WTMD – undoubtedly Baltimore’s best music station – has hosted/arranged First Thursday events for a decade and some change, beginning in Mount Vernon before moving to Canton Waterfront Park in 2014. Since moving to the Waterfront, First Thursday is less of a traditional outdoor concert and more of a monthly music festival. With something in the neighborhood of 50 vendors and food trucks (my personal and ongoing favorite is the Tofu Brah at the Ekiben stand), the park bursts with food and drink options. This year, for the first time ever, WTMD has also showcased local artists in an Artist Alley, designed to encourage audience members to view (and purchase) local art, which also further cements WTMD’s status as a champion of the city.
Musically, as fellow listeners of the station well know, WTMD presents an eclectic mix, featuring bands from a variety of genres, kind of encouraging listeners to discover something new. This year has featured a diverse run of acts, from the folk pop of Mt. Joy, the reggae of Jah Works (an entire reggae stage, actually!), the southern soul of The War & Treaty, the gossamer indie of Sunflower Bean, the layered punch-pop of Illiterate Light, and the psych-soul of Black Pumas.
This month, WTMD brought a host of gifted acts, ranging from the loping guitar work and songcraft of Steve Gunn to the wild Shreveport, Louisiana rock and roll of Seratones and Dylan LeBlanc and his Pollies (the bands carpooled together); the pitch-perfect harmonies of Bailen to the spaced anthems of Strand of Oaks. Read a brief summary of each act and check out our photos.
Main Stage
The main stage featured some of Philly’s favorite sons: Steve Gunn (who’s played with nearly everybody in the scene) and Tim Showalter (nee Strand of Oaks), who inherited the city after leaving Indiana (though recently moving to Austin, TX). Bailen, a trio of siblings (twins Daniel and David and their sister Julia), shared a kind of synchronicity rarely seen on a stage.
Steve Gunn
Fresh off the January release of The Unseen in Between, the Philly-born and NYC-based guitar wunderkind showcased his songwriting chops. He often writes about motion and the lack of motion, about the journey and getting lost (and found in the act of it). The Unseen in Between features more characters than previous albums, sketches of peoples’ lives, always set to Gunn’s circular, loping guitars; these songs often feel like ragas and the now-old British folk of the 60s and 70s, cut through with diamond-sharp rock and roll. In person, these songs often take on a different persona altogether, with “New Familiar” something like a crystalline river, “Vagabond” an understated true-country tune. Steve and his band – featuring Jim Elkington and Liam Kazar – also played old-timers like “Wildwood” and “Way Out Weather”, songs that expanded and widened as they fill the space around Canton Waterfront.
Bailen
Bailen brought their well-honed pop harmonies, made all the richer by the closeness of these siblings onstage. Raised by music professors and involved deeply in classically-trained musical traditions, it becomes clear that they don’t just know how to sing – they know to make their voices meld together, vocal alloys. They have the kind of voices that combine to chase away the clouds or absolutely embrace whatever sentiment needs holding. Standouts included “Something Tells Me” and the profoundly cathartic “Your Love is All I Know”.
Strand of Oaks
I’ve written about Strand of Oaks previously (you can read this show review here) and his newest record Eraserland, which still stands as the closest thing to transcendence I’ve heard this year. From the opening line of “Weird Ways” (“I, I don’t feel it anymore”) to the close of “Forever Chords” (“I hope it never ends”), Tim Showalter delivers the kind of emotional power-punch so rarely found across an album, with the extraordinary promise that it is possible and even probable to climb out of the morass of depression and anxiety, to recover through good living (and maybe some old-fashioned rock and roll).
In person, Tim never fails to deliver on the emotional heft. “Ruby” and “Radio Kids” in their absolutely wild joy, a pair of songs that beckon sonic abandon. Or the crashing and ocean-deep sadness of “Visions” and the almost-kooky happiness of “Hyperspace Blues”. Or the love song he wrote for his wife, “Keys”, sharing that Maryland holds a special place for them – after all, they got engaged in Ocean City.
Maryland Agricultural Stage
The second stage featured one of Baltimore’s own sons in Susto (second time playing), as well as Muscle Shoals roots rocker Dylan LeBlanc channeling Rust Never Sleeps era Neil Young and the aforementioned soul power of Seratones.
SUSTO
Susto features Justin Osborne, and he’s played the stage before (though with his band). This time, coming to town touring Ever Since I Lost My Mind, his February release that tackles many of the same topics as previous releases, but updated with the passage of time and gained experience. Osborne doesn’t shy away from songs about atheism, religion, drugs, transcendental experiences, but on Ever Since I Lost My Mind, he focuses more on adulthood and the transition to that kind of life, that kind of dense responsibility.
On Thursday, in the late-afternoon sun, Osborne’s rough-hewn vocals soared over his borrowed guitar, an emphatic and emotional punch of songs that attracted the entering audience, holding them in place to watch and listen closely, with “Homeboy” especially moving the crowd (currently, one of the top-played songs on WTMD).
Seratones
Hailing from Louisiana and featuring humid punk rock and soul, Seratones took to the stage in preparation for their upcoming album (Power, releasing on 8/23 on Fat Possum Records). Songs from Power shone, especially the wild passion of “Gotta Get to Know You”, with A.J. Haynes asserting proudly, “I know what I’m doing / baby, don’t fuck with me”, the band behind her tighter than the tightest drum. Or “Heart Attack”, showcasing Haynes’ Baptist-trained voice and the band’s gift for communion. And “Sad Boi”, too, when she implored the audience to find their dancing shoes for just one song (they did). If this band doesn’t become gigantic, then the entire music world has failed it. Some comparison touchstones can include Alabama Shakes and even Beyoncé through a punk filter, but Seratones are wholly their own thing. Please go listen to them and then see them when they come back to Pearl Street Warehouse in DC.
Dylan LeBlanc
Dylan LeBlanc sobered up in the last few years, a growing and positive trend in the music industry. It’s not to say he was defined by drinking, but that it had an effect, indelible and almost invisible until it’s gone. This year, he released Renegade, produced by super-producer Dave Cobb and recorded with LeBlanc’s band the Pollies (rare for Cobb to record with anyone but his in-house musicians, but these guys really are that good). Renegade is a record filled with stories and images of lives lived, very much of the South, capturing snapshots of people it’s easy to imagine LeBlanc knew or knows.
LeBlanc cut his teeth in Muscle Shoals, where his father wrote songs for Rick Hall’s studio, eventually taking those experiences and pairing them with a kind of Fleetwood Mac meets Neil Young sound, all over that aforementioned Southern thing, especially on Renegade. Songs like “Damned” and “Magenta” that address the requirement of cognitive dissonance in religion, or “Domino”, exploring the impact of fear and othering, or maybe the absolute blast of “Born Again” and its promise of change. It’s a killer record and LeBlanc and his band more than delivered the goods in Baltimore, ushering in a painterly sunset before inviting the moon.
We had a great time at the August edition of WTMD’s First Thursday! We have one last festival for the season – September 5th! We hope to see you at Canton Waterfront Park for the final edition of First Thursday!
