a nice middle act for the night. This is music that fits a bar and socializing making it very conducive to Johnny Brenda's atmosphere.
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| photo by Sean Kearney |
| Crookeder Rain |
Out of nowhere, both the floor and balcony areas were pretty much filled up almost immediately before Crooked Fingers took the stage. The setup was simple: Eric Bachman on guitar and a simple floor tom, snare, ride cymbal and electric pad percussion set up. The instruments sat in front a projection screen, playing interesting footage such as fireworks going off in reverse, a sparkler in slow motion, and a man living in an isolated room floating upon the water. Crooked Fingers took songs both new and old and executed them all quite well. Bachman's finger picking skill is nothing short of amazing to watch, his fingers flying about the strings all in perfect rhythm with the simple floor tom, snare drum beats. Some people may be turned off by how at times songs performed live sound quite similar to how they sound on the album at times, but the performance really showed off Bachman's technical skill on what are already impressive tracks. There seemed to be a floating nostalgia through the crowd, many of them hanging on every little note, old or new. The set probably lasted a little more than an hour and 15 minutes, including 2 encore songs, which after already having 2 solid opening acts made the show well worth the money. This was a show with no real weak link, just a collection of complementary bands that delivered.
