AmericanaFest 2015 Finds The Groove

Darlingside at The Basement

When Cambridge, Massachusetts indie-folk rockers Darlingside took the stage at the Basement on Wednesday night, their aesthetic was, admittedly, a bit puzzling; they looked more like a band fresh off a long tour with Young the Giant than a troupe of mandolin playing, four-part-harmony singing Americana musicians. The look makes total sense, though: until a few years ago, Darlingside was a five-piece indie rock band whose albums featured heavier drumming and far fewer harmonies and strings.

Now that they’ve cut out almost all drumming, though, and honed in on a tighter, softer sound, Darlingside puts on one hell of a show. Their stage banter is absolutely top-notch, warming the listener to the band and their music before a single note is played. “White Horses” and “Go Back” were standout performances off of the band’s recently released LP Birds Say, though Darlingside’s strongest performance of the night was their slow and sweet “My Love” from 2012’s Pilot Machines. If you’re hard on the lookout for the next band you’re going to fall for, your search can end with Darlingside. Catch one show, one all-too-short love ballad and one of mandolinist and violinist Auyon Mukharji’s anecdotes about the dark side of touring and you’ll be hooked. – EMILY MAXWELL

John Moreland at Mercy Lounge

John Moreland stopped by American Songwriter Thursday afternoon for one of our sporadic office sessions. The Oklahoma songster had been on vocal rest for several days due to a throat condition, and he sipped from Kroger-brand seltzer water, a trusty medicinal tonic, as our audio engineer Steve Martin set up the mics and checked the levels.

Moreland played three songs, two from his latest album High On Tulsa Heat, and we felt privileged to catch his live performance in such a close-knit setting. You never would have guessed he’d been dealing with throat issues earlier — his vocals boomed.

Those three tunes, good as they were, only whet our appetite for more, so we made our way to his showcase Friday night at Mercy Lounge, which was packed to the gills with sweaty patrons and a little heavy on drunken chit-chat in the back (that’s to expected on Night 4 of any music festival, though). Still, those conditions didn’t threaten a performance where many in attendance hung on every word.

Sporting his trademark camouflage baseball cap, Moreland came out and played for thirty minutes, with the greeting “I’m from Tulsa, Oklahoma” constituting his only stage banter of the night. He opened with “Hang Me In The Tulsa County Stars,” a bluesy number that unspools with one good line after another. “Babe, I know this world will have the wolves outside your door/ Make you leave all that you love to fight a war/ And never tell you what you’re dying for.” His live performance hits in such a way that you forget he’s just one guy and a guitar. He then came back on stage and encored with a few tunes — the crowd wouldn’t accept otherwise. 

Moreland told American Songwriter that he doesn’t think of his songs as tear-jerkers, that he isn’t a sad guy, he just doesn’t have it in him to write about the topical fluff, and people equate the deep stuff with sadness. But there were grown-men in the crowd crying that night, for sure. – CAINE O’REAR