Words by @EricPandora
Photos by @MichellePandora
Bustling with incredible music, entrancing history, and palpable energy, it should go without saying that New Orleans is an extraordinary and enchanted city – not to mention that you’d have to go out of your way to find a bad meal there. This January, a couple Pandora teammates and I had the opportunity to represent Pandora AMP at the 38th Folk Alliance International in New Orleans. The FAI conference has been held annually since 1989, each year in a different city. Since then, it has evolved into the world's largest gathering of the folk music industry. “Industry” feels like the wrong word. This was our third time attending, and the welcoming vibes, familiar faces, and general comradery make it feel more like a folk community.
In some ways FAI is like many other music conferences. There are panels, mentorships, networking opportunities, trade booths, awards events, and plenty of in-person resources for marketing, booking, royalties, scholarships, etc. But what sets FAI apart from the rest is this: every year, they reserve two or three floors of a major hotel. Each hotel room on these floors is then decorated and transformed into a house concert. Anyone with FAI credentials can roam these hotel floors and saunter into any room and witness some of the most intimate and exciting live music performances. And though most of the music is rooted in folk, many artists’ performances often span beyond the genre’s definitions.
My teammates and I were privy to 1011, a very special room that yielded a diverse amalgam of top-shelf performances, starting with Tyler Ramsey & Carl Broemel. Ramsey is the former lead guitarist and main songwriter for Band of Horses and Broemel plays guitar for My Morning Jacket. There were moments in their performance that felt like we were in the presence of such six-string luminaries as John Fahey or Leo Kottke. I nearly fell out of my seat when they played an ethereal instrumental titled “In the Willows.” Back in early December, I included this song on a playlist for someone who broke up with me in January. So, when Ramsey and Broemel started playing it live, in a very intimate setting, two feet away from where I was sitting, it all just hit me like an out-of-body experience. In a good way. In the best way.
Flamy Grant is another performer who plays incredibly moving music. We had the pleasure to see her at last year’s FAI, and I just recently learned that she’s the first drag performer to reach #1 on the iTunes Christian music charts. Raised in the rural, religious South, Grant’s music often muses on personal themes of queer religious trauma. Stylistically, she blends gospel, Appalachian folk, and Americana roots into her songwriting. But it’s her soaring and emotive vocals that give me goosebumps.
With their brotherly blood harmonies and triumphant love songs, Wolfchild was another standout. Comprising siblings Gabriel Wolfchild and Elion TruthHeart, they play cinematic folk music – almost every song plays like a scene from a film. My favorite from their set was a new one called “Reflections.” It’s a smoldering, slow burning, serenade that ramps up into an uplifting chorus, celebrating the mystery and ambiguity of an undefined relationship. And it’s wonderfully catchy.
Maybe it was the Sazerac or my overexcited inner music nerd, but I’m embarrassed to admit that when John Smith asked if we had any requests, I suggested “May You Never” by John Martyn. I’ve seen Smith perform a few times, and there are moments in his inflections when he seems to be channeling the late Martyn’s throaty tenor. Smith said that he’s actually toured with Martyn and that there’s just no way to cover a song as perfect as that one. And he was totally right. But he did play this gorgeous old song called “Lily” that cast a new spell on me.
Rainbow Girls opened their set cooing in perfect three-part harmonies, a lullaby that warned listeners how someday the robots will fight back. It was the perfect contrast of beauty and horror and by the end of their set when they ended on a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence,” everybody in the audience was hypnotized.
There’s no way I could possibly write about every single performance we witnessed in this magic hotel room without turning a blog piece into an exhaustive tome. So, here is a playlist of all the artists who performed in room 1011. Even though FAI has existed for nearly 40 years, there’s something special about it that still feels like a well-kept secret. If you ever get the slightest urge to attend as a performer or audience member, I can’t recommend it enough. Again, it’s not just an event for folk enthusiasts. It’s really an awesome experience that all music lovers can savor.
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