Bee Taylor, Shelby Means & The Power Of Intimate Shows
It’s often said that bigger is better, but I’m not convinced
By Matt Wickstrom
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always love live music, but I’ve recently grown burnt out by packed bar shows.
Whether it’s being packed shoulder to shoulder, the constant temptation of alcohol or battling to hear the music over boisterous talkers, shows of that variety have been more draining on me lately than usual — but that’s not to say I’m still not attending any. In fact, later this week I’ll be catching Ole 60 and Kashus Culpepper at The Burl and Jeremy Pinnell — this Wednesday’s guest on my podcast — at the Southgate House in Northern Kentucky.
That restlessness has led to me opting for more unique and intimate concert experiences lately, with two such occasions coming last week courtesy of bassist Shelby Means at Red Barn Radio and Bee Taylor at the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center.
The first with Means came a day after she joined me in The Hound studio to record an episode of Wick’s Picks and marked not only my first time seeing her play her own music outside of a handful of gigs years ago as Sally & George — the duo she co-leads with her husband Joel Timmons — but my first time at Red Barn Radio post-COVID as well.
Although I’ll occasionally tune into their livestreams, I had forgotten just how much fun Red Barn Radio is. To this day people still think of them mostly for their now decade old sessions with Tyler Childers, but the crew led by Ed Commons and Brad Becker continue to produce fantastic sessions full of eye opening music and conversation to this day. Last Wednesday’s gig with Means — flanked by Timmons on guitar and Sami Braman on fiddle — was no exception.
The Lexington born, Wyoming raised singer, delivered a stellar performance that showcased not only the precision picking that netted her two GRAMMYs as a member of Molly Tuttle & Golden
Highway, but also her own vibrant and eclectic storytelling on songs like “High Plains, Wyoming,” “Streets Of Boulder” and “Suitcase Blues” that prove her own compositions can stand just as tall as her side work can.
All of this came while playing to an audience of only 12 or so (not including the sound and film crew), building momentum behind the theory that small batch musical performances can be just as meaningful and have the same impact as an A-list arena or stadium show. In Means case she has experience playing some of those bigger stages as well, which no doubt helped contribute to her Red Barn performance that had us all eating out of the palm of her hand and begging for more bass slaps and bluegrass bangers.
Even though the crowd was slightly bigger Friday — coming in at around 125 heads — Bee Taylor’s dreamy, full circle show with the Lexington Philharmonic was just as joyous and profound. From dingy dive bars to festivals across the region and even my own podcast, I’ve seen Bee sing in just about every setting, but even all of those memories couldn’t prepare me for the onslaught of harmonic greatness I bore witness to with her on this evening.
Following an opening poetry reading from music journalist, author and former Kentucky Poet Laureate Silas House, the singer that’s been adopted Bluegrass State launched into a handful of songs backed exclusively by a string quartet from the Lexington Philharmonic that threw even more weight behind anthems like “Horse Runnin’,” “Twenty Seven” and “Randy Newman” while casting them in an entirely new light.
Soon after she’d bring her own band into the fold — saxophonist Jason Threm, bassist Chase Graham, drummer Lucas Aldridge and pianist Mary Hull — to join the Philharmonic before finishing with only them behind her along with Louisville fiddler (and member of Hot Brown Smackdown) Ellie Ruth, who also composed all of the Philharmonic’s string accompaniments. With her band in tow for the latter portion of the show, Taylor moved more into her bluesy and jazz-fueled style with favorites like “Peaches” and “Ethereal Love” that illustrated her shape-shifting ability and creative prowess. It was quite the build up for an epic and emotional
night that saw us all get a front row seat to a true one of a kind performance and moment that Bee has literally been longing to bring to fruition since she was a child.
Music has always been one of our most powerful forms of expression and a universal language of sorts, but times like these where someone gets to realize a literal dream of theirs and everyone in attendance understands and helps to elevate that experience in the moment are truly second to none.
I’ve been to a lot of cool shows everywhere from the Ryman Auditorium to Red Barn Radio and Florida’s Spirit Of The Suwannee Music Park, but I’d trade all of them to feel what I felt during Bee’s concert with the Philharmonic all over again in a heartbeat. All that is to say don’t ever discount your intimate, local concerts. The smaller audience size is rarely indicative of the scope of the talent on stage, and everyone — even famous acts like Tyler Childers and Chris Stapleton — got their starts there.
With everything going on in our world right now, it’s more important to support these venues and the artists that frequent them more than ever. Last week was a reminder of this for me, and I hope this post is a reminder for you to do the same. Long live live music.
