For the first time since 2014, Jolie Holland came to Denver on Thursday night to perform a magical show at The Savoy, celebrating her recent LP, “Haunted Mountain.”
Holland’s show was presented by MAS Presents, an organization with a rich history of putting on intimate live shows featuring diverse music styles.
The Savoy venue gives off a vintage, classy look with its high ceilings and eccentric artwork surrounding the walls. The drinks at the bar, EclecTeQuila-Rita and The Jolie, created by Mad Lemon, were named after Holland and another sponsor of MAS Presents, KGNU.
As everyone took their seats, Jolie Holland took the stage, alongside drummer Justin Veloso and guitarist Max Knouse, two musicians who had played with Holland in the past, but never together. The stage was set with a drum set, two guitars, a viola and a piano. The red guitar was marked with fingerprints, signs of its frequent, loving use. Even during the sound check, the audience knew they were in for a treat.
Holland cued the band to start the first song while she continued to set up, exuding a natural comfort to the onlooking audience. It felt as if you were sitting in a living room with a couple of musicians over cocktails and good music. The music started, soft and melancholy, as Holland set up her mic stand and tuned her guitar. The second she approached the mic and began to sing, her memorizing voice put the audience into a trance.
As she started into her set, the movement of everyone on stage synced, as perfect harmonies arose from the speakers. The folk-like, airy-in-a-good way, stimulating sound of Holland’s voice against the two guitars and the ever-so-soft drum beat blended together perfectly.
Every sound had its own intention, fitting together like the last few pieces of a puzzle. Suddenly, Holland owned the stage with an amazing guitar solo, followed by a crazy vibrato backed by high, punch-you-in-the-gut accompaniment and vocals from Knouse.
In between songs, Holland made the audience laugh with humanizing comments about an almost-broken pinky and the consequences of “putting too many key changes in your song.”
Before playing a song from Big Thief’s Buck Meek’s recent solo record, Holland gave the inside scoop as to why two different albums were released with the same name — Meek’s record, released in August 2023, is also called “Haunted Mountain.” During a singer-songwriter session with Meek, he asked to write the last verse of her song.
After finishing it, he told her that he wanted to name his new album “Haunted Mountain,” but, he said, “only if you’re not naming your record ‘Haunted Mountain.’” Her response was, “Well, I am, but this is hilarious.”
This led right into “Where You’re Coming From,” one of the five co-written songs on Buck Meeks album. About halfway through the song, a jam session broke out between the three musicians, where they each got to play around with each other and really get into the music. The smiles on their faces told it all.
As the set carried on, Veloso experimented with different drumsticks, each one taking on a different energy, all while his focus remained on Holland and the sound they were creating. At one point, he was just barely brushing the face of the drums to create an echoing ambiance that carried throughout the venue.
Holland introduced her next song as a piece she wrote when she locked herself in her bedroom and forced herself to write a straight forward, Buddy Holly-like love song, that took a dramatic — but realistic in the context of love — turn. The control in Holland and Knouses voice captured a calm and relaxed feeling within the room, which was then quickly dismantled with a loud and psychedelic guitar solo by Knouse.
An ominous and unsettling intro from Veloso and Knouse began as Holland set down her guitar and took a seat behind the piano, implying a turning point in the show, which was headed towards the experimental. Veloso used the end of his drum sticks and parts of his body to continue the unsettling but brain-tickling arrhythmic breakdown as Knouse plucked away on the guitar, using mic feedback as an instrument to add to the energy. Finally, Holland began to sing and play piano to the background sounds being created, occasionally bringing the viola to the mic to pluck some ear-piercing notes that added to the strange but aweing energy that was circulating the stage.
Holland’s beautiful alto range came to life as she went into her next song, still sitting behind the piano. She was referring to a piece of paper with some messy handwriting on it, but other than that, her sound was all from memory. Who knew some chicken scratch on a piece of construction paper could create so much magic in a room?
The title track “Haunted Mountain” was performed beautifully, with the backup vocals returning during the repeated “never coming down” lyrics in the chorus.
“Orange Blossoms,” a song from the new LP, was executed beautifully. The bluesy, folk twang in Holland’s voice gave every note, every run and every lyric a purpose.
Before playing her last song, “Mexican Blue,” a song dedicated to her dear friend, she asked the audience, “is it okay if we don’t play the encore game?” This question was yet another way that Holland made her show personable and real, connecting with the audience as if we were all best friends.
Enjoy Holland’s music on all streaming platforms.
