The band finished with one more blues tune, a Memphis Slim cover of ‘Mother Earth’ before stepping away as Lauper sent the appreciative audience home with the gentle ‘True Colors’. It was just enough of the popular hits to satisfy her loyal followers and everyone left in awe of Cyndi Lauper, the blues singer.
Following in the grand tradition of misleading monikers (Thompson Twins, 10,000 Maniacs), Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, and Amelia Randall Meath are the trio of voices that form Mountain Man. And more than anything else, it is their voices that elevate Made The Harbor above the babbling brook of Appalachian folk music flowing through indie music these days. Pairing their exquisite harmonies with almost nothing else, Mountain Man creates an album that can be appreciated as much for what it achieves as for what it leaves out.
With over 20,000 miles on my Junkies odometer, this is not the first time I’ve followed a tour. Eight shows in eight days is the most ambitious plan yet, although there is a seed of doubt about the sanity of the entire trip. I felt it rooting in my gut during the slow descent into California. Hours later, the opening notes of “Follower2” will rake through my gut and turn the soil. Where doubt once rooted, there is only the emotional release of each tightly wound song of love and loss. As soon as each song ends, a craving for the next release immediately floods the bloodstream. I’m addicted.
