Concert Review: Houndmouth (TD Amp Ballantyne)

BY JILL POOLE

After several cloudy days in the Charlotte area, the waiting crowd could not have asked for a more beautiful evening at TD Amp Ballantyne. As the sun began to set, Molly Tuttle and her band kicked off the night. The crowd was still filing in but the Molly Tuttle fans were 4 deep at the front barricade and danced throughout the set. As she played “Old Me (New Wig),” Tuttle removed her own wig, and as the song ended she spoke of Alopecia Awareness month and her own experience with the condition. As Tuttle began her song “Crooked Tree,” she acknowledged some folks in the crowd who also appeared to have alopecia and she dedicated the next song to “all my crooked trees in the audience” and encouraged them to “be proud to be a crooked tree in the forest.”

If the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers had had a love child it might have sounded like Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country. The band consists of Donato on guitar, Will McGee on bass, Nathan Aronowitz on keyboard and guitar, and Will Clark on drums; and everyone contributes vocals. While most of the set was originals, Cosmic Country did channel their inner Merle Haggard on “Workin’ Man Blues.”

As the full moon rose over the grassy hill of the amphitheater, Houndmouth took the stage. Their unique style of melancholic Americana rose over the crowd who danced in the moonlight. Houndmouth has released 5 albums since forming in 2011, and the band chose songs from each throughout the night. Songs from the newest album Lordy were scattered among older crowd favorites like “Darlin,” “Miracle Mile,” and “McKenzie.”

Matt Myers remains as the sole founding member with keyboardist Caleb Hickman joining in 2016. Bassist Zac Anderson was added in 2023 with drummer Noah Denney joining the band this year. While Matt Myers has an understated stage presence and seems to prefer playing to speaking, he did introduce “Palmyra” explaining that he “grew up there... used to cut grass there - it’s not a great place.” He did seem to appreciate the enthusiasm of the crowd as they danced to “McKenzie’ as he looked out from the stage he said “this is GREAT - this is big fun.” And so it was - a beautiful night to listen and dance under the moonlight.

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JILL POOLE

It’s Christmas. I think I was 7. And there’s an album with my presents. The Everly Brothers Greatest Hits. I was hooked - I still have that record and a few more. On my 16th birthday, I got a job just to buy a real stereo, and more records. I still have all that “vinyl” as we call it today, and my 1977 Advent speakers connect to a Sonos system now.

When I was younger I had a love-hate relationship with live shows but it’s all love now. And I always watched the photographers in the pit. (And tried to take the perfect shot myself on an increasingly capable iphone) But for the last few years I’ve had an actual camera again and it’s so much better.

I want people who couldn’t BE there, who couldn’t get up to the stage - I want them to see what I saw - to feel what I felt.

You can’t hear a photograph, but sometimes... if it’s a good shot - it’s almost as if you could.

Read Jill's posts here.