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The tiny new North Carolina imprint Paradise of Bachelors may only have a catalog ten LPs deep, but among their offerings have been many of my favorites of the past couple years. For the first time, PoB decided to throw their own day show during the Hopscotch Music Festival to show off collaborations among artists they work with as well as friends of the label. Unlike the festival’s other events, which took place in downtown Raleigh, this show was held among the green expanse of a lovely outdoor amphitheater that is part of the Raleigh Little Theater complex. The result was a bright day with some of the festival’s best music.

Lonnie Holley began the show almost in the style of an invocation, setting a mystical, reverent tone for the day. Best known as an artist and sculptor, Holley’s forays into music have attracted the attention of a variety of well-known players in the indie music world, from Bill Callahan and Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox to his co-collaborators elsewhere at Hopscotch such as Mac McCaughan, Brad Cook, and Steve Gunn. What exactly to call Holley’s music eludes me, to be honest, so take it away, Aquarium Drunkard (in a review of this year’s LP, Just Before Music):

Holley restrains himself from too much conventional musicality—melody and that sort of thing. There is scarcely a proper chord change in his music, much less a full progression. He sings with an intense, emotional voice and unleashes lyrics without consistent meter or rhyme over gossamer keyboard lines that hang in the ether. His music is a blues nebula, splotched with riffy word jazz that shares in some rappers’ collagist aesthetics as well as the runaway passion of a gospel preacher enlivened by the Spirit.

Holley’s album title says something about what he’s trying to tap into with his sound. His music isn’t “primitive”, but it is primal, intended to speak to the universality of the human experience. On this day, Holley came out alone onstage, with the buzzing of cicadas his quiet backdrop. These four songs each told a story, but perhaps the most passionate was “One Garden But Many Gardens”, Holley’s tribute to what he called “Mother Universe” and her “gumbo-ish manner”.  To fully get the metaphor, I recommend checking out the banter track, but out here, among nature, Holley’s words resonated powerfully. There couldn’t have been a better way for this day to begin./

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed and Schoeps MK4V microphones directly in front of the stage. This recording emphasizes the soundboard feed to capture the full range of the vocals. While it reveals both some wind noise and the limits of the simple PA setup, it is nonetheless a solid recording. Enjoy!

Stream “One Garden But Many Gardens”

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

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Lonnie Holley
2013-09-07
Paradise of Bachelors Day Show
Louise “Scottie” Stephenson Amphitheatre
Raleigh, NC USA

Schoeps MK4V>KC5>CMC6 + Soundboard>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, adjustments)>Izotope Ozone 5 (tube effect, EQ)>Audacity 2.03 (tracking, fades, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro]
02 Opening Flower After Dew Drop
03 Water Coming Down
04 Grandma Wanted Me To Be Like the Bee
05 [banter]
06 One Garden But Many Gardens

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Lonnie Holley, visit his facebook page, and buy Just Before Music from Dust Digital or iTunes.