John Moreland at Tower Theater in Oklahoma City
John Moreland played Oklahoma City’s Tower Theatre this past Friday night, fresh on the heels of having “surprise” released his newest studio album, Visitor via Thirty Tigers/Old Omens on April 5th.
Visitor is Moreland’s seventh studio album, dating back to 2011’s Earthbound Blues. The album’s dozen tracks were recorded over just 10 days his home studio in Bixby, OK and follows a year off from playing live shows, as well a period of self imposed isolation from smartphones and those distractions and chaos. Moreland performed nearly all the songs entirely himself, with only his wife Pearl Rachinsky contributing background vocals, and longtime collaborator John Calvin Abney playing guitar on one track (“The More You Say, The Less it Means”). The end result is an incredibly powerful and timely album, one that while I’m still processing, I’m convinced will resonate for some time to come.
Living in Oklahoma, I consider myself most fortunate that get to see John Moreland fairly often, though perhaps surprisingly, he doesn’t make it to OKC nearly as much as I wish he would. Over the years, I’ve seen him mostly perform accompanied by John Calvin Abney, and even on a couple of occasions with a band. But this was the first time I’ve gotten to see him sing his songs completely solo, and what an absolute treat it was. Over the course of his hour and a half set, Moreland played perhaps the best collection of songs I’ve had the privilege of seeing him perform. Opening with a pair of new songs from Visitor, the previously mentioned “The More You Say, The Less It Means” and “One Man Holds The World Hostage,” he went on to play some twenty songs this evening; a fine balance of newer material such as “Gentle Violence,” “Blue Dream Carolina” and the title track, as well as pulling gems from his impressive catalog, such as “Cherokee,” “Old Wounds,” “Blacklist,” “3:59,” “Oh Julia,”“Sad Baptist Rain” and more.
I’ve been somewhat critical of OKC audience behavior over the last couple of years, and I was seriously worried the chatter in the room might be bothersom or worse. But thankfully, the attention Moreland commanded from the stage this evening, made it a moot point. A man of few words himself, Moreland mostly let the music speak for itself, limiting between song chatter to simple song introductions and such, but his mid-set performance of one of Visitor‘s new songs, “Silver Sliver” resulted in an exchange that was one of my favorite moments of the evening:
Young woman in the audience: “Oh my god, I’m crying.”
Moreland: “Then I’m doing my job miss.”
Young woman: “I have emotional damage!”
Moreland: “Is this not what you wanted?!”
It was indeed, exactly what we wanted, so, thank you John. See you next time.
John Moreland has a slew of dates across the US scheduled, with likely more to come. His new album Visitor is digitally available now, with physical media coming later this month. All tour information as well as links to Visitor can be found here: https://johnmoreland.net/home
Enjoy our previous coverage here: Show Review: John Moreland and John Calvin Abney in Riversport, OKC Was Magical Waterfront Evening
Opening up for John Moreland on the OKC stop was Tulsa’s Justin Bloss, who somehow was a new discovery for me. Bloss has a trio of EP releases, with the most recent Disapora having released earlier this year in February. I was really impressed with Justin’s songs and let me tell you, the guy can play a little guitar too. I wasn’t too familiar with his songs, but there was tenacity and focus in their delivery this evening that made me want to hear them more. Some songs that stood out for me included, “Something in the Air Tonight,” “Lucky Bastard Kind,” and “Clean.” I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes open for future endeavors from Bloss. You can find out more information and check out his songs for yourself by visiting his Bandcamp page here: https://justinbloss.bandcamp.com/music