Reasons to Wreck: Lord Nelson.
Well, if this was the summer the boys from Lord Nelson got to feelin’ their oats and flexing their considerable creative muscles, last night was a fitting, fitting end to the season. And as life goes, the beginning of another.
On the drive down 29, the setting sun was doing that thing where it rim lights our mountains, the haze giving them that signature Blue hue. The soft light seemed to pick that moment to start turning the tips of the maples and poplars to gold.
It was an uncharacteristically cool end of August evening and Lord Nelson was coming home to Rapunzel’s Coffee and Books — a gem of a reclaimed barn in Lovingston — that just happens to be a magic, near-holy performance space where many Nelson County musicians get their start, make their runs and always come back.
Kai Crowe Getty was coming off his first solo album, The Wreckage, a towering, affecting, aching body of work that Goldmine Magazine called “a stone cold winner, one of the best albums of the year”. We caught his record release show at the Southern and it was one of the best of the year.
Calloway (lead guitar and vox) and Niko (bass and vox) had just flown back from a triumphant tour in Japan with their new Heavy Rock project Uga Buga. We caught their show at the Southern and it was also one of the best of the year. They just have a way of making metal feel so new and fun again.
This summer, ace drummer Johnny Stubblefield popped up on the kit for too many fine local bands to count.
Wherever the muses and/or whims of life take them, last night was for Lord Nelson to come back together and remind the local crowd who loves them so dearly why it is that they love them so dearly. And boy howdy did they.
The show brought the summer full circle and pointed to cooler days, football, deer season, and futures unknown but promising.
Cville, If Lord Nelson and Uga Buga were the only 2 bands playing your very own urban music festival called Wreckfest on the weekend of September 20-21, you should buy your tickets and plan accordingly.
Now, that is not the case. The lineup is stacked with so much talent it’s kind of ridiculous. You can see both the lineup and how to get your tickets at wreckfestcville.com so stop reading and go buy them now.
You’re back with tickets in your digital wallet? Let’s finish up then.
Old Hank wouldn’t be doing his (sorta not really) job if he didn’t let you in on a couple of secrets that revealed themselves before Lord Nelson took the stage.
Leah Mayln Ruth kicked off the evening in soaring fashion with the kind of voice that makes old people reminisce, young’uns wanna be a singer when they grow up, and couples squeeze each others’ hands real hard. Just look for that name and go see her.
Then, Matchbox Revival took the stage, and just where the hell have these guys been hiding? Before the show we could find next to nothing about them on the worldwide web except they are from Nelson County. Judging by the talent, musicianship and sensibility, of course they are. They spit a few excellent originals and their cover choice and execution was just so really damn fine. Check out their impressive range: Voodoo Child, Ain’t No Sunshine, Never Gonna Dance Again, While My Guitar Gently Weeps and No Diggity. We’ll be seeing them again at the earliest possible opportunity and yapping about them.
OK, it’s too beautiful of an early fall morning to sit at a computer writing or reading. Get yer coffee, turn this off and go outside the back door, face the mountains and just breathe in how lucky we are to live here, in this place, surrounded by beauty and flippin’ talent.
Old Hank
*Apology: my beloved little Rhode mic pooped the bed last night just after Leah Mayln Ruth’s performance necessitating using Lord Nelson’s Tooth and Nail cut from the album instead of the live version in the video above and sadly no audio for Matchbox Revival. This aggression will not stand gentlemen.
*Note: I can’t hear Tooth and Nail without thinking about my old buddy Griff. Miss you, love you dude. Catch ya in the bye and bye.
