Many are the artists who have longed to shed a small town existence… and did just that as soon as they could make bus fare.
While, in a literal sense, Chris O’Brien does partly fit that description in that he relocated to the decidedly bigger pond that is Boston, the Northampton native is quick to note that his was never a tale of “I’m so out of this town and I am never looking back.”
“I actually never wanted to leave the Valley,” the singer/songwriter confesses. “I moved to Boston because I thought there would be more opportunity there, and it took me so long to get going [that] I wanted to move home so many times.”
But his patented amalgam of contemporary folk and breeze-easy pop eventually did gain some traction, and subsequently propelled him into a national tour that would see O’Brien open for the likes of Ellis Paul and Antje Duvekot, perform on Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion and land a slot on Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas, to name a choice few highlights.
“I feel I’ve come so far,” he says, “and now, I get to come home, not to run away, and celebrate my accomplishments and my new CD [a stirring, 10-tune outing called Little Red].”
O’Brien performs at the Iron Horse Music Hall (iheg.com) this Thursday, April 1, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance, $13 at the door.
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Meanwhile, the Crawler has long since heralded ambient indie-rockers Watcher as… well, ones to watch in the Valley. And according to guitarist Tristan Tash, fans of the band will soon have new product to hear, too.
“We’ve just completed the mixing stage of the new album, End of Tomorrows, which will serve as a supplement to our previously released Into the Woods,” Tash revealed. “Now it’s off to a mastering, and hopefully a CD release party in June.”
In the meantime, Tash adds that the band plans a tour in support of the album, complete with an April 3 stop at The Rendezvous in Turners Falls. For updates on future shows and and the initial pressing, be sure to monitor the band’s new online home at www.watcherband.com.
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In somewhat related news, Watcher tapped none other than local music scene staple Jose Ayerve to knob-jockey their impending release. Now, according to journeyman drummer J.J. O’Connell, Ayerve and his fellow bandmates in the indie rock outfit Spouse will soon have some new studio product to celebrate themselves.
“We literally just finished a new CD we are calling Confidence,” O’Connell explains, “and it will be out on Nine Mile Records in May.” The affable percussionist went on to report that fans may particularly enjoy a little confidence booster of sorts—specifically, a limited edition live CD called There Goes The Road that the band hopes to put out in conjunction with the studio effort.
“The live disc is a true retrospective of some great live shows, some radio shows and the like from 2003-2009,” O’Connell says. “Seems I was tapped as the band archivist and have spent the last few months culling through all the CDs folks have given me. I’m very happy with it, and hope everyone else feels the same.”
Those who can’t wait for The Road to experience Spouse’s live performances don’t have to, by the way. The band is hooking up with The Grownup Noise (a Beantown-based band basking in some major buzz of late courtesy of their music being used on MTV’s The Real World) for an East Coast mini-tour that kicks off at Noho’s Sierra Grille on Thursday, April 1 and continues into Maine, Cambridge and New York City throughout the weekend.
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Last up, lest anyone think this is a boys’ club, the Institute for the Musical Arts (ima.org) in Goshen is offering four female-fronted concerts at its Big Barn at 165 Cape St., Rt. 12. Gospel singer Evelyn Harris kicks things off on Sunday, April 4, followed by folk rocker Kristen Ford (April 11), Christine Ohlman (May 2) and Naia Kete (May 23). All shows begin at 7 p.m.
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or e-mail garycarra@aol.com.
