Scanning the summer 2011 tour itinerary of Jay Psaros, you’ll find something that doesn’t quite make sense. It lists some famed locations; L.A.’s The Viper Room, and some smaller venues, Fire Slice Pizzeria of Amarillo, TX, culminating with a month of dates in Alaska. But, then the shows seemed to end.
Psaros explains that, “About 90 percent [of the tour] was laid out, maybe 35 dates booked out since May, and didn’t know about playing any shows on the way back. Feeling pretty good halfway in, I looked into adding some shows.” This summer has been a strong one for Psaros, winning praise from local papers and building a strong fan base for his folksy roots music. After having performed in clubs all across the states, Psaros is making his way back home after four months touring. He’s shared the drive, and the stage, with Olivia Brownlee. The collaboration has made for a good musical and financial arrangement.
For the some of the Alaska shows, the expectation was to play from 10-2:30am; “for a solo acoustic act that’s a long time.” The duo devised a plan where they “became three acts in one: solo sets and then one together.” Psaros sees it as “a way to afford what we’re doing. Like when we went into Minneapolis last year, we both had separate gigs and then performed together that night. Because the expense of touring is enormous, bands have to save up to go out. But with two singer-songwriters who can carry their own equipment weight, we can go out much easier.”
Their tour preparation came from a most unlikely source, as they both are employed at Medieval Manor. Yes, imagine dinner theater replete with singing minstrels (Jay) and saucy wenches (Olivia) and you can understand how they could handle any situation. Two years ago, they met at a cast Christmas party where Brownlee “wandered in as [Psaros] was playing,” and joined with her concertina. This initial session led to playing together at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge and at various open mic nights in the area.
It’s the effort and hustle required by the open mics that Psaros counts as a strength as a musician. He notes that “blogs, and reviews serve a great way to legitimize what you do. It’s only playing live when folks get a true sense of who you are that the support starts to kick in.” As an example, he said, in Amarillo the local paper had given a nice little plug. But what really made for a full show was going out to an open mic earlier in the day, and “everyone from that show headed over to the other spot.”
In making up the return half of this tour from scratch, Psaros has been documenting his interactions with club managers and random people across the country. His goal is to share an acoustic EP of new material with a book that details how he played from city to city. Before embarking on a tour, Psaros thought “how the hell does this happen? There’s no school for putting together a tour. It intimidating, and now I realize that when you’re out there it only took a big leap for it to happen.”
So far, the leap has worked for Psaros. Boston can welcome him back home at the House of Blues Foundation Room on September 9th, and keep an ear out for information about “two party busses, one from South Boston and one from Weymouth,” with the promise of kegs on board. It should be a party atmosphere on Lansdown, especially as another hometown show with Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Dropkick Murpheys play Fenway Park across the street.
Jay Psaros official site
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