A chilly, steady rain thwacked to the ground along Eastern, the Patterson Park movie theater shining in the distance.  A steady line of people drifted into the doors under the marquee, the Creative Alliance already filled near to the brim long before doors would open for the night.  

One of Baltimore’s adopted sons, Caleb Stine, released his new album, Mystic Country, celebrating the occasion with a double-set.  A veritable who’s-who of the Baltimore folk music scene showed up to support him (including several members of Charm City Junction, Letitia VanSant, and a few I’m certainly forgetting), some onstage and the rest dancing along with the audience.  Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish (The Honey Dewdrops) added their lightbringing voices, Arty Hill expanded the honky tonk palette, and The Revelations (Caleb’s band) filled out the stage, making the whole place explode with sound.  

The Revelations include Ray Eicher on pedal steel and Burke Sampson on electric guitar (they brought space to the songs, giving them a kind of room to breathe, to be a little more expressive), Nick Sjostrom on bass, Tiffany DeFoe on the saxophone (she slayed all night), Big Sug Thompson behind the kit, and Jim Hannah adding percussion.  To call their sound big is something of an understatement.  

Caleb came onstage wearing a cowboy hat, his long hair tied into a ponytail, high-beaming a smile at the crowd.  He then used the first set to introduce Baltimore to his new band.  He made sure to explain that Mystic Country took three years to make, and that when he finally committed to the idea, he made a list of his dream musicians for the recording.  He called them all, one by one; and, one by one, they all said yes.  Caleb devoted most of the first set to some of his older songs, including deep cuts and crowd favorites (“Time I Let It Go”, “Coyote”), and a few choice covers (including the unplugged, revival-ready, “Be Ready When He Comes” or the set-closing Fred Eaglesmith song, “Cigarette Machine”, with pretty much everybody onstage), but it felt like everything led up to introducing the new album.  The lone song from Mystic Country played for a sitting audience was “Trees”, a rejoinder to let the world do what it will, to sit back and watch the simple beauty of existence.  

For the second set, the folks at the Creative Alliance cleared the center of chairs, creating a dancefloor beneath the disco ball.  After a short break – enough time for most people to grab a beer or glass of wine – Caleb came back out onstage, hair unknotted, flanked by The Revelations, and lit into a medley of songs beginning with “Jiro” from Mystic Country, flitting deftly into “The Kids Are Alright” and “Three Little Birds”, before returning to new record with “Colorado”.  This series of transitions established the movement-ready set, and the audience matched the band, twirling, spinning, stomping, and doing anything that might be called dancing.  

They played more songs from Mystic Country, but as with the first set, Caleb and the band mixed in old songs, favorites, and a few covers.  I especially loved when Laura Wortman came back onstage to sing “Come Back Home” with Caleb (it always elicits cheers), though the songs from Mystic Country certainly starred.  The humid “Confident” with its soaring backing vocals (Laura Wortman and Kristen Toedtman), Ben Frock on trumpet, and the staggeringly good Tiffany DeFoe on saxophone.  

A few other highlights included “Butter”, which never fails to rouse laughter, Caleb’s duet with Arty Hill on “Doin’ Time in Baltimore”, the rollicking “Daniel Boone”, and of course, the invocational “Addition”, an immediate standard of any Caleb Stine show.  

At the end of the night, after a few hours together, it became even clearer that Caleb is one of Baltimore’s brightest lights, someone who makes everyone around him at least a little better, a little kinder, a little more thoughtful. His art reflects him, direct and conscientious, observationally poetic, concerned with what it means to be human. ⁣ 

This show at Creative Alliance felt like both vintage Caleb Stine and like something new, something big. Mystic Country is like that, too, beautiful and bold. The stage held as many as 10, as few as 1, but the whole damn place shook with community.

Go listen, Baltimore.  Love each other, and dammit, be kind.