Philadelphia band, Strand of Oaks, releases a new ambient album titled Ambient For Change in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

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All photos by Matt Kelchner

In front of a packed crowd Saturday night Kristian Matsson, aka The Tallest Man On Earth, ran through a career spanning set that had more than one surprise worked in. Due to a scheduling conflict, the Swedish folk singer was moved from the Fillmore down to rock the TLA, a venue much smaller than those he has grown to for performances. Thanks to the switch to a more intimate venue, Matsson’s charismatic stage presence was amplified for a special weekend night on South Street.

Kicking things off was folk singer and multi-instrumentalist Basia Bulat. Her opening slot Saturday night marked her fourth visit to Philadelphia so far this year and judging by the crowd’s reaction, many of them were not witnessing her for the first time. This time around, Bulat was all by her lonesome on the stage.

Bulat made good use of the extra floor space. With instruments scattered around her, she worked her way song after song, switching from one to another. After starting off with the ukulele assisted “Infamous” and moving to the acoustic guitar for a pair of tunes, including “Tall Tall Shadow”, Bulat picked up her signature autoharp. Her night ended the same way in started, picking up the guitar again for “Fool” and then ending with another ukulele based song, “It Can’t Be You”.

After sprinting out and around the stage to greet his eagerly awaiting fans, Matsson settled at the center to begin his night. Following him out, albeit without a quick lap, was his band. Starting off with “Winds and Walls” off 2012’s There’s No Leaving Now, Matsson would take his fans through almost every one of his releases. All four albums were covered, as well as the Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird EP.

It was about this time a year ago that Matsson began performing with a band behind him. Coinciding with the release of Dark Bird Is Home, the simple setup of bass, drums, keys and sometimes fiddle and pedal steel gives both old songs and new fuller, rounder feelings. Despite the short time together, the full band iteration of The Tallest Man On Earth ran like a fine tuned machine.

That isn’t to say that there wasn’t some one on one time between Matsson and the crowd. He alternated several times between full band and solo. Songs like “1904” and “Burden of Tomorrow” featured the full group while others such as “Love Is All” and “Little Nowhere Towns” had just Matsson up on stage.

Right after playing one of his oldest and most well known songs, “The Gardener”, Matsson teased the crowd by dangling a secret in front of them. After describing taking some time off to go back home and getting back to songwriting, he explained that a new song would be released in the upcoming week – “Time of the Blue”, which he then proceeded to play. Shortly after came “Timothy” a song about his longtime friend and current Philly resident Timothy Showalter aka Strand of Oaks.

As the night came towards the close, “King of Spain” was played and received one of the biggest reactions from the crowd. The only way to one up one of the biggest hits from the prolific songwriter? Bringing out a best friend that he previously sang about to play on the set’s final song. With guitar in hand, Showalter walked about as Matsson and company began playing “Dark Bird Is Home”. A few verses in and the two were going head to head, at times literally, dueling guitar licks back and forth.

It only took a few moments for Matsson and his band to come back out for a two song encore that was comprised of “The Dreamer” followed by “Like The Wheel”. The Swede mentioned several times throughout the night his gratitude towards the Philly fan base for being so passionate with his music year after year and Saturday night was no different. With a few more roars The Tallest Man On Earth said his goodbyes and walked off stage, truly living up to his moniker.

With Labor Day Weekend and this year’s Made In America Festival quickly approaching, we are here to help give a little help when it comes to dividing up your time each day. Sure the headliners are great and all, but there are also a lot of great local artists gracing the stages in front of the Art Museum steps. Out of all the amazing acts on the bill that call Philly home, there is one long haired, bearded individual who we think is a can’t miss on Saturday.

“I miss playing Philly because we’re playing everywhere else,” Timothy Showalter explains. He performs as Strand of Oaks and has had a crazy hectic summer of jumping from one festival to another. In just a few days all of that will change as Showalter takes the Skate Stage this Saturday. After weeks of jetsetting around the world, Showalter he tells me, “it’ll be nice to just drive down Kelly Drive.” He then stops almost mid sentence after remembering just how close the festival is. “Actually, I think half my band is planning on riding their bikes to the festival.”

Nestled right before indie rock stalwarts Modest Mouse and Death Cab For Cutie, Showalter will be competing for fans with another local who has seen his fair share of national attention as of late, Meek Mill. Both go on from 6:30PM to 7:30PM.

Showalter and company are still riding strong on their breakthrough album from last year, HEAL. Their continued success has help to grow the experience of the entire band. Now, when it comes to a major gig like this in front of the city they call home, Strand of Oaks takes every challenge head on. “I think at this point pressure is relative to doing a good job. I always want to do my best every time I play no matter what size [the venue is],” Showalter says. “What’s nice is I think as a band we’re kind of like sportsman in a way where pressure is a good thing. We accept it and rise to it.”

As the sun begins to set on the first day of the Made In America Festival, it will be tough to not hear the wailing buzzsaw guitars of Strand of Oaks. “Well, we like to turn our amps really loud so we can play full force.” It’s one of the tricks that they have picked up from playing festival after festival.

Another is playing to every person in the crowd, no matter how far back they are. “I want people in the back row to feel like they’re getting the same show as the people in the front row,” Showalter details as he lets me into his game plan. “I think it’s just a matter of projecting our energy and trying to blanket the entire audience with it.”

Strand of Oaks may not be the biggest or most well-known act on the lineup this upcoming weekend, but we think it’s safe to say they will be one of the most entertaining. Showalter proudly tells me,“There’s no slacking off with this band. It’s just like ‘Let’s kick some ass today and take care of it.'” Be sure to make your way over to the Skate Stage come 6:30PM to get a taste for yourself.

It’s been a crazy and exciting year for Strand of Oaks. With the release of the latest album Heal, Timothy Showalter became the next Philadelphia musician to breakout onto the national scene. After spending the last several weeks out on the road, Strand of Oaks returned to the city of brotherly love for a homecoming show. Last time around, Showalter and company sold out back to back nights at Boot and Saddle. When they returned on Wednesday, they made the step up to Union Transfer for a packed show.

As Strand of Oaks took to the stage Wednesday night with the sounds of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” playing over the house system, singer/songwriter and bandleader Timothy Showalter walked out with a beer in hand and a smile that stretched from ear to ear. The sheer amount of happiness and joy of walking out to a room full of fans bubbled over Showalter. After the cheers died down, he explained that the last series of tour dates were all simply just practice for Wednesday night.

Early on in the night, Showalter expressed his gratitude for the city he now calls home. “We make the best everything. We make the best music,” he shouted, a statement that he would prove true song after song. Starting off strong with “Same Emotions” and “HEAL”, it was clear that Strand of Oaks live is a much different beast compared to the one on record. The riffs were bigger, the solos were louder and the songs more heartfelt.

Showalter was not the least bit shy to explain the stories behind some of his songs. While explaining “JM”, his tribute to Jason Molina, Showalter introduced “Slo-Mo” Mike Brenner as he came out to play pedal steel for the track.

Other highlights from the night included “Goshen ‘97”, one of the many standout hits off Heal, as well as a solo rendition of Ryan Adam’s “My Wrecking Ball”. The crowd was showered with love throughout the night, as was local radio station WXPN. At one point Showalter briefly explained the feeling of hearing his music for the first time on the radio, citing WXPN as the first station to play his tracks. Another radio station, WHYY, was also present Wednesday night as they were tapping and recording the concert as part of their “On Tour” series.

Strand of Oaks wrapped up the night with “Wait For Love”. It only took a few minutes after walking off stage for the band to make their way back out. After passing around a bottle of Jim Beam they ripped into an incredible cover of The Replacement’s “Alex Chilton”, a first for the band. At this point Showalter had seemingly ran out of things to say and compliments to give. He was left with only the same huge smile that he started the night off with.

The crowd was treated with one more blast of face-melting riffs as Strand of Oaks ended the night with “For Me”. After the final notes rang out and Showalter finished whipping his guitar around, he jumped into the crowd to give what looked like every single fan a hug. For a guy who made it so crystal clear his love for his fans and the community in Philadelphia, it was the perfect ending for a perfect return home.

The beauty of music is that songs born out of pain can bring joy into the world. Even though both Christopher Denny and Timothy Showalter of Strand of Oaks write songs that come from very personal, sometimes dark places, their performances transform difficult life experiences into art.

Christopher Denny was very candid about his struggles with substance abuse even while talking to the crowd, and his music is filled with references to past hurts and mistakes. Denny’s singular voice lends so much emotion to already weighty subjects, so while watching him play songs like “Happy Sad” and “God’s Height” off the excellent album If the Roses Don’t Kill Us (Partisan) is a lot of fun, the performance demands an emotional response as well.

Strand of Oaks certainly has no problem playing with feeling, and the atmosphere Friday night was charged with good will as Boot & Saddle hosted the first of two sold-out nights with the hardworking band. After a month-long cross-country tour, Showalter and company came home to Philly for a brief rest before heading off to Europe next week.

Family love was in the air, as relatives of bassist Deven Craige rolled into South Philly on a party bus. It made for powerful, flawless performances of songs like “Shut In”, “Goshen ‘97” and “Heal”. Things quieted when Craige and drummer Mike Sneeringer stepped off-stage for a bit, allowing Showalter and keyboard player Eliza Jones to create soft, lovely versions of older songs “Diamond Drill” and “Two Kids”.

Both acts Friday night brought a lot of personal emotion to their performances, and it made for a moving, memorable show. The Philly audience was happy to give it right back to them, as Denny’s talent was welcomed right alongside the local favorites. Lots of people had a really good weekend because of these two shows, and I’m lucky to be one of them.

Earlier this month, Chris Denny began his tour over on the west coast. He sounds to be in good spirits as I could hear the open air of the freeway on the other end of his cell phone.

“Seattle was just great; great crowd, great sound. The place was packed,” Denny says. “I would say that was my favorite night of the tour so far.”

Even while on the road, Denny is constantly working. His mind is always wondering through different ideas and most of his songs are created on the spot when inspiration strikes. For example, he and his wife were sitting on the porch one day and they started to write “Happy/Sad” as a joke. It turned out to be one of his favorites.

“I don’t ever write anything down,” Denny says “If something is worth remembering, I have my wife sit down with me and write it out as it comes.”

Denny was born in Arkansas and from as long as he could remember, he wanted to sing. The first guitar Denny ever received was from his grandfather at a very young age. He picked up how to play rather innately and would bust out some old country for his grandfather from time to time. “He told me that if I had something special, that I could be really good if I stuck with it.”

Denny believes in paying homage to past musicians to create new music. Some of his most influential artists are Charley Pride and Johnny Horton- or at least when it comes to the classics. When it comes to more recent country artists, he does get into some Dwight Yorkam. However, he doesn’t consider himself too into the more modern “pop-culture”.

Even though Denny has had some dark times in his past, his mind set and attitude are quite positive now. He believes that in life you just have to move forward and let things work out.

“Sometimes I get a little down when I look back, but I do believe everything happens for a reason. The reason can be whatever you make it. We create it [that reason] to give us the strength we need…I’ve gained a lot of wisdom and can get pretty philosophical at times,” Denny states about looking at things with a positive perspective.

Despite the dusty skeletons in the closest, Denny has had some tremendous opportunities since signing with Partisan records. He has released a new album and is currently on tour with Strand of Oaks, which he is very grateful for. You can catch them playing at Boot and Saddle on September 19th and 20th.

Last time Denny was in our home state, PA, he lost his temporary tags and ran into some conflicts with the law. Nothing serious, but we got a good laugh out of the story. While he and his wife (also best friends, companion…someone is in love!) are here, he doesn’t think he will have too much down time to explore our historic city, but he does have some friends out in Lancaster he would like to catch up with. Hopefully he was able to do so when the tour stopped in York, PA last night.

“For now, it’s all just about the music and moving forward,” Denny says.

Heal

Reviewed by: Brian Roser

It’s amazing the effect that pain can have on art. Would Shakespeare’s Hamlet have been as masterful if he had not lost his son, Hamnet a few years before? Could Dylan Thomas have written his masterpiece “Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night” if it were not for the terminal illness of his father?

This album, and the eponymous song “Heal” in particular, is a catharsis. Timothy Showalter wrote this music from a place of pain. He was on tour and away from home. His marriage was dissolving and he suffered from a crisis of identity, both personally and professionally when he couldn’t take any more. He returned home and purged his demons through music. It shows. This album comes from the heart and soul. The lyrics tell of his process of climbing out of depression.

“Take it even further back to darker times
When I drank too much and I took too much
I lied to all my friends about who I was
But can you listen to me now I’m all grown up”

Healing is not easy. It’s painful and emotionally draining, but it is also necessary. Don’t get me wrong, there is more here than just a therapy session. The opening song describes how he first fell in love with music and the lengthy “JM” is a tribute to the late Jason Molina. This album is also one of the few times where the guitar dissonance is earned. It is the scream that rips from your throat when the tears just aren’t enough. You can hear the sincerity in every note, even the discordant ones.

This is music. This is art.

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