NYS Music 2023

Tag: honest folk

  • Cat Clyde at Skylark Lounge: Rochester Catches a Rising Star

    Honest Folk brought Canadian singer/songwriter Cat Clyde to Rochester’s Skylark Lounge on Saturday night. By the end of the show, or rather not even halfway through, it was a mutual love fest. The crowd, some familiar some not, were eating up every word and every note, while Clyde, recognizing this, was visibly and verbally blown away by the response. It was her first time to town and the cozy bar was essentially sold out, many singing along and most all exuberantly encouraging her between songs.

    She, along with her band including guitar, bass and drums, were touring behind her excellent new release Down Rounder. In a little over an hour, they would play nearly every track from that record, while also sprinkling earlier and even newer material, one played for the first time live even, throughout.

    Musically songs patched together sounds from grooving rock, surf, honky tonk, 50’s ballads, indie rock, slow blues, outlaw country, 60’s European psychedelia and even a little Middle Eastern influence.

    Thematically the songs were grounded in the natural world. Rain, rivers, trees and other elements found around us were referenced liberally. But it as those actually ungrounded in nature that popped up most frequently: the birds, the moon, the sun and the stars.

    “Hawk in the Tree” was about her urge to be a bird. An urge that doesn’t seem all that recent, because in “Not Like You” from her earlier release Hunters Trance she sang, “I may be a bird in a cage, but at least I have my wings.” In “The River” there were “birds moving like a school of fish in the sky.” “The Gloom” expressed her love for the moon, and in “All the Black” she “told the moonlight I was scared.” Even her one cover of the night was of Bonnie Guitar’s country croon “Dark Moon.” And in “Papa Took My Totems” she brought them both together, singing “the moon was a loon.”

    Instrumentally the music was carried on Clyde’s incredible voice. Her backing band was excellent at fleshing out her tunes but remained a backing band throughout, there to service and highlight the talents of their front woman. Except when she played a couple on her own mid-set. She could drift from husky and deep to soft and soaring from verse to chorus, or jump octaves instantly and effortlessly from one word to the next. At times she would just be singing syllables in a folk-like scat, using her voice solely as an instrument, and an incredible instrument it was. When “Real Love” opened with her singing a capella, it became apparent she could carry an entire song, maybe the whole set, with just her voice.

    Clearly Cat Clyde is a star, or bird or moon, on the rise.

    Opener Libby DeCamp had played Rochester before, seven years ago, but her memories were fuzzy. She used her honey sweet voice and resonator guitar to present a set of mostly new songs like “Tigers of Wrath,” inspired by a transcendentalism phase she went through, and “Torch.” Her material was sparse and spacious, each note and each word carrying extra weight. Hopefully this memory sticks a little better for her, Rochester would love a quicker return.

    But until then, Rochester has another Honest Folk show to look forward to as the great Marty O’Reilly returns to play an intimate gig at the brand new venue, Essex, on November 11.

    Cat Clyde Setlist: So Heavy, Mystic Light, Everywhere I Go, Hawk in the Tree, The Gloom, Real Love, Mama Said, Dark Moon (Bonnie Guitar), New Song, Not Like You, The Man I Loved Blues, Where is My Love, Bird Bone, Papa Took My Totems, Eternity, So Cold, All the Black
    Encore: The River, I Feel It

  • Kat Wright Trio Has Warm Homecoming at Good Luck

    You may know Kat Wright from her big bombastic soul band, which numbered seven to nine members. But in a carryover from the pandemic, when she and a couple of bandmates took to playing in a smaller and “safer” format, they have been playing out as just a trio. Wright, joined by bassist Josh Weinstein and guitarist Bob Wagner, blew through from Vermont to Rochester to play an Honest Folk show at Good Luck on October 8.

    A native of Penfield, Kat Wright was coming home again after attending, and playing at, her brother’s wedding just a few weeks prior. But this was her first headlining show in her hometown since before the pandemic, only returning for opening spots for the Wood Brothers just before the world shut down and for Ryan Montbleau Band this past summer.

    On a cold and rainy Sunday, the crowd packed into the intimate space at Good Luck. Settled on the stage set between two brick walls that acted as a hearth, the band was like a glimmering flame, keeping the room cozy and warm.

    The kindling was sparked with a beautiful cover of CSN’s “You Don’t Have to Cry” that allowed the band to immediately showcase its wonderful three-part harmonies. Then it was on to the original “You Have Problems,” a swinging number about that special someone who bugs you. They stoked the fire, keeping the flames alive and burning, with a mix of old tunes, new tunes from a forthcoming album, and a solid bundle of covers.

    The originals rarely carried vestiges from any possible big band arrangement, sounding comfortable wearing the clothing of a three-piece folk band. When given the opportunity, Wagner’s guitar worked in some brilliant lines, while Weinstein held steady and eternally interesting grooves. Wright’s powerful voice could easily carry the music on its own, but when joined by her band mates sparks really flew. One of the new ones, “Mind Games” was described as their version of “Jolene.”

    They also sprinkled in plenty of tunes that weren’t just referential to others’ music, but actual covers. Though on the whole, their covers were more like interpretations, throwing their own spin on the material. Recognizing a subtle hint of the Everly Brothers’ “Cathy’s Clown” in Harry Nillson’s “Walk Right Back,” they more overtly mashed the two together, including an ever so slight nod also to Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon,” resulting in what they referred to as a musical turducken.

    The second set started up with their take on Big Brother and the Holding Company’s “Piece of My Heart,” reworking it so it sounded more like a Paul Simon song. In the encore they took another instantly recognizable song, Pink Floyd’s “Breathe” and again simmered it down to bare bones folk song, keeping the crow completely rapt. Sometimes a crowd is engaged by singing along at the top of their lungs. Here, though most everyone knew all of the words, the audience sat agape and silent. As the last echoes of sound lifted, the flame of a Sunday night fire turned to smoke and memories.

    Honest Folk is giving another opportunity to see some fresh new folk from a woman named Cat, they’re presenting Cat Clyde at the Skylark Lounge next Saturday, October 21.