One of my favorite bands in the wide wide world played at the Bottletree last Friday night.
I think it was February of 2005 that I first found Hope For Agoldensummer. I was playing the friend of a friend game on Myspace, going from Caleb engstrom, a boy I knew in college, on to a band he was friends with post Greenville, to a friend of theirs and so on.... I took the time to listen to the bands that afternoon that I would run across, band after band after band... and then there was this moment. I had stopped on the page of a band form Athens, and this beautiful xylophone and guitar intro danced out of the computer speakers and into my hungry workday ears. The recording was live, the song was Malt Liquor, and to be honest Claire Campbell's voice came across as this completely androgynous, heartfelt pleading raw piece of lovely. I didn't know what to do with it, except play it over and over and over.
As I started to book a few shows, here and there, for the Moonlight Music Cafe, I couldn't get the thought of Hope For Agoldensummer playing that small purple room out of my head. I heard from Chip, the drummer for Wild Sweet Orange and The Great Book of John, that Claire was interested in breaking into Birmingham, thinking of Workplay. I knew Workplay was not for them. The Moonlight show was very small, attended by a group of friends and family members, it was beautiful, this perfect night. At the Moonlight, a listening room, people were listening, catching every little moment of genius as it came whether by saw or skillet or accordion.
The next step, I thought to myself as I watched the band pack up their gear that evening, was to get them to the Bottletree.
So it happened, this last weekend, Hope For Agoldensummer played at the Bottletree with the Delicate Cutters. I don't think could be a venue in Birmingham better suited for them. This tribe of artists bringing together such vibrant and incredible sounds in a place where the increasingly eclectic, beautiful music scene of Birmingham has put in roots and has started to flourish. This makes me so happy.
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http://www.thebottletree.com
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