Marcus Machado and Friends Rock The Songbyrd DCOn 10/19/2021, I had the privilege of checking out Marcus Machado performing at the Songbyrd DC (which was recently located from 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan to Penn Street, NE near Union Market).
The show lineup included Moon Newbill and her band, followed by Marcus, with some help from his sister, producer Vicky Casis. Marcus and Vicky are based in Brooklyn, NY while Moon is based in Washington, DC. They are all managed by Maishah Hendrix (Asanteworks Public Relations). Moon Newbill and her band opened up the show and performed for approximately 40 minutes. Moon is high energy and a perfect person to get the party started! Moon was born and raised in Washington DC and comes from a family of musicians and visual artists. She is a singer (with an impressive 4 octave voice), songwriter and (self professed) stage wrecker who “brings it” when she performs and demands the same energy from the audience. Newbill has music available on iTunes and Soundcloud, including the EP Come Through Mother, and singles “Nola Darling” and “BP”.
Moon’s band (drums, keyboards, bass and guitar) were on point as Moon and her background singers delivered the five songs in her set. The first song was a cover of Funkadelic’s 1976 song from their Hard Core Jollies album entitled “You Scared The Lovin’ Outta Me”. The song featured Moon’s amazing vocals (and that haunting guitar riff), a perfect start to the set. Moon definitely commands the stage and demands that her audience participate. We saw evidence of that during the last two songs, “Drinking Buddy” and “BP”, topics that most can relate to. Your assignment is to find the song BP and give it a listen so you will know what BP is.
Marcus Machado then brought his stellar guitar skills to the stage. He came to the Songbyrd after a sold out show in New Orleans. He was joined by his band in New Orleans, but for this performance, he was joined on stage by his sister and production company partner, the very talented Vicky Casis. Vicky’s music accompanied Marcus on guitar.
I became aware of Marcus and his music a few months back, and once I checked out his latest project, the impressive Aquarius Purple, which was released in April 2021, I made it a point to check him out when he came to DC.
Marcus hails from Brooklyn, NY and started learning the guitar at a very young age. His dad’s favorite Rock and Roll artists were Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, and that spurred Marcus on to take his guitar playing to higher heights. He also was influenced by his family’s love for Jazz greats like John Coltrane and Soul and R&B giants like Earth, Wind & Fire helped Machado develop a jazzy soulful sound with the guitar. One of the testaments to his skill level and the respect he has earned in the music industry is that he was named Rolling Stone magazine’s Next Young Gun in late 2014. Marcus released an EP entitled 29 in 2015 (available on iTunes).
Marcus started off his set by warming up with the legendary Jimi Hendrix cut, “Manic Depression” and he did it justice. To those of us in attendance, Marcus was sufficiently warmed up after this song. Machado followed up with a nice instrumental from his Aquarius Purple album, “Let’s Play”, which has a nice jazzy feel and “Table Dance”, an uptempo cut with Marcus making the guitar scream throughout.
Marcus then took a break and let his sister showcase some of her work as part of a “beat set”. The beats Casis played were on point and very unique, and those in attendance were certainly feeling them. Marcus returned to finish his roughly 45 minute set with an impressive rendition of Prince’s“Let’s Go Crazy”.
In addition to being a solo artist, Marcus has a production company (of which his sister Vicky is a part) called Mach-7 Muzik and he has collaborated with many other artists, including Sandra St. Victor, Daru Jones, Pete Rock and CL Smooth, etc.
Overall, it was a nice evening of music at the Songbyrd, a little something for everybody.
You can learn more about these artists and their music at the links below:
Marcus Machado –> http://www.officialmarcusmachado.com/
Moon Newbill –> https://instagram.com/moonnewbillmusic/
Vicky Casis –>https://linktr.ee/_casis_
Finally, here are some photos from the show as well as Marcus Machado’s Find My Way on Youtube.
