Concert Sun Nov 30 2008

Kristin Hersh, The Shady Circle

Kristin Hersh made her name in the '80s and early '90s as the voice and songwriter, along with stepsister Tanya Donelly, of Throwing Muses. (Donelly left the group in 1991 for The Breeders and later Belly.) Signed to the pathologically eclectic 4AD, the band's songs were (and are) intelligent, angular, unorthodox compositions full of catchy, hard hitting hooks. Among other current projects, she's performing a show called "The Shady Circle", based on the dark end of Southern and Appalachian folk music; the show makes Chicago on Saturday at the Old Town School of Folk Music. (See the entry in Slowdown for more info.) It's a solo performance, with Hersh accompanying herself on guitar. The setting is intimate; previous shows have been in living rooms, including one from 9/25 that was recorded and is available for download.

In an introduction to the show, Hersh says with some humor that "almost all of [the songs] are about murder ... some are about Jesus, but mostly it's about getting drunk and killing your girlfriend." Country-ish rockers with a fascination for the dark side of folk songs are nothing new, (particularly around here) so the bar is set a little high, and in general, it's easy to feel that this sort of thing amounts to musical window dressing. That said, this particular show doesn't make slavish devotion to the historic tunes, from the distorted guitar sounds to the inclusion of the Throwing Muses song "City of the Dead" and a cover of the Latin Playboys' "If". It has a sound all its own, which prevents the feeling that you'd be happier listening to old Ralph Stanley records. Some of the best moments ("To A Man", "I'm Waiting For The One Train") remind one of the brooding blues of "To Bring You My Love"-era PJ Harvey; Hersh's voice and guitar have a lot of the same slow-burn intensity that makes that record work. Moreover, it allows her to seamlessly set down rock material next to classic ballads like "Wayfaring Stranger", mixing their qualities and evocations. All in all, the show has a lot of genuine appreciation for classic material, and is forward thinking enough to show how rock and roll fits in here.

— Erik Cameron / Comments (1)