#m.c. taylor

[musicmags]

[mergerecords]

A Loner Alive, a live album from Hiss Golden Messenger, available now on Bandcamp and Nugs.net: lnk.to/ALonerAlive

The album features songs sung and played live and alone by M.C. Taylor on his two small guitars in Mill Valley, Mariposa, and Healdsburg, CA, and Tacoma, Walla Walla, and Spokane, WA during the first half of March 2023.

50% of the proceeds from this release will support The Okra Project, a mutual aid collective that seeks to support black trans people with the goal of alleviating barriers that the community faces. theokraproject.com

[krispyweiss]

Hiss Golden Messenger and Aoife O’Donovan at Cain Park, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Aug. 18, 2022

“Hello, Cleveland,” Aoife O’Donovan said upon taking the stage in Cleveland (Heights), before diving into “Galahad.”

Best to get the cliché out of the way, because O’Donovan otherwise has no use for them. Playing acoustic guitar and backed by Lula Wiles’ Isa Burke on acoustic and electric guitars and fiddle, electric bassist Ethan Jodziewicz and drummer Robin McMillan, who employed brushes, sticks, mallets, maracas and his hands to splash color on the songs, O’Donovan earned a standing ovation for her 60-minute, 12-song set on a co-billed “evening with” Hiss Golden Messenger before a perhaps 15-percent-full Evans Amphitheater on Aug. 18.

M.C. Taylor’s group played second and the frontman took pains to emphasize the collaborative nature of the collective, using the term we throughout the evening and introducing the show as being by “a band from North Carolina.”

Heavy on new, yet-to-be-recorded songs (plus older tracks like “Caledonia, My Love”), the intimate performance - Taylor conversed with fans in the pavilion about previous shows in greater Cleveland - divided the small audience. A half-dozen or so danced in the ample free space, while several dozen others filtered out during the 80-minute concert.

“Gotta have a good time,” Taylor told one chatty fan in referencing the abysmal turn out. “You got nothing else, playing live music.”

Derivative in the extreme, HGM tapped elements of the Band, the Rolling Stones, Nick Lowe and the Grateful Dead; “Lucia” sounds so much like “Franklin’s Tower,” in fact, Taylor went ahead and sung the chorus on the coda.

This was a performance of peaking moments amid valleys; a minimalist concert with sparse lighting and a black background on stage for hard-core fans, which were almost all that was left when the house lights came up to signal no encore.

Undeterred by the empty seats, O’Donovan reveled in making live music, adding extra heft to songs from her three solo albums and a house-imploding version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Open All Night.” With McMillan’s spirited percussion, Jodziewicz’s elastic bass playing and Burke’s forceful electric leads, O’Donovan resembled a rock ‘n’ roller on songs such as “Elevators” and “Prodigal Daughter,” both with Burke on co-lead vocals as the pair sang to one another like the old friends they are.

O’Donovan returned to torchy balladry on an exquisite “Red & White & Blue & Gold,” with Burke on violin - decidedly not the fiddle she sawed on the aforementioned Boss number - played some bluegrass on “Lay My Burden Down” and was joined by a Messenger who added keys to “B61.”

Dubbed Turn Tail in the Milky Way, the tour - judging by this performance - erred by having the brightest star in the galaxy play first.

Grade card: Hiss Golden Messenger and Aoife O’Donovan at Cain Park - 8/18/22 - C+/A-

See more photos on Sound Bites’ Facebook page.

8/19/22

[krispyweiss]

Sound Images: Hiss Golden Messenger and Aoife O’Donovan at Cain Park, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Aug. 18, 2022

Two performers.

One very small audience.

And a bunch of photos.

Please enjoy these pics from Hiss Golden Messenger and Aoife O’Donovan’s Aug. 18 co-bill performance at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights and stop back to Sound Bites later for a full review.

See more images on Sound Bites’ Facebook page.

8/19/22

[mergerecords]

Watch Hiss Golden Messenger perform "Hardlytown" for CBS This Morning's Saturday Sessions. The song is from the band's latest album Quietly Blowing It, out now. smarturl.it/QuietlyBlowingIt

[mergerecords]

Hiss Golden Messenger's new album Quietly Blowing It is out now! Pick up a copy on CD or LP and/or download and stream the album in all of the places. smarturl.it/QuietlyBlowingIt

"Rarely do songwriters who release original music so often manage to make each release feel as necessary as Taylor, and no Hiss Golden Messenger record has ever felt more necessary than his new LP, Quietly Blowing It." –Rolling Stone

[mergerecords]

Hiss Golden Messenger's new album Quietly Blowing It is out June 25. Listen to the new single "If It Comes in the Morning" now on digital services and pre-oder the album on CD, LP, and Peak Vinyl. https://smarturl.it/QuietlyBlowingIt

[mergerecords]

Hiss Golden Messenger's incredible new single “Sanctuary” is out now. Add the song to your digital collection and watch the full video directed by KidEthnic. https://smarturl.it/HGM-Sanctuary