Club Red: Devendra Banhart Live, 2/4/17

30 Jan Club Red: Devendra Banhart Live, 2/4/17

Beyond the Groove, Telluride’s premier entertainment and music production company, features Devendra Banhart in concert on Saturday, February 4 at Club Red in the Telluride Conference Center, Mountain Village. Doors open at 7:00 p.m.; show time is 7:30 p.m. General admission tickets are $25; preferred seating tickets with a high table are $35; premium reserved seating tickets are $45. Tickets are now on sale at Wizard Framing and Entertainment, located on Telluride’s Main Street, 126 East Colorado Avenue, and online at ClubRedTelluride.com. This is an all-ages show. Scroll down to listen to a track from Banhart’s latest release, Ape in Pink Marble.

Devendra Banhart, courtesy Pitchfork.

Critics attempt to capture the liquid sounds of Venezuelan-American singer-songwriter and visual artist Devendra Banhart with phrases such as “New Weird America” and  “Psychedelic Folk.”

Which themselves require further explanation.

Pitchfork weighs in, defining what at first read appears to be a sonic oxymoron: folk music is generally pleasant; throwing the words “psychedelic” and “new weird” into the mix changes the vibe.

British folk great Bert Jansch never really stopped making records during his half-century career, always testing the boundaries of pastoral folk with carefully considered parts that pushed beyond mere pleasantries. Still, when a cadre of young musicians connected with Jansch for his 2006 album The Black Swan, the moment felt like an instant renaissance. Many from that collaborative group, including Devendra Banhart and producer Noah Georgeson, had inched into popular favor as part of a trend loosely termed “freak-folk” or “New Weird America.” And with the collaborative record, they were doing what their music had tacitly done all along—announcing Jansch and a regimen of related pickers, balladeers, singers, and dreamers as clear stylistic antecedents.

That concept of absorbing, acknowledging, and updating the past serves as a constant through most folk music, no matter the culture or society in which it thrives. Whether via the oral traditions that Harry Smith, Alan Lomax, and their ilk eventually captured, or the Grateful Dead’s ability to turn countless listeners onto old traditional numbers, folk music functions best when it uses the past to feed the present and inspire the future.

The term “psychedelic folk,” then, represents those most progressive edges, when an old idea gets a new twist, whether it’s an electric guitar slicing through a standard or a coffee-shop singer adding prurient images of necrophilia to open-tuned beauties. Psychedelic folk is a perpetually self-expanding term, too, where each successive experiment widens its reach, but loosens its grip.

It has infiltrated the mainstream thanks to acts like the Byrds, the Rolling Stones, the Band, as well as the enchanting work of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. It has folded in the extremely obscure through the improvisational risks of Michael Cooper and Dredd Foole. And it has often lurked in pockets of near-anonymity, where overlooked records by Lal and Mike Waterson or Gary Higgins languished only to be discovered and championed by younger musicians decades later. And it has bloomed internationally, spreading far away from the British Isles and the Americas.

Above all, though, psychedelic folk has inherited the basics and turned them in unexpected ways, aiming not to be content with the past, but instead intent on repurposing it for modern needs…

Among his musical influences, Banhart sights Morrissey, Nirvana, avant-garde composer Harold Budd, Guns N’ Roses, Kronos Quartet, Oasis, Yo La Tengo, Blur, the soundtrack to the 1959 Brazilian film Black Orpheus (“my number one soundtrack of all time” he once told Pitchfork), Helado Negro, Robert Wyatt, Pulp, Julee Cruise, Orange Juice, Caetano Veloso, Scott Walker, Thurston Moore, John Cage, and Grace Jones.

Banhart, courtesy, StyleLikeU

SPIN magazine summed up the music of the chimeric singer-songwriter this way: “…ashram-appropriate guitar strums, trippy-hippie tone poetry.”

Devendra Banhart is out and about road-testing tracks from his ninth album, Ape in Pink Marble, which features the performer’s signature whispered lyrics and gentle keyboard – tailor-made for a laid-back, lounge setting like Club Red.

Here is a track from Ape for your previewing pleasure:

About Beyond the Groove: 

Beyond the Groove is Denise Mongan’s music production company. Its goal: bringing quality live music to Telluride, Colorado, primarily at the new Club Red at Telluride Conference Center. Past successes include Blitzen Trapper, Deer Tick, Matisyahu, Cash’d Out, Justin Townes Earle, Dirty Dozen brass Band, Lettuce, Dawes, Jenny Lewis, The Motet, and Elephant Revival. Upcoming shows include Keller Williams and The Jeff Austin Band. Denise has worked in the music business for 30 years and is thrilled to now have the opportunity to be living her passion producing live shows.
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About Club Red:

Located a Gondola ride from Telluride in Mountain Village, Club Red features plush décor, ambient lighting, and close proximity to the artists from almost anywhere in the room, which creates an exclusive guest experience. Skiing Magazine recently named Club Red among ski country’s best concert venues, one more great reason why visit Mountain Village.

To learn more about these shows, and other Beyond the Groove Productions, please visit ClubRedTelluride.com, Facebook.com/ClubRedTelluride and Twitter.com/ClubRedTride or contact Denise@ClubRedTelluride.com with any questions.

About Telluride Ski Resort:

Stashed among the highest concentration of 13,000- and 14,000-foot peaks in North America, Telluride offers some of the most spectacular skiing and riding on the planet. Unique culinary experiences on the mountain blend with the world-class restaurants, sophisticated shops, luxury hotels, and great spas. Plus, getting here is easier than ever with non-stop flights from eight major hubs; getting around is a breeze with the free gondola transportation system. Discover why Telluride is “The Most Beautiful Place You’ll Ever Ski.”

For more info visit: www.tellurideskiresort.com.