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sinceileftyoublog · 4 months

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Willi Carlisle & Golden Shoals Live Show Review: 2/9, Schubas, Chicago

From left to right: Grady Drugg, Willi Carlisle, Sophie Mae Wellington

BY JORDAN MAINZER

For Willie Carlisle and Golden Shoals, playing live is both an opportunity to share the stories behind the songs and the stories behind the band itself. Both the Fayetville, Arkansas singer-songwriter and Nashville-based folk duo work outside the machinations of the mainstream country scene but are intimately aware of it. Their songs, though, have the perfectly classic country mix of truth and legend, tales of living outdoors and the ills of late capitalism seamlessly weaving the rawness of reality with the showmanship of exaggeration. Their show at Schubas on Friday exemplified what they do best.

Carlisle delivered a triumphant set balancing his new album Critterland (Signature Sounds) with back catalog favorites. Accompanied by guitarist Grady Drugg and fiddler Sophie Mae Wellington (who also showed off her flatfoot dancing skills), Carlisle contextualized his songs with his personal history and ethos. When he started playing music, Carlisle traveled the country with his banjo, sleeping in his van or outside, including in Millennium Park and under the Clark Street Bridge. He busked in Mariano Park; like a tried and true flaneur with a flair for the colloquial, on Friday, he referred to Mariano Park what we Chicagoans call it: the Viagra Triangle. To Carlisle, though, these days, a song like "The Van Life" from 2022's Peculiar, Missouri is less biography and more a recognition of, as Carlisle put it, "the failure of the American left," the crisis of the unhoused, and immoral eviction laws.

Carlisle & Wellington

With so much weight behind his songs, it would be easy for Carlisle to fall victim to overexplaining. However, I found his banter essential, just as much a part of the show as the songs themselves. Take a song like "The Great Depression". Carlisle knows that giving a song that title while adopting even a bit of an old-timey aesthetic conjures thoughts of stock market crashes, John Steinbeck, and Woody Guthrie. To hear that it's really about epigenetics, and the passing down of not just generational trauma but the love of song, was revelatory, and made me appreciate it even more as a folk tune. When Carlisle played "The Arrangements" for his father, his father apparently replied, "I didn't know you knew your grandfather that well." Carlisle clarified that both his grandfather and father were good dads, adding a layer of complexity to it all; as a result of our actions, what we pass down, up, or to the side is not always so clear-cut.

During his set, Carlisle mentioned the paradox of "authentic" country music in 2024: After all, those who claim to be authentic are, as he noted, rehashing the very concept of authenticity. What was more important on Friday was a sense of audience or listener inclusion, true to the spirit of the punk music he grew up on or the folk music he's adopted. Hoedown "Boy Howdy, Hot Dog!" and Gospel-style main set closer "Your Heart's a Big Tent" inspired not just singalongs but stomp-alongs. And a show-stopping a capella performance of Critterland closer "The Money Grows on Trees" quieted the crowd to a state of rapture, save for what will be Carlisle's eternal outlaw chorus. ("Oh, hippies, hillbillies, won't you gather 'round? / A good man murdered, a bad man drowned / The cops are all moonshiners now / But the money grows on trees / Yeah, the money grows on trees.") The stories from an area of Northern Arkansas where, according to Carlisle, rumors fly and can rival network TV, may not be, for lack of a better word, authentic. But Carlisle knows, even on mostly true story "Higher Lonesome", that relying on our memory is not always the best way to be an effective troubadour, or even to get at the core veracity of life.

Golden Shoals' Amy Alvey & Mark Kilianski

Golden Shoals' two members came from contrasting backgrounds, and like Carlisle, they apply a punk spirit to folk music. Fiddle player Amy Alvey, from California, met guitarist and banjoist Mark Kilianski, from New Jersey, at Berklee College of Music in 2008. (Kilianski first picked up a guitar so he could learn Limp Bizkit's everlasting dumbass anthem "Break Stuff".) They started playing together in 2013 and touring full-time in 2016. Each member brings their distinct experiences into the Golden Shoals songs they write and sing. Many of the tunes could be country-folk standards, like Kilianski's rollicking "(Who'da Thought) Thinkin' About The Good Times (Could Ever Make You Feel So Bad)" and weary tale of hitchhiker's luck "Coffee in the Morning". Alvey is a rapt observer of place. On the as-yet-unreleased "Everybody's a Somebody", she sang about the "kind of famous" people in Nashville, squinting hard enough to see whether that truly is Orville Peck and Sierra Ferrell sitting at the bar at the American Legion. Another new song detailed the changes permeating Fredericksburg, VA, a city she's never called home but visited many times. The chosen details ranged from evidence of gentrification to "the Bachmans buried their favorite dog," which, yes, is a reference to the family of Daniel Bachman.

Kilianski

Alvey's "Bitter", co-written with Rachel Baiman, came to light after Spotify ghoul/CEO Daniel Ek basically insinuated that working musicians need to release new music every week in order to compete in the market. Though the irony was not lost on Alvey that the song is available to stream on Spotify, the band found a way to pivot: they've now been selling homemade bitters as part of their merch. It seemed like a metaphor for the night's bill. The music that artists like Carlisle and Golden Shoals make may never again be "popular," and it's not more--gulp--authentic because it's not popular. But it adapts within the hell-world, and finds strength in its own spirit and the reception of those who may find some validity in the stories for themselves.

Alvey

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mutualfriendsrecords-blog · 6 years

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Here’s an interview we did with Grady Philip Drugg back in April.

Keeping up with Grady Philip Drugg

Today I’m talking with Grady Philip Drugg about his upcoming release “Art Is Supposed To Be Fun!”. I met Grady for the first time a few months ago. He’d been living in Austin for over half a year and we’d finally found the time to link up. He’s been a great friend since and I’m super hyped to be able to talk with him about this new release.

MF: Hey Grady, thanks for talking with us today!

GD: No problem boyo, glad to do it.

MF: Tell us about your upcoming album release.

GD: Okay. What do you wanna know about it?

MF: When is it coming out? Where can we find it?

GD: It’ll be out April 21st via Deep Sea Records. You can actually already pre-order it through their site. (http://deepsearecords.limitedrun.com/) Otherwise, you can get one from me at a show. I’ll be on tour in mid July and I’ll have em with me.

MF: That’s exciting, where are you going on your tour?

GD: Lawrence, KS

Columbia, MO

Springfield, MO

Fayetteville, AR

Oklahoma City, OK

Denton, TX

Lafayette, LA

Austin, TX

Still need a gig for Denton, TX so if anyone wants to help me out, hit me up haha.

MF: So, how might this album differ from some of the others that we’ve heard from you?

GD: It’s all over the place. Everyone who has heard it agrees that it’s way different from my last release. First off, half was recorded on my 4 track and half was recorded in my friend’s studio. I think the songs are better on this one, definitely… The last album was a bunch of pop filler stuff that I did for fun, which is cool, but as far as actual songwriting goes, it wasn’t the best.

This new one, I encourage everyone to have a sit-down listen because I definitely intended for it to be one cohesive thing. I wanted the formats of recording to emphasize the emotional feel of each song, so we tried to transition each one so that the analog tracks and digital tracks didn’t sound too weird… I really like it. I’m proud of this record.

MF: That’s really exciting! I’m hyped to hear it.

GD: Thanks man, I’m excited for it to finally be out haha.

MF: Are we going to be hearing any of the new songs at the Planned Parenthood benefit show?

GD: Definitely, yes.

MF: Can you tell us about your current guitar rig?

GD: As far as guitars, I’m really into oddball vintage stuff. My main guitar right now is a 1967 Alamo Fury, which is sort of like a Danelectro type deal. It was made to be a student guitar… Also, it was made in San Antonio back it the day, so that’s cool. My other one is a 1976 SD Curlee, which is more like a poor man’s Travis Bean. It screams Jerry Garcia to me.

For my amp, I just got a 65 Princeton reissue which is really cool, I’ve always wanted one. Love that low wattage breakup. My bass player has a Vox AC30 that he uses in his studio and sometimes I’ll run that in stereo with my Princeton.

Unfortunately the Alamo guitar will not be making an appearance at any shows in the near future because I cut the shit out of my finger a few days ago and the SD Curlee is just much easier to play because it’s like a shredder guitar and it has super low action.

MF: I can’t wait to hear it all in action. So you moved to Austin about 7 months ago right?

GD: Shit, actually I think in two weeks it’ll be a year!

MF: Holy heck, time is fucked up.

GD: Dude I know hahahah.

MF: Anyway, how was your move from Springfield? How’ve you been liking Austin?

GD: Definitely digging Austin, TX over Springfield, MO. Not that I don’t have mad love for Springfield. But while Springfield is definitely home for a lot of my closest friends, it’s mostly inhabited by shitty republican meth people. At least that’s the impression I got, but I worked jobs that kind of gravitated towards that demographic, I guess.

By the way, Springfield really was the meth capital of the world for a time, so I’m not just hatin’.

MF: I know what you mean, that can be really hard to escape. I’m glad you like it here. Let’s talk about that OG steak n’ shake in downtown springfield!

GD: Yes, let’s.

MF: Oh and the mix!

GD: Haha I never really frequented the Mix. I know our dude Alex Harris is a fan.

MF: I’ve been to Springfield once in my life. It was my first time meeting Alex or being there. We went to The Mix for karaoke and $1 Budweiser on tap. It was a wild night.

GD: Hahaha yeah, that sounds like an Alex night. Alex is a fun guy to party with. I never really frequented a whole lot of bars, really, but we used to have some fun together, definitely.

MF: While we’re on the subject, didn’t you and Alex used to play in a band together?

GD: Yeah, we totally did! For those who don’t know, Alex and I played together in Grammer. Actually, when Grammer split, Alex and our singer Maxx went on to form a new band called Turf, and our guitarist Dakota and I went on to form Importer/Exporter. Alex and I also had a little project for a second called Ghost Bike, so go check that out. We’ve been meaning to record new music forever but we’ve just never gotten around to it.

https://grammercomma.bandcamp.com

https://importer-exporter.bandcamp.com

https://ghostbike417.bandcamp.com

(Turf doesn’t have anything on bandcamp yet)

And by the way, I don’t know when Turf’s new record is coming out, but it’s fantastic. They recorded it with Jonathan from Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and he always does an incredible job.

MF: How would you say the Austin scene differs from that of Springfield’s?

GD: Austin’s scene seems more like a bunch of different scenes, whereas Springfield’s was definitely more unified. That being said, there were a lot of petty little cliques and people who didn’t like each other, so I won’t say it’s better by any means.

I feel like in Austin, everyone is kind of just doing their own thing, so you’re free to do yours. I dig it.

MF: Tell us about your PBR tattoo

GD: Haha I don’t really drink a whole lot anymore so I have kind of a strained nostalgia about it. I have a tattoo of a grim reaper with sunglasses smoking a cigarette that says “pbr youth” but that’s kind of a joke about the Grammer boys and our extended family. We jokingly referred to ourselves as the PBR youth crew.

MF: I love it.

GD: Haha thanks man

MF: You mentioned that this album is more of a “sit down” type album – Can you tell us a little about your writing process and the inspiration behind some of these songs?

GD: I think this one is going back to the kind of songwriting I was about before I put out my self titled. If you listen to my first EP Great Lands, or even my very first demo, all the songs are almost entirely lyric based. Like I said, the self titled just happened as a fun project. As far as the subject matter, I think I talk a lot about facing fears, leaving home, love, goofy stuff like that. But the biggest thing I think comes from this song, Pretending is Stupid. There’s one line where I say, “Why should I pretend to like what I don’t like? Just to be a cool guy and pick fights?” That comes from people in the music scene ousting others because they don’t like the right bands or wear the right clothes. I think that shit is wack. Art is for everybody. And even if your intention is to make something grotesque and disorienting, it should feel good to make. You shouldn’t feel like you have to make a certain kind of thing because other people don’t think it’s cool. Art is supposed to be fun.

MF: I couldn’t agree more. So with the exception of your tour, what’s next for you? (As a musician or as a person)

GD: At the moment, I’m just focusing on finishing up this semester of college. Then in June I’m actually going into a big studio to record a few new songs for an EP or a single or something. I don’t know when that’s gonna come out, but I’m excited. I think I’m gonna use my band on the session and we’re gonna record the bulk of it live, which will be nice, because I usually play everything myself.

MF: I’m glad we could talk. Thanks so much for your time Grady!

GD: Yup, thank you!

Make sure to catch Grady Philip Drugg at Beerland on April 25th and to watch the video for I Fear So Deeply.

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Art Is Supposed To Be Fun! is now available at:

www.deepsearecords.limitedrun.com

Cover: Christopher Knisley

#grady philip drugg #deep sea records #mutual friends records #art is supposed to be fun!

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