The Spring Standards got under my skin last night at splendid small venue in Ventura called Zoey’s Cafe. If I had a band for Yellow House , The Spring Standards would be the Yellow House players. A drumless trio, two dudes trading guitars and bass, and a woman on piano, xylophone and melodica. They all sing. And the lyrics they sing make your heart hurt.

Two slightly inaccurate samples from memory: “Say it/Say the words I see behind your eyes/If it’s not hard to say/then it’s a lie.”
And: “Bending backwards for you honey/I’ll be the one to hold your sad salt eyes/There’ll be nothing left of my honey/But it’s alright.

Yeah, I was moved. In fact I think I heard myself say, “That was the most moving set of music I’ve heard in years.”

They were the openers. Headlining were Joey Ryan & Kenneth Pattengale. These guys are truly amazing. Beautiful songs, flawless execution–enhanced by Kenneth’s first class lead playing. And genuinely funny ad-lib stage presence between each song. They have a low-key dead pan stage banter that works really well in intimate venues like Zoey’s.

I met Joey Ryan a few nights ago, through Ehren Ebbage. He was funny, striking me with an obvious intellect, and I wondered what kind of music he makes. I sort imagined Portland hipsterism. But on stage, mid-song, it was all emotion. No artifice whatsoever. Ehren had warned me about Joe & Ken, saying “You’ll definitely feel like you’re watching a special show.”

Zoey’s, by the way, is a venue I hope to play sooner than later, if a spot opens up for me. That could be awhile though. ‘Cause Steve the owner, who was warm and forthcoming, graciously receiving my packet (with brand new album), informed that what I was seeing on his stage happens every night.

I am honored to be featured for the second time. This time I reminisce about the opening single from my 2005 release John Shipe & The Blue Rebekahs.

Best New Bands–BackStory

Two things stand out which please me: First, he cites the pop/rock song “Promises” as one of the better songs on the CD. Other reviews either ignored it, or mentioned it in passing as “stylistic meandering” that veers away from the tidy semi-acoustic stuff on the rest of CD.

Second, he describes the writing as “naive and innocent.” This sounds like a slight, but I think he meant it in a good way. Plus, I think of such naivete as kind of a writer’s victory. I had been honing the writer’s skill of making a distinction between author and the character who is speaking. Previously, some Shipe tunes would be saturated with too much awareness. I wanted the Yellow House characters to speak from specific points-of-view, limited to the experiences portrayed in each song, while broader and deeper meanings would go un-said. In other words: more story-telling, and less poetic, emotional philosophizing (Not to mention all the dark cynical impulses that accompany all that agonized deep-thinking.)

The paradox is just how much work it takes to become so “naive and innocent.” (In the same way that Picasso spent 60 years learning how to paint like a child.)