WGXC-90.7 FM

Huntress and Holder of Hands, Footings, Strawberry Runners

Aug 10, 2023: 8pm- 11pm
The Avalon Lounge

29 Church St. | Catskill, NY 12414 | 518-943-5333
https://www.theavalonlounge.com/

Live WGXC webstream from The Avalon Lounge

29 Church St. | Catskill, NY 12414 | 518-943-5333
https://www.theavalonlounge.com/

Huntress and Holder of Hands, Footings, and Strawberry Runners perform live at the Avalon Lounge in Catskill with a live webstream of the entire show from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. at wgxc.org/listen, and a live broadcast on 90.7-FM from 8-9 p.m.

When, a week before her 28th birthday, MorganEve Swain lost her husband and musical partner, Dave Lamb, to leukemia, the world did not stand still. April continued into May, breath continued its rhythm through the bodies of the living and in their studio in Warren, Rhode Island, MorganEve continued to record bass, strings and vocals into a laptop because it’s what she’d always done.

For the previous six years, she and Lamb had existed professionally as the duo Brown Bird, gaining a loyal international following through intensive touring and the original music they created, praised for its honesty and expression of the human condition. Without Dave, and in honor of him, MorganEve became The Huntress and Holder of Hands: a young widow pursuing the white stag of grief through a foreign wilderness, intent on maintaining the sense of wonder and compassion with which her partner lived his life.

In 2016, with the ambition to perform live, The Huntress and Holder of Hands expanded into a 5-musician entity, employing cello, bowed string bass, electric bass and drums with MorganEve primarily on five-string viola and guitar. As a band, The Huntress and Holder of Hands builds harmony, strings and bass-driven pieces influenced by Post-Metal, Blues and Americana and offers an intense musical and lyrical experience that explores love, loss, power and strength. www.thehuntressandholderofhands.com www.brownbird.net www.morganeveswain.com

Footings is an American rock band, begun in Peterborough NH as a vehicle for the songs of Eric Gagne. They have been playing for a few years now, a natural progression from Eric’s earlier folk explorations in Redwing Blackbird and Passerine. He also has made records with Dweller on the Threshold and Death to Tyrants, and has had the honor of opening for Mount Eerie, J Mascis, Diane Cluck, Waxahatchee, Califone, Dredd Foole, Steve Gunn, Mirah, Death Vessel, Leyla McCalla, Mail the Horse, and many more. Originally a trio, Footings has evolved into a five piece group, who most recently were the backing band for Bonnie Prince Billy on a summer 2022 tour. Besides Eric on vocals and guitar, there is Elisabeth Fuchsia (Bonnie Prince Billy, Pile) on viola, Candace Clement (All Feels) on synth, guitar, and vocals, Jordan Holtz (Rick Rude) on bass and vocals, and Mia Govoni (Gilliver) on drums. footings.bandcamp.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQuj-p1gE3k

Strawberry runners are the horizontal stolons that emerge from the strawberry plant to produce new strawberry plants. Songwriter, Emi Night drew inspiration for her project's name from her mother's garden and the strawberry plants she grew. Emi thinks of this connector as a metaphor for the connection between mother and child, present and future, writer and song.

The richness of her music is in Emi’s tender and easy integration of the varied styles she’s called home: most of the songs maintain a humble faith in brevity; melody compels every word with the mystery and familiarity of a hymn. Basking in the poetry of vulnerability, like a love letter to a stranger, her songs ignite your heart and echo for days in your ear; poignant scenes are conjured with the reverence, acuity, singularity, and elegance of great prose. These are the kind of songs that ring true no matter how close or far they hew to the experience of the listener; they are pictures painted from a life too often troubled by brutality and grief, but also graced with an inheritance of compassion, resolve, and — best of all for us — music. https://www.stereogum.com/2228445/strawberry-runners-look-like-this/music/

Live performances from The Avalon Lounge in Catskill, New York. Usually DJs perform, often with live band performances, and other experiments. See theavalonlounge.com for more information.