Frustrating sound glitches aside, the opening night of St. Cecilia Music Center’s Fresh Folk series turned the tables on folk-rock and put a Nashville couple in the spotlight. (Photos, video)
Americana Charm: Rachael Davis and Dominic John Davis helped launch the Fresh Folk series at St. Cecilia Music Center on Thursday. (Photo/Anthony Norkus Photography)
From the beginning, it was clear that this season’s first Fresh Folk series concert would be a very different concert experience.
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With a Hammond B3 organ, vibraphone, a grand piano and a hyper-unusual drum kit spread across the stage, popular Grand Rapids folk-rock band Troll for Trout was definitely up to something new, reworking some of its familiar tunes in semi-acoustic-yet-elaborate fashion on the historic, classically oriented Royce Auditorium stage at St. Cecilia Music Center.
Reworked Trout: Michael Crittenden and Troll for Trout toasted fans with a much different show. (Photo/Chelsea Taylor Strong)
The carefully re-constructed – or maybe de-constructed – set list was truly unlike anything Troll for Trout has done before in its 18-year history, giving fans a soothing, pindrop-quiet environment to hear the band and what amounted to a jazzier-flavored, poignant, up-north-on-the-trout-stream milieu.
There was even some comic relief as Troll for Trout’s special guest star for the evening, rockabilly’s Delilah DeWylde, trotted onto the stage at one point to serve martinis to the boys in the band – frontman Michael Crittenden, Brian Morrill, John Neil, Seth York and Dave Martin.
Along the way, those boys even did a “boy band” thing, gathering around a single microphone for an a capella tune and finishing up with an “unplugged” song in the midst of the audience, eventually exiting the auditorium one by one.
In all, it proved to be a laid-back but powerful representation of Troll for Trout and Crittenden’s engaging songs.
And when the headliners – Michigan natives and now Nashville-based Rachael Davis and Dominic John Davis – took the stage for their performance, the story-telling atmosphere changed yet again, this time taking on a vibrant Americana-infused charm with Davis’ scintillating vocals and engaging personality enhanced by her husband’s standout standup bass lines.
Right-Hand Man: Dominic John also tours with Jack White, and kicks off a tour with Paul Burch later this week. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
(Rock’s Jack White, not surprisingly has embraced Dominic’s talents, with the bassist recording with White and touring in his band. Dominic this week also was in a Michigan studio helping actor and singer Jeff Daniels record his next album.)
Davis mixed in new material from an upcoming studio album as well as older songs, classics and collaborative efforts, accompanying herself on banjo, acoustic guitar and ukulele at different points during the evening.
Unfortunately, there were also challenges in presenting these semi-amplified sounds and vocals in an acoustically lively setting, with the vocals and chatting often getting echoey and muddied. It’s a glitch that organizers (St. Cecilia, Mackinaw Harvest Music and Local Spins) said they aim to correct for the next Fresh Folk presentation. Even so, it was a homey way to experience folk-rock and Americana artists outside of a noisy nightclub, especially those with high-caliber instrumental skills.
There’s more to come: the next Fresh Folk concert takes place at St. Cecilia on Jan. 9 with six singer-songwriters performing in round-robin fashion, then wraps up on April with energetic West Michigan acts Potato Moon and The Northern Skies. Get more details about those show online here.
The evening of roots music didn’t end after the Davises left the stage.
Rachael was headed for Founders Brewing Co. — just a hop and a skip away — where the Earthwork Music collective’s Michigan tour was making its Grand Rapids stop, with the likes of Seth Bernard and May Erlewine, Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys, darleneYa, Dede & The Dreamers, Joe Reilly, Strawberry Heritage and Sam Cooper performing in front of a younger, more boisterous crowd.
It proved that in any setting, folk in all its forms has a devoted audience.
FRESH FOLK: THE LOCAL SPINS PHOTO GALLERY (11/7/13)
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2013, Spins on Music
