Freak Scene #55: Your Ticket to the Moon(s)
Recent music from Moon Hollow and the Moon Shells, along with a pointed song from Peter Mulvey.
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
We’re all about the moon in this week’s Freak Scene, with Moon Hollow and the Moon Shells — a pair of bands from Easthampton and New Haven, respectively, that play rootsy music. Two “moon” bands making folk music: What are the odds? (Probably pretty good, but what are we, statisticians?) Anyway, each group released new music in the past few months, so let’s get caught up. (Plus, an acerbic song Peter Mulvey wrote a couple years ago is more relevant than ever.)
First there’s Moon Hollow, an Easthampton combo comprising Tim Cardiello on vocals and guitar; Charlie Peckar on banjo, violin, viola and vocals; Calvin Doiron on bass; Nick Paar on mandolin and vocals; Mia Govoni on drums; and Eddie Gaudet on glockenspiel. The group’s latest release, a five-song EP called Leave the Light On, follows the 2020 single “Daydream,” which consisted solely of Cardiello on acoustic guitar and vocals, with backing vocals from Vanessa Boivin-Drolet.
Naturally, there’s more happening on Leave the Light On. Cardiello’s tuneful voice is still a focal point, backed by rich harmony vocals on the chorus on opener “Around to It,” which features subtle violin, the distinctive “chucka” sound of a mandolin and a wandering bassline. Strummed acoustic guitar anchors “Oswego Waltz,” accompanied by single-note flourishes on mandolin and fluid violin lines.
“Seeing Signs” speeds things up as guitar, violin and mandolin tumble over each during the musical breaks, while album closer “Vanish” emphasizes a rolling banjo part topped with harmony vocals, guitar strummed on the upbeat and mandolin.
If Moon Hollow sound (to me, anyway) rooted in the New England folk tradition, the Moon Shells are an all-purpose kind of band. Appalachian roots music? Sure, they do that. Louisiana-style? Yep. West African? Why not?
The New Haven-area collective — singer/banjoist Maggie Shar, singer/fiddler/guitarist Brian Slattery, bassist/fiddler Laura Murawski, singer/guitarist Molly Merrett and drummer Charlie Shaw — has been releasing music at an impressive pace over the past six years, with two albums or EPs each in 2019, 2021 and 2024 and another in 2020, plus a duo record from Shar and Slattery in 2022. The group writes its own material, and also rummages around in the songbag of traditional fiddle music. The Moon Shells’ most recent release, the five-song EP Storm Plants the Seed (also featuring Adam Matlock on keys, Mike Tepper on bass and Michael Paolucci on drums) collects four tunes from their previous albums, plus a traditional song, as part of a live-in-the-studio collection. Think of it as an introductory compilation, if you’re unfamiliar.
The band stretches out on Storm Plants the Seed, on songs that demonstrate the interplay among the musicians when they’re collaborating live. “Independence Day,” a tidy three minutes on the Moon Shells’ 2021 album Earth, is twice that here as the musicians lean into a West African feel on the tune, where guitars intertwine with banjo and wind their way around percussion and layers of vocals. The folk instrumental standard “Pretty Little Dog” puts fiddles front and center right from the start, then complements them with percussion influenced by afrobeat, while “Go Away Go Away” is breezy and laid-back, with bright, trebly electric guitar licks over accompaniment from banjo and vocals that leans vaguely Cajun. With no overdubs on Storm Plants the Seed, the vocals are sometimes a little pitchy, but the Moon Shells play together with an easy compatibility that makes the occasional bum note easy enough to forgive.
Upcoming Concerts
The Daffodil Festival returns to Hubbard Park in Meriden May 3-4, with a lineup that includes Lys Guillorn & the Void, Kittens, Righteous Continental, Bronson Rock, Dust Hat, Smoky Boys Band, Audio Jane, the Problem With Kids Today, Joe Flood, the Eddie Seville Band, the Moon Shells (hey, we know about them!), Driving Route 9, the Rob Glassman Band, Jason Ingresseli & Miles North, XY Eli (with Bob Orsi on harp), Midnight Anthem, Coconuts, Downtown Six, River City Slim & The Zydeco Hogs, the Mount Higby Bluegrass Band, the 860 Band, Illuminous, Balkun Brothers, Small Town Gamblers, the Stevie Nicks Experience Tribute, Dave Matthews Tribute Band, Jeff Przech, the Chris Marolda Band and Feedback. The festival is free.
Not only are Rilo Kiley reuniting this year to play their first shows since 2008, the band’s new run of East Coast tour dates includes a stop Sept. 3 at College Street Music Hall in New Haven (tickets).
Tree House Brewing in South Deerfield hosts Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ June 4 (tickets), Houndmouth June 9 (tickets) and Lucius with Neal Francis July 25 (tickets).
The Iron Horse in Northampton brings Barnstar! May 6 (tickets), jazz vocalist ganavya May 30 (tickets) and Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers Aug. 15 (tickets).
Amherst indie-rockers the Baxbys return to the Drake March 6 with Autumn Drive (tickets). Another UMass-associated band, Have a Nice Life, have added a second show May 23 (tickets) after the first one sold out.
The excellent Angélica Garcia performs March 22 at Mass MoCA (tickets); I wrote about her 2024 album Gemelo for Paste. Lake Street Dive are there Sept. 6 (tickets).
District Music Hall in Norwalk, Conn., hosts George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic May 17 (tickets). Houndmouth are there June 7 (tickets).
The Space Ballroom in Hamden, Conn., brings Aurelio Voltaire May 3 (tickets) and Frank Turner May 19 with Dave Hause and Katacombs (tickets), in what seems like a considerable underplay for Turner.
Resistance Postscript
Jeff Bezos, multi-billionaire founder of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, decreed this week that the paper’s opinion section will henceforth focus on “personal liberties and free markets,” which is billionaire-speak for “eff you I got mine.” Folk singer Peter Mulvey had Bezos pegged a couple years ago when he wrote the song below. Maybe he’ll play it when he performs tonight, Friday, Feb. 28, at the Iron Horse (tickets).
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