Sounds of the South: the second coming.
Megafaun reconvened with sonic and spiritual collaborators Fight The Big Bull, Justin Vernon, and Sharon Van Etten last week and took their Sounds of the South project, a resurrection of the classic Alan Lomax field recordings, across the Mason-Dixon Line. Their host was the MusicNOW Festival, the wonderful work of Bryce Dessner (of The National) and his family, friends, and the sparkling and tough city of Cincinnati. The venue that weekend, Memorial Hall, was an undeniable presence — I’ll call it the 14th man to the lineup of thirteen performers, on stage for the first time together since the project’s birth last Fall in Durham, NC as a commission by Duke University for Megafaun to run with a vision.
On this night of May 13th in Cincinnati, the ground alive from a thunderstorm that blew the windows of the venue open as the group rehearsed earlier that day, we all felt something new. Between the music, the audience, and the players…through the stairwells and arches and the streetlight outside…there was something beyond a simple performance going on. For all my talk of resurrection, I’m not sure you really know the definition until it surprises you, til it fills up spaces inside you that you didn’t quite know you had.
In the balcony that night was Derrick Belcham of A Story Told Well, armed with a camera and a feeling. He’s released two videos from that night, two of the deepest-cutting moments featuring Justin and Sharon on vocals. I’ve posted one above and you can see the other here. The chills on your arms and legs can be your souvenir — they say more than I ever could. Thank you, Derrick.
Sounds of the South is just beginning. Stay tuned to Hometapes for your roadmap.
Thanks again to Bryce and the MusicNOW family for the chance to share Sounds of the South again…with the world and with ourselves.
