Day 2 … a nice night at church and other peaceful music

I’ll start at the end … at church.

I never imagined that one of the best shows I would see during sxsw would be at church. Thanks to some genius in the booking dept. at sxsw corp. (whoever they may be) some of the most interesting and best sounding concerts this year happened at Central Presbetarian Church. I’ve read lots about St. Vincent and Grizzly Bear, all of which also played in this cool downtown sanctuary during sx this year. I caught Elvis Perkins in Dearland on Thursday night. It took the band a while to set up, but it was worth the wait.  They had a horns section, complete with a French horn and baritone. Their drummer also was quite cool. At one point he was on the floor beating a marching drum and jingling some bells. Another song’s intro included whistles and bird chirps (supplied by the drummer again). Elvis lost both of his parents early in life and his soulful, at times sad, songs fit well in the peaceful, somber church at 1 in the morning. 

Listen to that bird chrip song here…. it’s called Shampoo

Earlier on Thursday night I caught up with the beautiful Laura Gibson. I really don’t know how I stumbled upon this artist. I just listened to one of her songs and thought she would be cool to hear play. She’s from Oregon (so were the other acts playing that night at the Red Eyed Fly). Laura has a soft, voice and this may have not been the best venue for her to play. The folky, sweet singer at time was over powered by thumping and thudding of neighboring acts. At other points some audience members were a little too loud. She’s the kind of act you really need to sit and be quiet to enjoy fully. One of her songs was used in this cute commercial for the Oregon Humane Society. It’s just as sweet and cute as she is.