Approximately 100 of the musically inclined and supporters of the musically inclined crowded into Illegal Pete’s from 8 p.m. to midnight on Thursday for the First Annual Acoustic Music Showcase. The free event featured DU acoustic bands All Those Who Wander, Wool Socks & Whiskey, Jaques Crow and The Song Readers.
The event was hosted by student organization Boom Box Music Management, a new campus group involved in planning and implementing musical events on campus to encourage the growth and success of DU- affiliated musicians. They have planned other events at Illegal Pete’s, as well as events at larger venues like Herman’s Hideaway.The group consists of four music students including President Megan Letts, Trevor Ford, David Bernot and Cooper Leith.
Letts, a junior audio production major and jazz vocalist from Anchorage, Alaska described the motivation for hosting an event that specifically focused on acoustic music.
“These kind of events are important because it showcases a different side of musicianship that is here at DU. Sure, we have a classical department and even a killer jazz department [at Lamont], but it is rare that students outside of the music school are featured, and even students inside the music school aren’t able to play this kind of music very often,” said Letts. “We would love if more students outside of the music school would find out about this and participate,” she said.
All Those Who Wander, made up of band members Aeryk Parker, Nick Booker and Danielle Park, started off the event with a mixture of Celtic ditties, Australian folk songs and even a hearty sea chantey. Their wide exploration of the acoustic tradition as well as their minimal percussion, sung harmonies and interspersed flute melodies lent an air of nostalgia to the crowded establishment.
Wool Socks & Whiskey, made up of two fiddle players, a guitarist and bassist, offered lively bluegrass, and the crowd cheered merrily to a tune entitled, “Whiskey for Breakfast.”
Wilson Luallen, bassist in Wool Sock & Whiskey and a sophomore jazz performance major from Denver, explained his love of acoustic music.
“I love acoustic because it’s more direct than electronic music. You don’t have to worry about electronics. You can play it anywhere, anytime,” said Luallen. “The other day we had our rehearsal outside.”
Minor technical difficulties and a search for a missing capo posed no problems, and performers and audience members alike continued jamming cheerily.
Jaques Crow played third in the set. The band, consisting of singer/songwriter and guitarist Grey Elkins, mandolin player Carter Matthews, guitarist Diego Miranda and female vocalist Olivia Van Den Berg, was a mixture of percussive guitar, subtle mandolin melodies and poignant vocal harmonies. According to their website, jaquescrow.com, their sound is a mixture between rural and urban and explores man’s relationship to his demons.
The Song Readers, a five-part band including pianist Wes Leffingwell, drummer Joey Ziegler, bassist Eli Acosta, saxophonist Xavier Provencher and vocalist/ trumpet player Megan Letts, concluded the evening.
The Song Readers formed in an effort to arrange and perform the tunes on popular band Beck’s latest unconventional album, Song Reader. Song Reader is intended to encourage musicians to create their own interpretations of songs that exist only in the form of sheet music and haven’t been previously released or recorded.
The audience danced and cheered throughout the event, encouraging performers and even singing along to songs they recognized.
Letts hopes to keep the Acoustic Music Showcase as intimate as possible and maintain its small-scale setting.
“I thought it was a major success,” said Letts. “People loved the variety of music and the energy swells.”
Boom Box Management is planning an upcoming musical event on May 23 at Herman’s Hideaway, which will be a non-acoustic set featuring DU bands including Treetet, The Tickle Mafia, The Other Black and Vetta Star.
“Its a big event. We’re really excited to be putting that show on,” said Letts.
Boom Box Management hopes the Acoustic Music Showcase will continue as a DU tradition. They plan to make it a quarterly event rather than a yearly one.
