Fare Tree Well

All Week I looked forward to seeing the Old Glory play 58 Gallery on Coles. Although impressive at Groove on Grove, where they announced this gig, they were at times during the set, a little uneven, which I blamed on the inadequacy of playing on the sidewalk.

The musicians are a talented crew, the band showed promise, but it was also a chance to see Tree perform. I’ve been enamored of this woman’s music since I stumbled across her former band, the peppy Country Rock combo, Any Day Parade a couple of years ago. She writes great songs, is a fine musician—plays well with others and always selects cats that complement her (and each other’s) talent and style—and has a great voice. Of course all this hyperbolic gushing is likely familiar to Dislocation readers since I’ve blogged about them a few times already. Here. Here. Here.

Visit their myspace page
The acoustic, Appalachian drenched, country/folk inflected Americana journey on which the Old Glorys have embarked reflect much of what has been my personal sound track the last few years. Roy Acuff, Louvin Brothers, Ralph Stanley, Carter Family and several different Smithsonian/Folkways complications, that’s about half what I’ve been playing (the other half has been Dylan, Dead, Elvis, the usual suspects and not exactly antithetical). The Old Glorys were right up my alley.

At 58, the Old Glorys did not disappoint. Their unevenness had been shed. They were much tighter, exhibited cohesion throughout an absolutely KICK ASS set. Tree introduced an intriguing new song—first time played according to Tree—about one half of couple seeing the classified section of a newspaper with items “circled that we don’t need,” the wondering if her partner is considering a future that “doesn’t include me.”

Tree has a gift for depicting what on the surface might seem like an ordinary moment but in reality after she gets through exploring the moment, the listener realizes the layers of meaning imbued by her observations and knows that the worlds for those sung about, are now no longer the same. What seemed ordinary was in reality anything but.

The centerpiece of the set is her new masterpiece, With Time. A demo-version of this song is streamed on their myspace page, but the song has been amended with additional lyrics. Hearing it again, in a setting more conducive for performance, has increased my conviction that this is one of her best songs. Basically the narrator professes an expansive litany then has a spiritual conclusion. The narrator thanks God. Before she gets there, she reflects on the personal, like getting older and the grandiose—a Charleston sunrise. I love it when the intimate and the expansive appear side by side in a song.

There’s a quiet poignancy to her songwriting. Country music, the best of it anyway, achieves a dichotomy that portrays melancholy while simultaneously provides uplift. Blues and Rock & Roll often achieve that dichotomy, but Country music just seems to do it better, or at least more often. I’ve been listening to acoustic and golden age country a lot lately, so perhaps I’m just more attuned to the themes. The songs sound timeless. Tree taps into that tradition, achieving both authenticity and originality. Country songs seem the best equipped at capturing the counter-intuitive nature of the human heart where sorrow and empowerment not only coexist, but strengthen the other. Tree is in another link in the lineage of America’s Sweet Sadness.

The final song was the Carter Family classic, You Are My Sunshine. Now, to the uninitiated this might be a hokey old tune. “You make me happy when skies are gray.” But think about the ending snippets of the chorus—“you’ll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away.” It’s spooky stuff—and at the core of the human condition—that we never truly know the depth of feelings of another for us. Even as the narrator declares her love, she is also declaring that even though she is not certain that love is shared or even reciprocated, she can't live without it.

There are a lot of talented musicians and songwriters here abouts and most have CDs and they are usually pretty good. I’ve seen several entertaining and at times even extraordinary sets. I’ve seen a lot more sets than the few I care to “blog” about. Tree though, I play those two ADP CDs (not really an ipod guy) often and I honestly forget they are from a neighbor or that we’re acquainted (Tree and I “share” a bodega) when I play them. These are real songs and some of the best new songs I’ve heard in the past two to three years. These are not just good songs within the context of Jersey City as some new Gen Y oasis of hipness, a Garden State Williamsburg (shoot me now).

Those ADP songs are as good as any material being produced anywhere at any level of the music industry. I should know, I have excellent taste and an extensive record collection. If you don’t agree, start your own blog. I forget that I know her or that this music is part of a “scene.” Tree transcends the local. The Old Glorys CD is due to be released in November. My expectations are high.

Unfortunately, for those who live here, her songs will no longer need to transcend seeing her at the corner bodega and shooting the breeze about the weather or street construction. At the 58 date, we all found out was this was the last Tree set in Jersey City, as a resident at least. She’s moving back to her Old Kentucky Home. After “ten years of chasing my dream,” as she phrased it to me, she’s leaving town. She has some family obligations that she has to take care of. I’m sure it’s more complicated than that; obligations usually are. Nonetheless, she plans to return to these parts for the CD release in a month and Old Glorys also have a tour planned. Even though the band members may no longer be living in the same physical community, the endeavor appears not to be abandoned any time soon. Old Glorys will adamantly carry on! I sure hope they gain audience beyond a 10 block radius of Coles Street. The integrity in which they play this music may be enough for me, but I can’t imagine my respect is enough to pay the bills.

I’ve saw ADP about a half-dozen times, I don’t remember ever at place with a cover or even a proper stage and heck, they had what could be considered a more commercial sound than the new sextet. Trying to make a living out of music, especially when also maintaining a tangible level of artistic integrity, is a very tough row to hoe. The attempt should be as celebrated as any arbitrary measure of success. But celebration is rarely enough to get by.

The 58 Gallery is a great space. It’s the first time I stayed for the music at the gallery. The gallery is a store front, a clean and respectable atmosphere for hanging art. Through the gallery door the back space, the light goes dim. It has a nice subterranean feel to it, reminded me of some of the East Village clubs I went to back in the 80s and early 90s, slightly dank, very dark, muted lights, shadows. Tarp-like sheets are draped on the walls. I couldn’t find a place to sit, there didn’t seem to be any chairs. (I have a bad knee all right!) A makeshift bar set up in front of what seemed to be an abandoned kitchen area. It was great to see the band this up-close. The sound was quite good, you could hear the texture of the instruments. I always think that one of the aspects of music that appeals to me first is texture, which has much to do with the melodies as the way the melody is played.

I love the way you hear the parts and the whole at the same time. I love the rustic honesty of acoustic instruments. It’s an incredible string band, the Old Glorys (although the mandolin and fiddle player, whom are brothers, do a couple tunes on trombone and tuba), and the moments of cohesion—of which they were many—when the banjo, two guitars, stand up bass, combine with the mandolin and fiddle—are truly sublime.


Is it rolling... Tree?

The set had an emotional overtone since everyone knew Tree was leaving and a lot of the folks there were not just fans like myself, but close and personal friends who surely will miss her. I barely know her but it is obvious to me that she is a quality individual, a good sort. She is warm. I’ve no doubt she’s a good friend to have. Musicians in town all respect her, at least a few have told me so. I am not an expert on the current scene. I barely hang out anymore. But her name comes up frequently during many of the conversations I’ve had with the local players. Esteem for her is far and wide.

Her leaving, this being a supposed last set, engendered a foreboding mood. This end of an era feeling was then startlingly reinforced after the last song of the set. The MC came to the mike and announced that people must leave the area. The police had informed him and the Gallery owners that we were not allowed to congregate on the sidewalk in front of 58 gallery. It was a bit of a shock to say to the least.

Please send memo: next time postpone political rant until AFTER the encore.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, that there were warnings (even tickets?) being issued by the JCPD. This was JC Friday’s after all, the quarterly event. I doubt more than 50 people were there, maybe 75 tops. Most were to see the opening act, few were outside smoking. The MC went on to say how the cops were starting crack down on the artists and called for a change in the municipal code. He did not get into zoning specifics. Forgive me, I am not doing what he said—which was reasonable and articulate, even the word rant is misleading—justice. He pointed out that the city government has to do more to support the arts and that it was still a who you know system. “The artists are the ones making Jersey City a place where people want to move to.”

Right on! What kind of madness would lead the police to crack down on a bunch of adults, not that young really—most are late 20 somethings or early 30 somethings, not rowdy college kids. Just up the street there is much more noise and crowds—not to mention open alcohol consumption—during the Italian and Polish Festivals. These JC Fridays things are every three months, you would think the authorities would ease up on some of the petty restrictions, but apparently that’s not the case. I’m not taking a survey or keeping a tally, but I’ve heard some other complaints by the folks who organize the art events in Jersey City that cooperation by the authorities is inconsistent at best. That is why it occurs to me the “last” Tree show might be a turning point.

Jersey City’s art scene has been a real DIY enterprise. The galleries tend to be make-shift, often temporarily repurposed spaces. The bars that have live music usually only have performers a few nights a week. there’s no proper stage or PA system, rarely a cover charge. How could they charge a cover? The scene cannot sustain itself as is; it may indeed be at a turning point. Either a more substantial club and nightlife scene will emerge, an extension of the galleries (which may have to find a way to stay open beyond the quarterly Friday events); or the scant beginnings now in place will fade away.

A Maxwell’s in Jersey City; or better yet, a Bottom Line ( a guy can dream); it’s not going to happen if the police are issuing warnings when more than a dozen people show up for some bluegrass entertainment during an art opening! No club owner will invest in such a climate. The art will stay local. The bars will stay dives with open mike nights (when the games are over). Unable to make a living, the talent will move back home to Kentucky.

I don’t know. Jersey City is still in New Jersey and New Jersey has a way of keeping its head up its ass for years after sticking said head up said ass. Then New Jersey wonders why creativity is stifled, or why that Italian kid from such a nice family feels that he was born only to run out of town with Wendy.

In this day and age, access to Tree’s music will probably not be an issue. I can still be a fan, still follow her career and she’ll likely come back to play a gig or two every once in a while. Still, her leaving town makes me sad. Her move is our loss. But, on the same night you hear of this loss, you find out that police are cracking down on your freedom of assembly outside an art gallery on an evening where there is supposed to be a city-wide support of the arts. I can’t help but feel that there might be a deeper significance to her departure. It does not augur well. It’s the kind of synchronicity nobody needs.