Virtual Gallery | August 2020
Hey Friends!
In light of this new unknown living, we are all in now, and in an effort to try and keep some consistency in my life, I’m taking my weekly residency into the Virtual Gallery! Every week I will have a new virtual friend join me and Stephanie via the interwebs, and this time at a more reasonable time frame of 8:30pm to 10pm. For those who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Stephanie Marlar, you have no idea how lucky you are about to become!! She’s the ringleader, the hero, the rebel, and the sass to every gallery show I do and she’s also a helluva bartender. She’ll be my copilot on these shows as long as her country ass internet works!
So here's how it's gonna work: Contributions = a number that reflects the combined amount of what you would pay at the door + Stephanie’s Tip Jars. Right now, we’re using RSVPify to sell General Admission tickets for the low, low price of $7. You’ll notice at check-out that there is an option to add a donation to your GA ticket. Each week, the contributions will be shared between my guest, our virtual bartender Stephanie, and me. After your ticket is purchased, you will receive an email with instructions on how to access the Virtual Gallery via ZOOM. Here you will get to see, chat, and listen to all your favorite songs by me and my friends! We are asking for you not share the access link with others. This is one of the many ways we are trying to avoid losing our homes over the next few months and to be able to keep you entertained during these uncertain times!
I’ll also share the info and etiquette tips of these new spaces. Much like the Continental Gallery, this is still a live room in which we all share it together. So for example, if you un-mute yourself and speak, you will be interrupting the show for every single person watching! We’ll also include tips on how to optimize your viewing experience, and any other details you'll need in order to log-in and enjoy the show. This platform we’re using is free to sign up for, AND there is also an option to watch within your browser in case you can’t download the app. We will also welcome your feedback and know we will be working out the kinks as best as possible. We want to make this the best experience we can.
Here’s our very real, virtual schedule:
Previous August 2020 Virtual Guests:
Thursday, August 6th - Jenny Reynolds
TJenny Reynolds lives her life following her mission statement of “Work hard, be nice, keep moving.” A native New Englander, she has worked with Boston-based artists Duke Levine, Kevin Barry and Catie Curtis. Since moving to Austin in 2003, Reynolds has played the Old Settlers Music Festival, the Kerrville Folk Festival, the Cactus Cafe, and Threadgill’s World Headquarters, and has worked with Grammy Nominee Ruthie Foster, and Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee Ian McLagan. She was an Official Showcase Artist at SXSW 2008 and 2018, and was named “Best New Local Act” in the Austin Chronicle’s 2005 Critics Poll.
Her music has been on major network television and independent film, including ABC’s “All My Children.” She is also the producer of Austin's “Williams Nite: A Tribute to the Music of Hank and Lucinda Williams,” a “kinda annual” show that will happen for the tenth time in fall 2020. Proceeds benefit the SIMS Foundation.
Produced by Mark Hallman and André Moran at Congress House Studio, Reynolds's new recording “Any Kind of Angel” was released on June 19, 2020. The record features Jaimee Harris, BettySoo, Warren Hood, Oliver Steck, and Scrappy Jud Newcomb. It is her fourth release.
Thursday, August 13th - Leslie Mendelson
“The anger and depression got to me, and I couldn’t hold it in anymore. So, I got into a room with my demons and we just hit record,” shares indie singer-songwriter Leslie Mendelson. The resulting album, playfully titled, ‘If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…,’ is viscerally themed, imaginatively arranged, cinematically dynamic and textured, oozing raw elegance.
“I deal with depression and anxiety, and I’ve never really sang about it before. It also felt like what was going on with society was also affecting me, in terms of gun violence, the opioid crisis, and the all hatred in the news and media. It felt like it was time to speak out,” Leslie explains.
Leslie has released two prior albums, including her Grammy Award-nominated debut, ‘Swan Feathers,’ one EP, and three singles. Her first album exhibited a production sheen she opted to strip away on her sophomore album, ‘Love & Murder.’ Her latest, ‘If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…,’ is a gutsy album that splits the difference between her previous albums in terms of production, but also features some garage-rock bluster. “The best time to make a rock n’ roll record is when you’re broke and pissed off,” she says, with a good-natured laugh. For the album, Leslie worked with longtime co-writer and guitarist Steve McEwan who co-produced the album alongside bassist and engineer Lorenzo Wolff.
Previously to releasing ‘If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…,’ Leslie and Steve collaborated with Jackson Browne on a stirring composition that was featured in the acclaimed documentary film, ‘5B,’ about the San Francisco General Hospital AIDS ward during the early ’80s directed by Paul Haggis and Dan Krauss. Leslie and Jackson also performed together at the Beacon Theater in NYC in June 2019, while she joined him throughout his West Coast tour to perform the song in August 2019. In addition, Leslie had the distinct honor of opening for The Who twice at Madison Square Garden in May and September 2019.
The pairing of sparseness and potency that informs ‘If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…’ was inspired by John Lennon’s ‘Plastic Ono Band’ album. Besides being emotive and topical of the day, Leslie favored its no-frills piano, bass, drums, and guitar approach. ‘If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…’ opens with the urgent love song, “Lay It On Me.” The track unfolds theatrically with dramatic dynamic shifts, and the lyrics are emotive and direct with such lines as: “I just want to ease your pain/Beat the hammer through these walls/Anything that I can say/To make your fears feel so small/So lay it all on me.”
The dangers of self-medication in the age of readily available options pervade the intimately reflective ballad, “Medication.” On the title track, Leslie channels her inner Nick Cave, swaggering and snarling through filthy-but-catchy blues-rock. The self-explanatory “Would You Give Up Your Gun” is a stirring, elegantly emotive political track. Leslie clarifies: “That song is not meant to be preachy. We have loose gun laws and there have been so many massacres in the last 10 years. I am posing the question to those who feel safe by hanging onto their right to bear arms—would you give up your gun to save lives?”
Leslie opens “I Need Something To Care About” with the lines: “I can’t feel a thing for anything/Thinking that my minds desensitized.” The song is a plea to pull oneself from a numbing depression. Here, the contrast of airy piano melodic figures, treated vocals, and delicate ambient textures create a swirl of emotions within the music. “We all want a purpose, and when we feel we have nothing to say, it’s scary, and you fight that by searching,” Leslie reveals.
Leslie has boldly bared many private fears on If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…, and expressing her inner landscape has been scary but also healing. “When you share something this vulnerable you do get some comfort because it resonates with people,” she acknowledges. “You realize you’re not alone.”
Thursday, August, 20th - Ruby Boots
“Outlaw bravado tapping into the loose energy of a young Lucinda Williams.” — ROLLING STONE
“A wonderful songwriter, a superb performer.” — LOUDER THAN WAR
“Vibe that should appeal to fans of Mazzy Star or Cowboy Junkies.” — BROOKLYNVEGAN
Thursday, August 27th - Margaret Chavez
Margaret Chavez’s new folk-rock opus, Into An Atmosphere, is a headphone masterpiece.
From the very first track, it’s clear why Consequence of Sound, Mojo and Uncut have all been extolling the many virtues of project mastermind Marcus William Striplin — the music is undeniably ambitious, mixing Latin freak-folk rhythms with a topicality the micro-genre has never dared to approach, even in its heyday.
But to call this record “folk” or “even folk rock” would be to curtail its progressive ethos, as Striplin weaves reverb-soaked guitars, undulating synths, and effervescent acoustic plucks to create what Uncut calls “a mark of excellence in Americana.”