Since it's 4th of July weekend, I thought it would be good to jump into a bit of serious Americana and post one of the really great American Indie/Alternative bands going back to the 90's, Throwing Muses this weekend.
Hands down one of my favorite bands fronted by one of my favorite singer/songwriters Kristin Hersh, Throwing Muses had a very big following among what was known as the "college circuit". Certainly enough to sustain a healthy output of albums during those years but not enough to sustain the interest of a Major label (Warners) into keeping them in the catalog for very long. They didn't achieve a huge commercial success (the benchmark of what the major labels consider sustainable), but they were a great band with excellent writing and production and whose work still sounds fresh.
This weekend's concert comes from May 1995, and was recorded at Fort Apache Studios in Cambridge Massachusetts to coincide with the release of their then-latest album University.
Below is the set list and info:
Throwing Muses
Kristin Hersh: vocals, guitar
Bernard Georges: bass
David Narcizo: drums
Fort Apache Studios
Cambridge, Mass.
May 25, 1995
FM broadcast1: radio introduction > shimmer 5:21
2; teller 3:13
3: hazing 2:50
4: firepile 3:12
5: start 3:02
6: Bea 4:14
7: bright yellow gun 3:56
8: flood 3:20
9: snakeface 3:00
10: two step 3:52
11: pearl 5:55
One of the great underrated and under-appreciated bands who have since morphed into Fifty Foot Wave while maintaining Throwing Muses. Kristin Hersh is also doing solo work (and a lot of writing including a couple of books and this very cool blog) as well as touring both as solo and with the band(s). The lack of a major label, as we've found in recent years, no longer spells death for an artist or their work. Hersh, The Muses and Fifty Foot Wave are all available via her website Cash Music. So by all means, check her out and lend some support. In the meantime, here's a taste of what you may have missed the first time around.
It's never too late.
