Outside the hoopla of ArtPrize and the new Eddy music festival, venues from the lakeshore to Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo hosted some special shows this past week — captured in images at Local Spins.
Acoustic Grace: Joshua Davis played St. Cecilia Music Center on Sunday night. (Photo/Anna Sink)
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Joshua Davis has had the kind of year that most singer-songwriters can only dream of.
After finishing third on NBC’s “The Voice” earlier this year, the Traverse City-based Earthwork Music collective artist returned home to Michigan to play a series of ticketed concerts at a variety of prestigious venues across the state — from the Wharton Center in East Lansing to Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids to the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen.
Unplugged Trio: Davis with Mike Shimmin and Mike Lynch. (Photo/Anna Sink)
And on Sunday, he played yet another historic spot: Royce Auditorium inside St. Cecilia Music Center.
The benefit for St. Cecilia not only featured Davis performing as a trio with percussionist Mike Shimmin and keyboard player/accordionist Mike Lynch, but also sets by Troll for Trout (with special guest, singer Tara Cleveland, daughter of frontman Michael Crittenden) and Fauxgrass.
Davis kicked off the evening in pure acoustic fashion, performing solo without a microphone in the acoustically pristine concert hall, starting with Woody Guthrie’s “Greenback Dollar” and a song from his “Miracle of Birds” album before being joined by Shimmin and Lynch.
It was an impressive start to the intimate show in front of a few hundred people, who then were treated to a semi-electric set with Davis on guitar, Shimmin on cajon and Lynch on grand piano, electric keyboard and accordion. Check out photos below.
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Elsewhere this past week:
• Heartsick, The Severed Process, Fine Fine Titans and Amelia pounded it out and pumped up folks at The Intersection on Friday with their hard-rocking sets;
Revving Up the Crowd: Heartsick at The Intersection. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
• Singer-songwriter Kim Richey made an entertaining tour stop at Spring Lake’s Seven Steps Up on Friday (followed by Jonathan Edwards on Saturday);
• Michigan native and New York rock/pop artist Marshall Crenshaw returned to his home state on Thursday to play a solo show for good-sized crowd at the Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill, with Grand Rapids’ Ralston Bowles opening;
• Ypsilanti-based singer-songwriter Chris DuPont, who grew up in Grand Rapids, played a pre-CD-release show at SpeakEZ Lounge on Wednesday, with Chicago duo Frances Luke Accord opening the show — and both delivered compelling, harmony-laden sets.
• A pair of impressive jazz/funk/rock/jam-infused bands lit up Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo to help kick off the weekend: Pleasant Drive opened up the night for the ever-morphing Joe Marcinek Band, which this time around featured bassist Cecil McDaniel (Stevie Wonder), keyboard player Joey Porter (The Motets), drummer Pete Coopmans (Family Groove Co.) and guitarist Dee Mill (Art of ILL Fusion).
Friday and Saturday also marked the first two days of the inaugural ArtPrize-related music festival known as The Eddy — a tented outdoor venue along the Grand River off Monroe Avenue NW in downtown Grand Rapids — with a Michigan country jamboree the first night and a jam-packed show featuring The Avett Brothers, Brett Dennen and The Crane Wives the second night. Check out photo galleries and reviews of both shows at Local Spins here.
LOCAL SPINS WEEKEND PHOTO GALLERY
Joshua Davis, Troll for Trout, Fauxgrass photos by Anna Sink
Heartsick, The Severed Process, Fine Fine Titans, Amelia photos by Anthony Norkus
Kim Richey photos by Loren Johnson
Marshall Crenshaw, Chris DuPont, Frances Luke Accord photos by Anna Sink
Joe Marcinek Band, Pleasant Drive photos by Derek Ketchum
Whoa! This time Josh used too much hair color! I miss before-the-Voice-Josh. He was a genuine musician, nowadays there’s hardly anything authentic about him: he conceals his bald patches, relies slightly too much on hair color and make up, wears skinny jeans (those jeans don’t really work when you are neither young nor skinny!), and covers Sting and the Beatles. Don’t get me wrong, I really like Josh –been a fan since Steppin in it. I just wish he’d focus more on his music than on catering to teenage girls (which at his age is kind of creepy): folk fans really miss you Josh, don’t forget about us!