By: Katie Bratsch
"Too much love" was the press headline making the rounds from here all the way to the BBC, after folk-rock duo Storyhill's Valentine's Day concert at The Varsity Theater in Minneapolis was oversold and shut down early by the fire marshal. That unexpected twist of fate, as it turned out, was a fortunate opportunity for the band and fans alike.
Storyhill returned to The Varsity for two makeup performances on March 19-20. Plus, their co-collaborator and producer Dan Wilson, of Semisonic and Trip Shakespeare fame, joined them for a few songs this time around.
The Varsity Theater was spiffed out in its usual elegance for these encore performances, but the crowd was more orderly seated in folding chairs instead of sprawled out hippy-style like last time. Storyhill had just returned from the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Tex., where they had performed in a showcase set up by their new label Red House Records.
John Hermanson and Chris Cunningham greeted everyone from the stage, as if they were old friends, by saying "So, where did we leave off?" They began their nearly three-hour set with the song "Great Divide," about being on the road and in personal transition. It coincided with the mood of the cool late-March evening, with the winter season slowly changing. Their music has that ability, in general, to take one on a mental journey to both earthly and metaphysical destinations—through great divides in mountain ranges and along streams of consciousness.
Singer-songwriters are particularly in style right now, but Storyhill has been crafting their music and gathering fans all along. They released their thirteenth album in February, and Cunningham and Hermanson have been touring and recording together since 1989. This
latest self-titled album continues their tradition of singing about life as they know it, in a way that invites listeners along.
Storyhill's music is often coined "relationship songs," which span the familiar gamut of newly-in-love to nursing-the-wound. But, then they also have many beautifully romantic story songs about family members or friends, whom they've mythicized into legends. One such song is "Old Sea Captain." It has everything Hemingway described and Homer painted, set to a tune that sounds equally aged. What's funny, though, is Cunningham revealed the truth about his own tall tale, when introducing the song with "I wrote this for my grandpa who loved the sea and sailing. I don't think he was actually a sea captain; maybe he was in the Navy or something. He was more of a recreational sea captain who took his friends out on the water in the summer and made margaritas."
About 10 songs into their set, the creative flow between these two musicians was powerfully apparent. With their instinctual strumming back and forth and trading off song lyrics mid-sentence, it was like they were playing a wild game of catch. They worked up to some of their old favorites, which drew howls from the audience. Then, they upped the ante by bringing Dan Wilson on stage for a couple of their songs and one of his own. Wilson complimented them by saying "These guys have asked me to play a couple of songs with them, and I think that's very generous. There have been many times when I've been listening to them play and my hair has been standing on end. I love them a lot."
They finished at a fever pitch, with Dan Wilson improvising along on the piano, Jerry Lee Lewis-style, during "Love Will Find You." Then, they did a three-song encore, for which they asked the audience members to yell out their favorite "campfire song" requests. They weren't really kidding, because they actually host an annual Storyhill Fest in Bozeman, Mont., complete with the experience of the great outdoors—including Storyhill songs around the campfire.
Set list:
1. Great Divide
2. Blazing Out of Sight
3, Highlight
4. Happy Man
5. Background for Your Blue
6. Somewhere in Between
7. Mary on the Mountain
8. Old Sea Captain
9. Angel
10. Full Circle
11. What Was Wrong
12. Ballad of Joe Snowboard
13. Sacramento -- with Dan Wilson
Sugar -- Dan Wilson solo
14. Fallen
15. Give Up the Ghost
16. Paradise Lost
17. Love Will Find You -- with Dan Wilson
18. Happiness Runs
19. If I Could
20. Steady On
Location Info:
The Varsity Theater
Artist Info: Storyhill
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