Shannon Lay: June 28, 2024 Tubby’s

Shannon Lay’s new single “Mirrors” got a lot of play around my house this Spring.  It’s beautifully recorded and sounds like the sunlight that filters through the trees and lights up my kitchen while I cook. So it was a pretty sweet and timely surprise to see her coming to Tubby’s on a stacked triple bill with Anna St. Luis and Shana Fullana.

Shannon’s songs are so intricately crafted that it’s had to find a single point to dissect them.  Do you lead with the profoundly introspective lyrics or the mind-boggling finger-style guitar playing?  Or maybe you should focus on her tremendous vocal control? 

I will start with the guitar playing because I spent most of the night trying to understand it. Her technical command seemed effortless but was never overshadowed by the profoundly emotional resonance of her playing. Her playing came from a place of pure vulnerability, drawing listeners in with the raw intensity of her expression.

The set was drawn from her entire catalog and included the aforementioned “mirrors” and stellar covers by Elliott Smith and Karen Dalton. Every song felt like a highlight, but a particular moment felt most affirmative.  After a brief acknowledgment of Kingston’s parking woes (a local hot topic), she settled into “Come Together” off 2017’s “Living Water” and somehow, what started as a discussion of parking tickets turned into a moment where could collectively reflect on all of the outside pressures and ills. We could choose to ignore those stressors and move forward to positivity:

“We all have enough

Come on shake your broken shoulders

Come on move your broken shoes

Come together”

I’d like to give a special shout-out to the Tubby’s crowd on this particular evening. Generally speaking, recording solo acoustic singer-songwriters in a bar is an exercise in futility.  You can only do so much limiting, but everyone was incredibly respectful of the songs and performers, and you can hear that in the recording.  The quality is excellent, so please enjoy.

Download and stream from the live music archive!

Shannon Lay
2024-06-28
Tubby’s
Kingston, NY

Source: MBHO440 + SDB > SD MixPre 3 > SD (24/48) > Adobe Audition/Izotope 9 > Audacity Flac (lvl8) > Mp3Tag
Recorded and produced by kliked for nyctaper.com

Thanks to Tubby’s FOH engineer Wil for the board patch

1. A Thread to Find
2. Sure
3. Angeles*
4. The moons detriment
5. Recording 15
6. Come Together
7. Mirrors
8. Coast
9. Simpsons Interlude
10. All this life goin down
11. Rare to wake
12. Awaken and Allow
13. Something On Your Mind^

*Elliott Smith

^Karen Dalton

Support this excellent artist!
https://www.shannonlay.com/
https://shannonlay.bandcamp.com/

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https://www.tubbyskingston.com/music-calendar