Virtual Gallery | April 2021
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.
Purchase a Virtual Gallery Pass to attend all five weeks for just $25!
Here’s our very real, virtual schedule:
Thursday, April 1st - Lord Friday the 13th
LORD FRIDAY THE 13TH IS A DOLLAR STORE TRASH-GLAM-PUNK BAND BASED IN AUSTIN TEXAS. THE BAND IS FRONTED BY BROTHER-SISTER DUO FELIX AND SLOANE LENZ AND WAS FORMED IN EARLY 2019. FELIX AND SLOANE GREW UP PRIMARILY IN ATHENS, TEXAS BUT CAME TO AUSTIN AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE. GROWING UP ALMOST ENTIRELY HOMESCHOOLED/UNSCHOOLED AND IN A SMALL TOWN, FELIX AND SLOANE QUICKLY REALIZED THEY'D HAVE TO MAKE THEIR OWN FUN. THE ISOLATION HELPED THEM FOSTER THEIR CREATIVITY AND ALSO INSTILLED IN THEM A STRONG SENSE OF SELF MOSTLY FREE FROM OUTSIDE EXPECTATIONS AND NORMS. FELIX AND SLOANE BECAME INVOLVED IN THEIR LOCAL COMMUNITY THEATRE AND THROUGH IT FOUND AN ACCEPTING COMMUNITY WHERE THEY WERE ABLE TO GET COMFORTABLE ON STAGE AND BREAK OUT OF THEIR SHYNESS. IN 2015, THEY MOVED TO AUSTIN FULL TIME TO CONTINUE TAKING (AND TEACHING) CLASSES AT THE AUSTIN SCHOOL OF FILM AND BEGAN MAKING MUSIC VIDEOS FOR MUSICIANS AND BANDS IN TOWN. A BAND OF THEIR OWN WAS ALWAYS A GOAL BUT UNTIL THEY DECIDED TO REALLY PRIORITIZE IT, THEY WERE KEPT VERY BUSY (SLOANE WITH HER CLOTHING DESIGN AND VIDEO EDITING AND FELIX WITH HIS GRAPHIC DESIGN AND ANIMATION). ONCE LORD FRIDAY THE 13TH BECAME A REALITY, IT WAS CLEAR TO THEM WHERE THEIR TIME AND ENERGY SHOULD BE GOING. THEY'VE BEEN ABLE TO USE THEIR COMBINED SKILL SETS TO CREATE THEIR OWN LITTLE UNIVERSE IN THE SHAPE OF A BAND.
Thursday, April 8th - Brian Wright
Some artists are not made up of just one thing - as is the case with Texas-born artist, producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, poet, rock n roll guitarist, independent label owner, psychedelic troubadour, Sagittarius, Brian Wright. With the highly anticipated release of Lapse of Luxury, Wright has realized yet another alter ego with his imaginary band, Brian Wright & The SneakUps.
Drawing comparisons throughout his career to some of the greatest songwriters, Wright says, “I like Townes Van Zandt but I also really dig Brian Eno, Outkast, Velvet Underground and Slayer. I like really beautiful things, and I like really ugly things that draw out human emotions that make you feel something visceral - Fear, Joy, Sadness… you know you wanna have a fist fight and a dance party at the same time.”
Thursday, April 15th - Lydia Loveless
Daughter–her first album in four years–marks the triumphant return of Lydia Loveless, and documents a period of personal upheaval, including a divorce and an interstate move away from her longtime home. Left feeling unmoored and adrift, Loveless worked to redefine herself, both in her own mind and within the context of the world. Written with her characteristic candidness and razor-sharp wit, Daughter is a self-aware journey into independence.
In 2016, Loveless released her third record Real, which built on the success of her 2014 breakout Somewhere Else. The albums were embraced by critics and listeners alike, with her fanbase growing to even include some of Loveless’ heroes like Lucinda Williams and Jason Isbell. Those luminaries would become tour mates as Loveless and her band lived out of suitcases, working tirelessly in support of the releases. It was a time filled with many exciting firsts like TV appearances and performing at festivals (CBS This Morning: Saturday Sessions, Stagecoach Festival, AmericanaFest), but this strenuous time on the road wasn’t without its costs…
Thursday, April 22nd - Luisa Lopez
Luisa Lopez proudly describes herself as a singer-songwriter from the South, yet she hopes her newest album, 45, will transcend those boundaries.
“What I really want audiences to do is to find themselves in these songs,” the Nashville musician says, “and I think that people can.”
The numerical title represents Lopez’s age when she began to record the album, as well as her personal response to the 45thpresident. As a child, she absorbed the music from her mother’s collection of 45s – mostly the pop records of the day – while her aunts and uncles preferred listening to country gold. That influential mix of soul and country, merged with the electronic soul music she loved as a teenager, creates a singular style on 45, which she produced and recorded in San Francisco and Nashville.
Although her mother’s family roots are in Mississippi, Lopez grew up in Houston, Texas. As a latchkey kid, she spent many afternoons of her childhood keeping an eye on her younger brother. When she was around 10, she started passing the time by humming made-up melodies and then coming up with lyrics, often based on the loneliness she felt. “I think the writing was a way to express myself in a way that I normally wouldn’t know how to express,” she says.
The father of a childhood friend lent her an electric guitar and she spent her teen years teaching herself how to play it. Later in life, she added acoustic guitar, drums, bass, and piano to her repertoire. Though she developed her singing talent by studying tenors like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson, she finally discovered her own natural voice when she was around 20 years old. “I was learning how to relax and sing a song the way I sing it,” she says. “It felt momentous, like, ‘Oh, I actually like this voice!’”
As a young adult, Lopez served as a supply specialist at Fort Jackson, an Army post in South Carolina, then settled in Nashville in 1997. Six years later she formed her first band, FINNA, and wrote, arranged and produced their 2005 album, Protect Me From What I Want. She followed that with a solo album, Cigarettes and other dirges…, in 2010, which earned positive notices from the Nashville Scene. In time she issued a clever, country-tinged single and video titled “Charley,” as well as a holiday track, “Spend Your Christmas With Me.”
Although Lopez spent years traveling the world as a single woman, she briefly set music aside in the mid-2010s to find a partner. She also spent time volunteering for Thistle Farms, a residential recovery program in Nashville for women who have survived violence, prostitution and addiction. Now married to a professor, Lopez found a renewed inspiration to create music during a year spent in San Francisco.
Although Lopez considers it “my social commentary album,” the eight songs on 45 also represent a positive new phase of her life and career. “It’s liberating to be able to say the things that I need to say, and how I need to process culture right now,” she believes. “I want people to feel something. I want them to feel inspired. I want them to put themselves in these sounds and I want them to want to hear from me again. I want them to be curious about what will be next.”
Thursday, April 29th - Will Johnson
Will Johnson’s 7th solo album “El Capitan” is out now. Recorded over three days in June 2020 at Ramble Creek Recording in Austin, Texas with contributions from Britton Beisenherz, Thor Harris (of Shearwater, Xiu Xiu), and Lindsey Verrill (Little Mazarn).
It’s a more subdued album than last year’s Wire Mountain, with Johnson using only his Stella acoustic guitar to record. Here’s his description of these songs:
There’s a simple “mornin”” that is exchanged amongst many early bird runners as they pass. I’ve noticed this since I was nine or so, and have taken different interpretations from it: Have a good run. Good luck. Have a good day. Stay safe. We’re a part of something, moving in harmony. Look at us fucking go.
It’s pleasing in its way; a show of support. The location might be a utility road in Wyoming or a city park in St. Petersburg. I don’t know the root of it, or how this transfer of pleasantry started amongst this cut of humanity. It’s never been: “morning..” or “good morning” or even “g’mornin”. It’s just: “mornin'”. There’s a musicality to it, and I think it means more to me these days, as do the moments outside. It’s where the lines, the choruses, and some full songs are coming from, now more than ever.
This new record started years ago at a friend’s dining room table in Portland, building up on long desert drives, in hotel bathrooms, at casino bars, and on these regular runs. Over years, the songs mortared themselves together into something I thought fit together. Some are now quite old, and a couple are pandemic-new. It feels like we’re at the mercy of nature now more than ever, and the quietude of this patch of time made sense to document them and finally get them out. I took a hundred-dollar Stella guitar to my friend, Britton’s, and we spent three days, distanced, building something. We let go of old habits, peeled things back, and tracked it all to a Tascam 388. We ate tacos, drank Tecate and found happiness in the act of moving again in the early summer heat. There’s tape hiss, and there are imperfections. Thor Harris and Lindsey Verrill contributed beautifully from afar.
The other night I took to another run to feel the night’s breeze, and maybe see if another melody might be out there. It was late, and now I sometimes take to running right down the middle of once-busy streets. Another night runner approached and moved over, giving wide berth. He put his mask up, and I pulled my bandana up from my neck. There was compassion in the movement of the dance. He flashed a peace sign, and I flashed one back. It was a needed reminder that most of us are still moving together, just from different places now. I headed back to the middle of the road, and we headed our opposite directions, giving chase to whatever kind of solace and satisfaction we could find in that quiet night. Chasing clarity in the stillness of the world’s new, oft-strange chapter.