I can't think of a nicer way to reward oneself for making it this far through a cold and nasty Boston winter than with heartfelt heartland Americana and a warm blast of California sunshine. What an inspired triple bill: Jason Boesel along with his friends from Dawes plus Corey Chisel & the Wandering Sons. Friday night was a beautiful evening of music that felt like a big, warm hug.
Rather than trying to impress with bombastic enthusiasm that often feels forced, all three bands presented their music with finely crafted performances that mixed fast and driving folky rock with slow, heart-tugging and -warming ballads. Each song was distinctive, varying shades and textures for effective contrasts.
My first impression of Jason Boesel's solo album Hustler's Son was that the guy has a nice voice and a gentle laid-back alt-country vibe going (with a decent enough backing band), but it wasn't the sort of electrifying performance that would make me take special notice. I had a completely different feeling this night, as the guys from Dawes provided musical accompaniment for Jason's very personal storytelling. While he's best known for his drumming in Rilo Kiley, The Elected, and Conor Oberst's Bright Eyes and Mystic Valley Band, Boesel mixed one or two funkier, more rocking tracks, which made a nice contrast to the mostly gentle sound of his debut. And Dawes definitely raised the mood. You can tell these guys hang out together; their musical and personal camaraderie are apparent in the way they play off and propel each other on stage. Very nice.
Boesel performed songs off his debut, including "French Kissing" and "Hustler's Son." After relating a strange story of a recent radio appearance in which they followed a metal band, he then introduced his next song with "This is the closest I get to metal," and launched into a great jamming rocker with Dawes cooking things up into a fine, funky boil. Lovely guitar lines from Taylor Goldsmith provided a tasty aperitif for the rest of the evening.
Next up was Corey Chisel & The Wandering Sons. It makes sense that singer/songwriter Corey Chisel's father was a Baptist minister, as their music has a strong spirituality winding through tales of loss and wistful longing for redemption. They opened with the passionate "Angel of Mine" and another love song, this one with a touch of defiance and hope—"What Do You Need"—from last year's Death Won't Send A Letter. Their lush sound perfectly complements, but never overshadows, the somewhat melancholic vocals. This was best shown in the lovely and wistful "So Wrong For Me," punctuated with keyboardist Adrial Harris’ stunningly sweet harmonies. She has an angelic voice that perfectly slips itself around Chisel’s gritty world-weariness. Just beautiful.
Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith, Wylie Gelber, and Alex Casnoff returned to the stage to rapturous applause in order to bring us some down-to-earth, warm California sunshine. Dawes is feel-good music, not in a surfer-boy sense, but something deeper, borne of trials. The introspective and thoughtful "When You Call My Name" flowed smoothly into "Give Me Time," highlighting glorious, deeply touching vocal harmonies. They performed all but one song from North Hills, including "Love Is All I Am," which has to be one of the prettiest love songs ever written.
We were treated to two new songs; one was introduced as being "about where we come from, Los Angeles," generating huge cheers. "Western Skyline" followed, speaking of a soul torn between California homesickness and a Southern girl. They brought their soaring set to a close with a wall-bursting crowd shout-a-long of "When My Time Comes." A fantastic cover of "Lawyers, Guns and Money" by "the genius Warren Zevon" started off an amazing three-song encore with a backing chorus a few hundred voices strong. After another very personal song about their home, the lovely "Peace In The Valley," their friend Scotty came up to play sax and they invited the audience to close the evening with the one-line singalong, "It's Gonna Be Alright." With an evening like that, who could disagree?
