Margo Price and Jeremy Ivey
In its 20-year history, ANTI- Records has had quite the diverse roster. The sister imprint to California punk label Epitaph has been home to Merle Haggard, Mavis Staples, Kate Bush, Girlpool and The Locust (that’s a San Diego grindcore outfit, if you don’t know) in one capacity or another. Is that Americana? Well, maybe. In any case, this year’s AmericanaFest was a fine backdrop for the label’s 20th anniversary shindig, held Thursday night at Mercy Lounge.
Jeremy Ivey
Jeremy Ivey, on the eve of his first solo album’s release, went onstage first and got to spotlight his new material. There are some elements folks might recognize from his work with wife Margo Price (both in her phenomenal country-rooted band and their previous band Buffalo Clover), but The Dream and the Dreamer is something very much his own. A good bit of his set featured jangly Byrds-ian hooks, but some of his finest moments came in his darker songs, like the elegiac “The Dream and the Dreamer.” Price, who produced and sang on the new album, was in the crowd and came up to sing with him, to the delight of the Americana-heads who showed up early. (You could hear frustrated latecomers grousing about missing her all night.)
Son Little, decked out Gilligan-style in a red long-sleeve shirt and bucket hat, put a much-appreciated injection of blues and R&B in the veins of the alt-country-heavy evening. He went into the set armed only with a guitar and stool, shedding the massive-sounding studio production of his albums. The highlight of the set: his gut-punching rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “Jesus Children of America.”
Darrin Bradbury with Jeremy Ivey and Margo Price
For those concerned that the tradition of the great American humorist has been lost, Darrin Bradbury is here to alleviate your fears. Like Little, he had only an acoustic guitar and his voice (and occasional help from Ivey and Price). But his songs are catchy and wry, often darkly comical and peppered with funny anecdotes, and unassumingly illuminate the human condition. Folks used to call John Prine one of “the new Dylans,” and it won’t be surprising if some start referring to Bradbury as one of “the new Prines,” especially after his album Talking Dogs & Atom Bombs (his second LP and first for ANTI-) lands on Sept. 20.
The Frothy Pit feat. Wynonna Judd and Cass McCombs
The real mystery of the night was The Frothy Pit, a collaboration between shapeshifting songwriter Cass McCombs and country legend Wynonna Judd. Just days after the release of “The Child,” a song co-written by the duo (but released as a Judd song, ahead of her upcoming tour), they were on the Mercy Lounge stage in front of an audience who had no idea what to expect. “This is like a blind date,” Judd joked.
But everyone’s curiosity was satisfied quickly with the fun and light set. Judd’s voice is as soulful and velvety as ever, and her charisma is as strong it’s ever been in her 36-year career. There’s something special about seeing a woman used to commanding an arena play to a small room, and Judd couldn’t have done it better. McCombs, normally the star of the show, made a great partner. They even pulled out a few unexpected tricks out of the bag, with a jovial cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Ramble on Rose” — Judd had a great deal to say about her appreciation for the Dead’s Bob Weir — and The Judds’ No. 1 hit “Why Not Me.” For a band just getting used to playing in public together, The Frothy Pit came across like well-groomed veterans.
