If It's Too Loud...

Considering Lydia Loveless and Drive-By Truckers are two of my favorite artists, I was truly bummed out that their tour wasn't hitting the Boston area, even though they had played in Boston just last spring. Luckily, Lydia Loveless announced a show on an off night for the Drive-By Truckers. There was no way I could miss that, especially since it had been eight years since I saw her with a full band. Lydia Loveless has been moving away from the alt-country sound that she started out with ever since 2016's Real and 2020's Daughter . On Sunday night at Askew her sound has evolved even more. Her band has always had a more punk/indie rock sound to their live show, but with the addition of a new bass player and a new second guitar player (apologies, I didn't catch their names!), the band's sound has taken on a more shoegaze sound. This might be since the new guitar player plays with one of the largest pedal boards I've ever seen, but the newer songs packed more of a p...

Photo by Michelle Lotker I absolutely loved Jake Blount's 2020 album Spider Tales  and have wanted to see him ever since first hearing it. Seeing him should be quite easy considering he's based in Providence, RI and I'm somewhat close to the city. But we all know how life has turned out the past almost two years, so this was my first chance. It turns out that this was Blount's first Providence show since relocating to the city from Virginia, so it was kind of a special night for everyone. Seeing Jake Blount and his band perform live isn't just a concert. He's also an ethnomusicologist, so he will explain the origins of songs and general musical history while tuning between songs. In fact, he even explained that the reason he was tuning so much between songs is the unusual tunings used in early folk. If you're a fan of roots music and history, this is a special treat.  And then there's the music itself. Blount moved between styles in his set, going betwee...