To sit alone on stage with hundreds of eyes peering at you is terribly exposing. It’s pure, unadulterated scrutiny. To do so unwaveringly, with charisma, and still pull off an unfaltering musical performance is exceedingly difficult. This is precisely what RayLand Baxter brought to the Crocodile last Friday.
RayLand drapes melodic and longing vocals over deftly fingerpicked guitar licks. Lilting wails hint at whisky laden nights gone awry with images of lingering ladies now no longer lovers. Rife with Southern sentiments, Baxter artfully weaves a tapestry of images into his songs which invoke at times, for me, heartache, longing and a romantic notion of what might have been.
RayLand has a way with words and phrasing that translates directly to the strings of his Creston and back again, a gift many a musician would kill for. For me, “Mountain Song” was a highlight of the show for me in particular, as I’m fond of the baleful moaning that frames the eloquent verses. “Willy’s Song” also stirs something in me; perhaps it’s that persistent need to “move on” inherent in anyone who has ever had a bit of wanderlust in them.
I also want to quickly point out that this show was well into a grueling tour of sleepless nights on a loud bus. Not only did RayLand show up, he showed up in top form. If you haven’t listened to his music by now, you had better start, you’re missing out. Written By: 'cooL' John KeLLey
Reserve your copy of RayLand's split Daytrotter vinyl with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals HERE.
Catch RayLand at Bonnaroo and the Newport Folk Festival this year... or a town near you... He will continue to tour heavily in 2013. Stay up to date, and listen to jams off his debut album HERE.
Listen/Watch "Bad Things" above. It's one of our favorite jams by RayLand, and a tune you are certain to hear on the road this year (not included on "Feathers & Fishhooks").
Creating posters for South By Southwest events is always a fun typography challenge. There typically is a sea of text to be included on these kinds of posters. As a graphic designer, my goal is to organize that content in a fluid, easy to understand manner... while devising an eye-catching design aesthetic. Our friends at www.ziibra.com recently reached out to us to do just that.
If you haven't heard of ZIIBRA you should definitely check them out. The Seattle web start up has created a platform for artists and fans alike to engage with each other. ZIIBRA helps up-and-coming artists make music their full time job, by connecting them with true fans who want to back their careers (think bandcamp meets kickstarter).
ATO recording artist RayLand Baxter also hit us up this week. The Nashville-based singer/songwriter is on the big come up in 2013, and appears to have a full SXSW performance plate ahead of him. Listen to RayLand's debut album Feathers & Fishhooks HERE. And if you're in Seattle, unable to attend any of his sets at SXSW, see RayLand live at the Crocodile March 29th with Donavon Frankenreiter. Cheers, FYM.
Last week, FYM San Francisco had the pleasure of rollin' over to Oakland, and watching RayLand Baxter perform LIVE at the Fox Theater! (on tour with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals)
In August, Baxter officially released his intoxicating debut album Feathers & Fishhooks on ATO Records. That night in Oakland, RayLand and crew set an impressive tone for the evening, performing one of our favorite cuts off the new record- The Mtn Song. His music video below:
Baxter's rambling free-spirit, along with his incredible songwriting abilities, and solid backing-band support, will leave you wanting more. To top off the set, he tossed in a tight little cover of Run Run Run by The Velvet Underground. We can't wait to see RayLand again!
Word has it, he's due to be back in January for another round in San Francisco, and will continue touring across the country in the spring. Baxter finishes out his current tour with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals in December, followed by a leg of East Coast dates with Seattle's Sera Cahoone. Buy Feather's & Fishhooks HERE. Cheers, FYM.
Over the past few months FYM has had the pleasure of getting to know a brilliant singer/songwriter out of NashviLLe Tennessee - RayLand Baxter. Summer 2011 has been an impressive journey for RayLand -selling out shows across North America while on tour with The Civil Wars, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, even opening for the peerless Willie Nelson in Salt Lake City recently. Today forYoungModerns is proud to showcase Baxter's latest music video for a new tune (The Mountain Song) off his highly anticipated album Feathers and Fishhooks -due out early 2012.
The track itself- The Mountain Song, is a vivid love story, humble and free. It's an inspiring song that we've had an immediate connection with since first hearing.. It's a take me as I am kinda tune... perfect for dreamers walking together through life. RayLand's well-crafted storytelling abilities shimmer with enlightened perspectives -We spotlight a portion of his lyrics from The Mountain Song below:
----- So I am staring at the gates of all my dreams, Yeah, and I can see you far inside, cause you're walking down the road with me. Down the mountains and the valley's like the breeze -Yeah we going where we wanna go, Yeah we doing anything we please.
But if I could give you everything I would, all the forests and the flowers and the trees. But if Love is all you need then we are good, for Love is all I have to give -won't you tell me you're the one for me.
-----
The video itself- is a fluent honest portrayal of who RayLand Baxter truly is -a kind, charismatic, genuine spirit. It should be mentioned that Ryan Holmberg (Iron Lung Studios) did an amazing job editing this music video -going through hours of footage from Baxter's summer tour adventures, ultimately pairing together three and a half minutes of beautiful life moments from the road -set to an incredible song.
Be sure to catch RayLand Baxter live this fall, he's currently taking a short break from the road, gearing up to go on tour with Twin Cities alt-country rockers The Jayhawks in October. To learn more about RayLand and his music visit his website HERE. Cheers, FYM
SPENT TIME IN OUTSIDE LANDS PART TWO: Our second day of press coverage at Outside Lands this year was filled with surprises. On that Saturday afternoon (into the evening) the people around us, as well as the incredible music being performed- easily made this our favorite day of the event. The article below spotlights a few of those memorable moments. Cheers, FYM.
OUTSIDE LANDS 2011 DAY TWO: Last Saturday, still recovering from the massive menu of sonic bliss FYM took in on day one- we made our way past the festival gates, through a noticeably larger early-afternoon crowd en route to the press tent. While in the back, getting our batteries charged for the day, we noticed Co-founder of Apple Computer Company, Steve Wozniak, (pictured above) rolling steady on his tricked out Segway.
Other press access highlights included our brief conversation with OK Go bassist Tim Nordwind! FYM publicist Nick Codling is pictured above hanging with Nordwind after OK Go's impressive main stage performance on Saturday afternoon.
The Arctic Monkeys have become an act that is hard to miss live over the past few years- they ripped through the hits and a nice selection of new tunes that day in front of an extremely passionate/rowdy audience on the Lands End stage. When you have a jam called Fake Tales of San Francisco you immediately become a fan favorite... (Above: Lead singer Alex Turner on the jumbo.)
COSMIC CONNECTION: This Art Director also had the pleasure of reuniting with our nashviLLe singer/songwriter/comrade rayLand Baxter. He came to S.F. fresh off his successful summer tours with The Civil Wars (with sold out shows across the country), followed by dates with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.
rayLand was flown out to San Francisco for the weekend taking advantage of the good energy in the park- there to support his people at Red Light Management. You may remember Baxter stayed at FYM HQ in Seattle earlier this summer for three days while kicking off his tour with The Civil Wars (Click HERE to read about that situation).
The Black Keys were one of the few bands to add props to their stage presence- with a large blow-up Arkon Ohio Good Year tire (dawning their name) looming over the duo.
The Black Keys proved all those years of touring makes for a great live band in any setting (intimate clubs or large festival crowds). Their hard-hitting rocked up version of the blues went over tremendously well with the Golden Gate crowd. The follow-up to their Grammy Award winning Brothers album is expected later this year.
Following The Black Keys set, we made our way over to the opposite side of Outside Lands were FYM caught the magic of The Legendary Roots Crew live on the Twin Peaks stage. Following the success of 2010's How I Got Over, The Roots are planning on releasing a new record later this Fall.
After The Roots closed out their jam session and the sun sank past the horizon- FYM found themselves invited backstage watching Gregg Gillis (Girl Talk) orchestrating a furious boogie-down sonic mashing showcase.
(Click the photo above for greater detail.) Girl Talk knows how to bring the party as we documented from back stage below:
Since Gillis can't necessarily make money from selling records due to copyright issues of merging so many samples together (even if he is creating something entirely new) so it's no surprise he makes his money on the road throwing these massive parties on stage.
Other highlights of being backstage for Girl Talk was running into Josh Hodges of Starfucker (Portland Electronica). Hodges pictured above with FYM's publicist- was kind enough to give us his Outside Lands meal ticket for the night.
As Day Two came to an end this Art Director parted ways with the FYM crew and met back up with rayLand Baxter. We found ourselves a few baked goods for the road and waited for a bus to take us downtown. Pictured Above: Baxter is always willing to help a lady with her hair..
It seems the case whenever I hang with rayLand, beautiful moments abound. The bus we were riding on was packed with festival goers. Watch below for what organically came out of this:
It was magic- people making an uncomfortable situation beautiful. The entire bus came together for a epic sing along of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. It was an amazing/surreal moment to experience. After a long public transit ride Baxter and I made our way to the 39th floor of the Marriott Hotel. I found myself sipping on Jim Beam and water (rayLand's choice), taking in incredible views of the city at night, and entertaining random conversations with the group of people Baxter had come to see.
As we left the hotel back to where my Nashville friend was crashing, it became evident the cab situation was non-existent at this time of night. And just then a limo pulled up, Baxter said something to the effect of you wanna get a ride from the limo? I'll take care of this... and we did. It was approximately 2:30 in the morning in the heart of San Francisco, feeling well-marinated in the back of a limo (my first ever time riding in one, as seen above) en route to rayLand's friends house, after a long day of music and partying, that it occurred to me- this is what it must feel like to be a rockstar. A special thanks to Outside Lands 2011, the beautfiul people of San Francisco, and rayLand for making Day Two an experience forYoungModerns will never forget.
Some Things Are Just Meant To Be: In the music scene I grew up in (The Quad Cities), we have an unsaid code that has developed over the years- No matter where we live, a friend (or in this case, a friend you can vouch for) will always have a place to stay while on the road.
Spent Time With Nashville Part Three: One of life's unexpected blessings came our way on Wednesday June 22, 2011- As FYM was finishing up our coverage of Bobby Bare Jr's The Other Side of Nashville concert we attended earlier in the week- This Art Director received a message from an old scene comrade (Aaron O'Dell, who now lives in Nashville) that his buddy, Day-To-Day/Tour Manager, Austin Littrell, and musician RayLand Baxter (pictured above) were en-route to Seattle, didn't know anyone, had a sold out show to play with buzz band The Civil Wars the next night, and needed a place to stay... of course my wife Emily and I had to accept the request.
Highlight #1: Strange Coincidences
From the very beginning, hanging with these two cats from Nashville- felt like being back home around my friends in the Midwest. One of the first questions I asked RayLand was if he knew who Bobby Bare Jr was (as I just finished my article on him) and RayLand said they were actually good friends. Stranger yet, Bobby was still in town, called RayLand and invited us to come over to Ballard to hang during the Carey Kotsionis set at the Sunset Tavern. (we have evidence below, documenting what turned out to be a blurry evening in Seattle).
It was a trip hanging out that Wednesday night with two real sons of Nashville- both Rayland and Bobby have notable musicians for fathers. We talked throughout the night about various subjects, but one of the most important, is the fact that there's something extremely special brewing under the surface of Nashville's music scene over the past few years (the city is truly in the midst of an underground sonic renaissance).
Highlight #2: RayLand Makes Great Music It's one thing to let a band crash at your place for a night and have them be cool people, but the bonus for us was that RayLand Baxter is in fact an extremely gifted singer/songwriter, on the cusp of doing some pretty big things over the next year.
The first music highlight was having Austin (tour manager) ask if they could download the new mix of RayLand's full-length (due out early 2012, possibly February) onto my computer to listen to. The special part about this was it's Jacquire King's mix of the record- you know the dude credited for making the Kings of Leon's sound HUGE, as well as working with various other successful artists like: Tom Waits, Modest Mouse, and Cold War Kids.
It's a really good record, (I'll review it when it gets closer to the release) but a beautiful moment did occur as we were listening to the album on a sunny second morning of Baxter's stay. As I was washing dishes, RayLand called me into the living room just as the first track came on, turned to me with a big smile (full of pride) and said in matter of words, That's my dad on guitar right there. And his dad, just happens to be Bucky Baxter, the famed Steel Pedal Guitarist, a man whose sound once brought Bob Dylan back from the dead on 1997's Grammy Award-Winning record Time Out Of Mind.
Other notable music related highlights during RayLand's visit included, hearing the new Strokes record (an album that both Austin and Baxter suggest giving a shot), learning he recorded a tune with the Hanson Brothers at SXSW for a Japan Relief record, attending his sold out show with The Civil Wars at The Triple Door (good seats too), and having Baxter himself give me a few pointers on guitar. We also had the chance to talk favorite Bob Dylan tunes, with Hazel (off Planet Waves) being one of his favorite songs, and Every Grain of Sand (off Shot of Love) being mine.
Highlight #3: Good Vibes
Whether it was Baxter giving his last couple bucks to a homeless kid next to the skate park at Seattle Center, or giving away a free EP and signing a personal message to a young boy (at his first concert ever, who introduced himself to RayLand after his set), or giving some good life advice to me (which was nice to hear from a peer my own age, 27)- Around every corner we took, I was impressed by my kind Nashville visitor.
RayLand and Austin ended up staying a third night at our FYM HQ due to being shutout of Canada (not allowed to cross the boarder) missing their Vancouver date. FYM took them to our favorite local dive-bar in Queen Anne, called the Streamline Tavern, followed by a night of video games, homemade lasagna (by Emily), and turning the guys on to the forgotten Judd Apatow TV series Undeclared.
RayLand Baxter and Austin Littrell left the next morning, leaving a nice letter of thanks, and a couple of RayLand's elusive (only sold at his live shows) one of a kind- ingeniously packaged EP the miscaLcuLation of song, personally signed to my wife and I. The organic handmade packaging (Baxter is working on, as shown a couple pictures above) is just as thoughtful and well-crafted as the music it carries inside of it.
Click HERE to learn more about RayLand Baxter through his Facebook artist page. Or hit him up on Twitter @RayLandisHere. A special thanks goes out to him and Austin for reminding me to take it a little easier on myself, enjoy the good things in my life (like holding the hand of a beatuiful lady for nearly 10 years), and to follow my instincts. Can't wait to hang again when you come back to Seattle. Cheers, FYM.
Spent Time With Nashville Part Two: Nashville Tennessee's Rayland Baxter, started his journey on tour with The Civil Wars last Thursday evening in Seattle Washington, USA- performing in front of a sold out audience live at The Triple Door.
Through strange circumstances, which we will reveal in Part Three of FYM's Spent Time With Nashville series, Rayland Baxter (pictured above at Seattle Center) and his Day-to-Day/Tour Manager Austin Littrell, also happened to be staying with us, crashing in our FYM HQ studio, during their time in Seattle. It offered this Art Director the rare opportunity of truly getting to know an artist as person first, before ever really hearing their music or seeing them perform live.
It was no surprise that the kind, charismatic, genuine spirit- that is Rayland Baxter offstage, also carries over into his live performances. A great example of his honesty, talent, and the thoughtful perspectives Rayland produces live- can be found in the footage we took below:
Over the past couple years Baxter has put together an impressive catalog of well crafted, vivid tales that shimmer with intimacy live. Good music is a part of Baxter's DNA- Rayland is the son of Pedal Steel Guitar legend Bucky Baxter (most notable for his work with Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, and Ryan Adams). Our favorite song of the night came at the end of Baxter's set, it's an uplifting tune that any 27 year-old who finds themselves (full of doubt/worry) at the crossroads of life needs to hear. The track has yet to be titled, but it encapsulates everything dreamers like us need to remember while traveling through life:
After his set there was no question Rayland Baxter had struck an emotional chord with an audience who predominately came to support the headliner- The Civil Wars. A long line started to form around the merch table, where Rayland signed copies of his EP- the miscaLcuLation of song (an incredible collection of music and formidable package design). A one of a kind moment (and example of Baxter's tremendous character) came as a young boy approached Rayland explaining that this was his first concert ever, and he loved Baxter's set. Without hesitation Rayland gave the boy a free record (which obviously meant the world to the boy- full of surprise and excitement), and Baxter even took the time to sign a personal message on the back of the EP. Coasting on those good vibes, FYM went back inside the theater and took our seats in preparation for The Civil Wars.
The Taylor Swift (twitter approved) harmony filled folk-duo comprised of singer/songwriters Joy Williams and John Paul White formed The Civil Wars during a Nashville songwriting session in 2009. Since then they have been blessed with chart-climbing crossover success with 2011's Barton Hollow. Watch the duo's champion vocal beauty shared on 20 years, recorded by FYM live at The Triple Door:
The Civil Wars impressed us with their dominant fan devotion- the sold out crowd was passionate, yet respectful, with everyone in the room seemingly awestruck by the duo's elegant, nurturing sound.
The big surprise of the evening was The Civil Wars decision to put their stamp on two classic tracks. The first cover incorporated into their set was The Smashing Pumpkins masterpiece single- Disarm. Later on in the night they also hammered out a folk/countrified version of the untouchable Michael Jackson jam- Billie Jean (giving the tune a whole new perspective and feel). Both tracks below are streaming recordings from the show (and can't be downloaded).
A special thanks goes out to Rayland and The Civil Wars for an unforgettable sonic experience. Both continue on tour together across North America through the end of July, click HERE to view tour dates. Get tickets while you can, as most of these shows are selling out fast! Cheers, FYM.
