Tag: Sound Choices

John Kelly is a writer. Sometimes, he’s a songwriter. And with “Three Bright Stars,” he proves he’s a pretty damn good one.

Best known for his work as the Virginia Film Festival’s PR pointman, Kelly has been writing for decades—penning reams of corporate communications along with songs. 

Before moving to Charlottesville in 2001, Kelly started his journeyman music career playing shows around his hometown in Connecticut and in New York. In 2000, he released his first EP, Brighter Days. It was a promising early effort, a kind of Leonard Cohen-meets- Springsteen nugget of earthen salt.

Family life—particularly Kelly’s two children, small at the time—slowed the songwriter’s gigging through the aughts. But he never completely gave up the strings and singing lifestyle, and around 2010, he went back to it.

“Since then, it’s just been steadily building,” Kelly says. “It’s a matter of me recognizing again where that fits in my life.” 

Where exactly does it fit? Like many singer- songwriters dotting Charlottesville’s live music scene, it’s no longer about making it big for Kelly. He’s at a point in his life and career where if he weren’t happy making music for his own reasons, he wouldn’t do it anymore.

Since 2010, Kelly’s found more and more reasons to keep writing songs. He’s grown some critical musical relationships, played lots of shows, and consistently released tunes and tidbits on his social media channels. His second album, In Between, came out in 2020. 

“I have watched the songwriting scene here evolve for a long time, and there is a great history here that we all know very well, but there are also the people that work behind the trade,” Kelly says. “I’m continually impressed with the art makers in Charlottesville and the singer-songwriters that come from so many different approaches. In this region, I think you have to speak in your own language.”

Helping rekindle Kelly’s love for making music has been local guitar legend and band shapeshifter Rusty Speidel. The pair hit it off when they met over 10 years ago and soon began discussing an album. For In Between, they went into the booth with James McLaughlin, and the result was a ringing tone and clean production under Kelly’s earnest vocals and bittersweet lyrics with spiritual underpinnings.

Kelly and Speidel have continued to collaborate in the three years since, and Kelly says he has nine songs in the bank for when they decide to record again. 

“Three Bright Stars,” an ode to the UVA student-athletes shot and killed last November, is likely to be on any forthcoming John Kelly record. The pop gospel dirge, which has drawn nearly three times more streaming listens than any other track Kelly’s produced to date, tells the story of the student vigil on UVA’s South Lawn shortly after the shooting.

The song’s first verse describes the crowd arriving on the Lawn: “There had been microphones and TV lights, till the kids said take ’em down.” The second verse follows the students on their way home: “There’s a man who sits beside the bridge—he’s there most every day and night; tonight the only thing he’s asking is, ‘Is everyone all right?’”

After arriving home himself, Kelly saw a photo of the event on social media. He said it clearly showed “three bright stars shining over the proceedings.” He had his chorus.

With the blessing of Matt Weber, UVA’s chief creative officer, who took the photo that inspired the song’s title and refrain, and Jody Kielbasa, vice provost for the arts, Kelly headed back to McLaughlin’s Mountainside Studio with Speidel, as well as Michael Clem, Chris Holden, and Richmond-based keyboardist Daniel Clarke.

They laid down the track, but Kelly felt it was missing a beat.

Sensitive to the tragedies Charlottesville’s endured in the past several years and feeling his own tangential position in the student shooting, he’d had some reservations about putting “Three Bright Stars” out in the world. It was the students dealing with the tragedy whose story it was to tell, and he wanted them represented. “I asked myself, ‘Does there need to be another voice, and does it need to be mine?’” Kelly says. “I made a pact with myself to make sure I only recounted what I saw and what I experienced. It wasn’t going to make a statement about what should be done or assume any understanding of the way that these students felt or the way that these families felt.”

Kelly asked Michael Slon, director of UVA’s University Singers, to help complete the song. Slon gathered eight students to record a choral backing vocal, and “Three Bright Stars” was ready for release.

As for his own future, Kelly’s small kids have grown into young adults—and musicians themselves—and he has more time for writing these days. There’s that third album possibly coming soon, and he’s found a niche in local live performances, particularly on the winery and brewery circuit.

“I’m just really delighted to be any part of this incredible music community and to be able to release a song that seems to be resonating with people,” he says. “It was almost like it was supposed to happen in the way it did. And I feel honored that anyone is taking the time to listen.”

By Samantha Federico

The live music scene is better than it’s been in the last few years, and 2022 felt like a new era for music creators, with area artists being no exception. Fewer songs are being inspired by the pandemic, and it’s back to existential quests to wring something meaningful out of this world, and find love. 

Once the pandemic pause lifted, a slew of albums were released, and live show calendars were packed, from The Garage to the Ting Pavilion, with many bills featuring local musicians. After years of interviewing music artists in our area, I’ve come to realize that some of our baristas, bug exterminators, delivery drivers, and keyboard tappers are also mega talented with an instrument in hand or a microphone in front of them. 

Bands are filled with our friends and neighbors, and they need audience support. If you want to be a superhero, buy their albums, buy their koozies and T-shirts, and buy tickets to their shows. Here are some of the players who shared their talent with us in 2022. 

• Animal Sun, Generation Waiting (pop punk) 
• Butcher Brown, Butcher Brown Presents Triple Trey featuring Tennishu and R4ND4ZZO BIGB4ND (jazz, hip-hop, soul) 
• Caroline Spence, True North (folk-Americana) 

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Chris Leggett & The Copper Line, From the Idle Mind (alt-country): Country punk music has arrived in the form of Chris Leggett & The Copper Line’s From the Idle Mind. Leggett’s performance is cheeky, and he treats the listener as a friend who is privy to his inside jokes. Leggett was born and raised in Richmond, and grew up listening to Dave Matthews and John Prine. After releasing EPs in 2017 and 2018, Leggett partnered with the guitarist who’d started their middle school garage band. Their pop-punk jam influences can be heard all throughout Idle Mind, turning the amalgamation of punk and country into something sweet. “Eight Weeks” is a perfect emo-country song about love. “Always Knew” is a rowdy tune of heartbreak, on this record from a 27-year-old guy with a story to tell, who’s ready to break out of the Richmond scene (April 2022). 

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• Chris Murphy, Tunnel Vision (indie) 
• Darzo, Single Cell (soul, jazz) 
• Deau Eyes, Legacies (indie) 
• Drook, Life In Estates (indie pop) 
• Dropping Julia, Stranger (retro soul pop) 

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Disco Risqué, Joke Squad (rock): It’s almost 50 minutes of unfettered rock. Joke Squad is a passion project that’s been in the works for Charlottesville’s Disco Risqué since 2018. The idea was to have an epic instrumental album, and over a number of years, Ryan Calonder, Charlie Murchie, Andrew Hollifield, Robert Prescott, and Sean Hodge wrote songs that fit the bill, including one song (“John Doe has the Upper Hand’’) from as early as 2015. The name of the album was inspired by a criticism made by former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Sterling Sharpe, who called his team a “joke squad.” The guys fell in love with the name for the album, but it hardly defines these bandmates who interact as best buddies and play music that flows as effortlessly. DR’s live shows are a high-energy, one-of-a-kind experience that calls you back for more (November 2022). 

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• Eloise Granville, Paradoxical Feelings (pop) 
• Erin & The Wildfire, Touchy Feely (pop) 
• Fair Verona, In Memoriam (indie pop) 
• Films on Song, Fake Endings (post punk) 
• Kate Bollinger, Look at it in the Light (dream-pop) 
• Kendall Street Company, Untitled California Project (funky jams) 
• Kingdom of Mustang, Into Beautiful Blue (soft rock) 
• Lily Graciela, the light on fifth (indie pop) 
• Lord Nelson, Transmission (country rock) 
• Mariana Bell, Still Not Sleeping (pop, folk) 
• Mike Burris, Goodbye Town (country rock) 
• Nathan Colberg, Dream On, Kid (pop) 
• Rebecca Porter, Prime Rainbow Conditions (country) 
• Rebekah Rafferty and The Wakes, Two of Swords (indie pop) 
• Schuyler Fisk, We Could Be Alright (folk) 
• Stray Fossa, Closer Than We’ll Ever Know (indie) 

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Suz Slezak, Our Wings May Be Feather­less (Americana): She’s best known as part of the indie folk duo David Wax Museum, but Slezak shines on her debut solo album. Our Wings May Be Featherless is produced by Anthony da Costa (Yola, Sarah Jarosz), and was recorded between Nashville and her basement in Charlottes­ville. At 33 minutes, the record can’t tell her entire life story, but it does give a window into Slezak’s experience. From a best friend’s suicide when she was growing up, which follows her to this day, to navigating bipolar disorder, Slezak doesn’t hold back in her haunting lullabies. The tracks on Featherless are nearly opposite from the joyous tunes she makes with her husband on David Wax Museum, and it’s exciting and empowering to hear Slezak voice her own story (March 2022). 

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• Tyler Meacham, Into the Fray (indie) 
• The Octavias, The Octavias (rock)
• Various Artists, All The Best …From 6 Feet Away: A Charlottesville Tribute To John Prine (country-folk) 
• Will Overman, Heart Pine (country) 
• Work Wear, Charger (rock) 
• Yard Sale, Yard Sale (emo rock) 

Singles and what to look forward to in 2023

• Amy Martin, Good Morning Beautiful (country) 
• Andrew Montana, Do They Call To You? (indie) 
• Annabeth McNamara, Opening Up (folk pop) 
• Cougar Beatrice, Neck Romancer (rock) 
• Illiterate Light, Light Me Up with an upcoming album, Sunburned (out January 27, 2023) (alt-rock) 
• Isabel Bailey Band, Favorite Color In The Summer (folk) 
• Isabel March, Never All Alone (dreamy folk, indie pop) 
• Jake Sawyer, Ghosts (folk) 
• Lowland Hum, Feeling Like Myself Again (folk) 
• Silas Frayser, Stay (alt-rock) 
• Trout Baseline, So Can I (indie pop) 
• Unheard Sirens Inc., Altered Egos (synth pop) 
• Willie DE, Born to Act (folk)

By Greg Walker

Kate Bollinger

Look at it in the Light, Ghostly International

Look at it in the Light, Kate Bollinger’s debut release on Ghostly International, is a soul-searching expedition. “Pleases me to know I might be wrong / if only I had known it all along,” the Charlottesville, Virginia, native sings on “I Found Out,” the EP’s opening track. According to the artist notes on Bandcamp, Light’s title is a “reference to the aspects of Bollinger’s life that she knows need examining.” And examine she does, in an honest, emotionally piercing way that anyone struggling to grow can relate to. The resulting music is as sweet and playful as it gets when you’re tackling tough self-examination. Working with Richmond artists John Trainum and Chris Lewis, Bollinger has been likened to Big Thief, Cat Power, and Weather Station. (As a bonus treat, take a look at Pear Juice Productions’ humorous, charming music video for “Who Am I But Someone,” which captures a throwback feel, with modern sensibilities.) Bollinger takes the stage at The Southern Café & Music Hall on June 18 (release date, April 22).

Work Wear 

Charger EP

Films on Song 

Sonatine EP, WarHen Records

Whether it’s the Southern-tinged alternative rock of Work Wear or the post-punk of Films on Song, this split EP is a deep musical dive, with three songs from each act. Charger and Sonatine play like a stacked bill at a small club: Work Wear’s songs all pass the seven-minute mark, and brim with vulnerability (“What is it you would say / If I never changed?”) and adventurous guitar breakdowns à la Modest Mouse. Films on Song’s tracks are shorter, and often favor absurdity (“We can leave this planet if you’re bored and want to go / I’d be happy happy to”). It’s a you’ve-been-punked, tongue-in-cheeky taste of what we hope to hear more of from this “small gang of humans.”Check out the double EP on Warhen’s Bandcamp page at a pay-what-you-will price (release date, May 6). 

Shadowgrass

Shadowgrass, Self-released

The members of bluegrass country band Shadowgrass met in 2014 at fiddler conventions in southern Virginia and North Carolina, bonded over a love of hot pickin’, and have been traveling the country ever since. The group’s high-energy, soul-resonant music frequently ventures away from traditional bluegrass, and has won a slew of awards. 

And whether it’s Grateful Dead’s ”Mr. Charlie” or Hall & Oates’ “Rich Girl,” Shadowgrass’ spin on classics is a progressive, string-rich sound that doesn’t forget where it came from. The band’s solid writing is evident on intricate instrumental tracks like “Carl’s Breakdown” and “Creatures of Havoc,” and the vocally rich “Brushy Mountain Pen” shows a talent for storytelling that might find other musicians covering Shadowgrass songs in the future. Shadowgrass appears on the main stage at HoustonFest in Galax, Virginia, on June 10 (release date, April 29).

By Greg Walker

Lord Nelson

Transmission, Self released

If Tom Petty, with his tight-gripped, loose-lipped optimism, sang about bank robberies and car crashes, drug busts and broken relationships, it would sound something like Lord Nelson on Transmission, the group’s latest 11-track offering, a project that attempts to capture the dynamic, gritty-yet-generous pre-pandemic live sound of the band when it was doing shows throughout the country. As COVID-19 loosened its grip, Lord Nelson released the album, hoping that people would find something to nod their heads and tap their feet to, while discovering solace in the pain of a sometimes brutal world—and maybe catch the group on the road again in the near future. Mission accomplished.

Lord Nelson’s sound and words take on the darker side of life, with a hope and a prayer that music will bring us together and exorcize our demons. The band also relates to listeners in a way that even Petty was unable to do. The musicianship and songwriting is of a high order, and the songs cover a lot of ground through a set of grizzly short stories. If you like songs that uplift while not shying away from the shadowy parts of life, you might find a new favorite in Transmission. “This old world is bound to see you fail / But I love you tooth and nail.” (Released January 2022)

The Haze & Dacey Collective

Letters from Gilead, HazyShade Productions

The Haze & Dacey Collective has put together a stunning reworking of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale in the form of 10 songs that recount the novel’s war on women. Musically, Letters from Gilead is sparse and simple, though the mandolin, piano, and group vocals provide a lushness to the project. The lyrics might lack poetry in favor of storytelling, but they will resonate with anyone who’s read the book or seen the TV series—even the uninitiated will be moved. 

Letters from Gilead is Kirsten “Haze” Hazler’s attempt to support women during a time when women’s rights, reproductive and otherwise, are threatened by callous governments. Atwood has said in interviews that everything she wrote in The Handmaid’s Tale has already happened in our times, and it’s reflected in Letters’ title track: “I don’t know what you see on the news / but no doubt they sanitize the views.” The album plays like a drama, as we follow June and other characters, their loss of freedom and will to live, their glimmers of hope, in the form of love and lust, family and escape.

It is a grand undertaking that shows Hazler & Dacey’s skill at distillation and evocation. At the core of Atwood’s work and this album is the question: What is life worth without freedom? (Released November 2021)

Didn’t it feel good to see that first live show after nearly a year without live music? The return of concerts this summer fall and marked one major bright spot in 2021, a year that was otherwise filled with uncertainty. (In some cases, even festivals came back!) But the pseudo-post-pandemic music scene looks much different. Wait times and lines at most venues are long, as proof of vaccination is checked at the door, and most club shows continue to be masked at the request of artists. Kudos to the artists, venues, and production companies that have been working hard to keep the industry afloat while providing a safe and comfortable experience for audiences.

While touring has been inconsistent, there’s one robust constant: creativity. There’s been no lack of new music in our region. It’s important to support the artists and venues in our community from the ground up—purchase tickets, purchase merch, and purchase music—and there’s a lot to choose from. Here’s a slice of central Virginia’s creative output in 2021.

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• 38KEA, Seeds, Thy Divine Thresher (hip-hop)
• 7th Grade Girl Fight, 7th Grade Girl Fight (post-punk)
• Abby Huston, AH HA (indie-rock)
• Bryan Elijah Smith, Apocalyptic Blues (Americana)
• Butcher Brown, Encore (funk, jazz)
• Darzo, Single Cell (pop)
• David Wax Museum, Euphoric Ouroboric (folk)
• Disco Risqué, D3P (pop, funk)

DJ Harrison, Tales from the Old Dominion (funk): Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and the removal of Confederate statues in his hometown of Richmond, DJ Harrison crafted a multifaceted commentary on race and space that taps into his prowess in a variety of genres, from funk and jazz to garage rock and punk. With Jimi Hendrix and Roy Ayers covers sprinkled in, Tales from the Old Dominion makes for a captivating listen.

• DJ Williams, Short Stories (funk)
• Fahim Rahman, Phototherapy EP (indie)
• Fellowman, Walking Tours (hip-hop)
• Høly River, Courage (indie)
• Free Union, No Pressure (pop)
• John-Robert, Healthy Baby Boy Pt. 1 (pop)
• Kendall Street Company, The Year the Earth Stood Still: Ninurta + Inertia double LP (rock)
• Lael Neale, Acquainted with Night (folk, pop)
• Lowland Hum, At Home (folk)

Lucy Dacus, Home Video (indie): Released over the summer, Lucy Dacus’ opus still holds up at the end of the year, with predictions of album of the year coming to fruition: Home Video is NPR Music’s No. 3 album of the year, Consequence of Sound’s No. 6, and one of the top 30 rock albums of year as ranked by Pitchfork. The Richmond singer-songwriter’s well-deserved ascent is a triumph, and on Home Video, she harkens back to where she came from—creating an intimate portrait that draws on her high school experiences and also serves as a spotlight on our region, with music videos shot in downtown Richmond.

• Matthew E. White, K Bay (indie)
• Matthew E. White & Lonnie Holley, Broken Mirror, A Selfie Reflection (indie)
• McKinley Dixon, For My Mama And Anyone Who Look Like Her (hip-hop)
• Michael Clem, Rivannarama (Americana)
• Mitchel Evan, Mitchel Evan (Americana)
• Pet Moose Project, Goat Tracks (rock)
• Prabir Trio, Haanji (indie)
• Root Cellar Remedy, The Quarantown EP (blues, rock, country)
• Sally Rose, Tread Light (pop, folk)
• Ships In The Night, Latent Powers (dance)
• The Steel Wheels, Everyone A Song Vol. Two (Americana)
• Stray Fossa, With You For Ever (indie-pop, shoegaze)
• Tyler Meachum, Into the Fray (indie)
• Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno, Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno (Americana, folk)
• Will Overman, The Winemaker’s Daughter (folk)

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Reissues, remixes, covers

Diet Cig, Don’t Like Driving Like I Used To + Live at Studio Two Three (pop-punk): The duo of Alex Luciano and Noah Bowman recently relocated from New York to Richmond, and settled in with an EP of reimagined songs from their 2020 album, Do You Wonder About Me?. On the heels of this three-song set came the release of Live at Studio Two Three, an album that showcases Diet Cig’s unmatched live shows. While Bowman holds down the beat on the drum kit, Luciano bounces around the stage, accenting her fluid vocals with buoyant jumps and high kicks—making Diet Cig a solid addition to the commonwealth.

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Singles…and what’s to come in 2022

• Ben Butterworth, “Purgatory Emporium” (indie)
• Blake Hunter, “I Can’t Lose You” (indie)
• David Wax Museum ft. Devon Sproule, Lauren Groans, and Dan Molad, “Love Light” (Americana)
• Deau Eyes, “When” (indie)
• Dropping Julia, “Chesapeake,” + “My Room” (pop)
• Free Union, “Somethin’”+ “The Other Side” (R&B)
• Good Dog Nigel, “My Whole Life” (indie)
• Gold Connections, “Confession” (indie)
• Isaac Friend, “How is LA” + “American Made” (Americana)
• Kate Bollinger, “Shadows” + “Yards/Gardens” (indie-pop)
• Lord Nelson, “Tooth and Nail” off the upcoming album Transmission (release date: January 21) (Americana)
• Minor Poet, “Dissonance of Love/Silent Violent Creatures” (indie-pop)
• Sleepwalkers, “Until the Night is Gone” (indie)
• Suz Slezak, Our Wings May Be Featherless (release date: March 4) (Americana)
• The Judy Chops, “Ready My Heart” + “Good Days Are Gone” + “Goodbye Sunday Morning” (Americana, jazz)
• Trout Baseline, “One Baby World” (indie)

Lowland Hum

At Home, Tone Tree Music

The Charlottesville-based wife/husband duo of Lauren and Daniel Goans have returned with their second quarantine-recorded album this year. (They released So Low, a reinterpretation of Peter Gabriel’s So, in May.) While So Low sought external inspiration, At Home is an intimate look inward, inspired largely by the birth of the couple’s first child. On the standout track “2082,” they ruminate on the sociopolitical climate, the state of the environment, and how the future will be impacted for the next generation. Brimming with their signature harmonies, At Home is a solid next stage for the homegrown act (released October 22).

Abby Huston

AH HA, Egghunt Records 

Abby Huston grew up in Falls Church, and became integrated into the commonwealth’s arts scene while studying sculpture at VCU in Richmond. On AH HA, their sophomore output and debut on Egghunt Records, they offer a fresh and welcome voice to the spate of local music. Part shoegaze and part R&B, Huston’s dreamlike offerings are a perfect accompaniment to a chilly fall evening (released October 22).

7th Grade Girl Fight

7th Grade Girl Fight, Self-release

What began as a side project for Charlottesville musician Debra Guy has morphed into a full-blown, knock-down-the-door debut by a group of veteran local artists. After a series of area gigs and a string of singles, the musicians convened at James McLaughlin’s Mountainside Studio to take their output to the next level. Featuring Guy on vocals, Drew Pompano on bass, Wes Fleming on guitar, Bill Morris on drums, and J.J. Williams on synths/keys, 7th Grade Girl Fight’s self-titled full-length comes out of the gate swinging. Each track is a tightly crafted and concerted burst of rollicking energy for fans of garage rock or post-punk (released October 15).

Minor Poet

“Dissonance of Love”/ ”Silent Violent Creatures,” Self-release 

Richmond-based musician Andrew Carter struck indie gold when he made his Sub Pop Records debut with the release of 2019’s The Good News. He’s followed that up with an awaited pair of singles, “Dissonance of Love” and “Silent Violent Creatures,” which continue his penchant for drumming up punchy pop-rock landscapes (released September 29).