The Barr Brothers at Anthology, November 1, 2011

I see live music nearly every night of the week which means that, if you include the days and nights when I hop to multiple shows, the amount of bands I see annually is somewhere in the high hundreds to low thousands. I love music and I love bands and I'm constantly impressed by shows, but I have to say that because I have such a high music tolerance (if that makes sense), it takes something really magical to blow my mind. Last night's show with The Barr Brothers was just that kind of show.

Going into the night, I had skimmed the press releases and such. The publicist added this note:

I saw them live in NYC recently and they were amazing. They're known for a kind of a mad-scientist approach to instrumentation, which includes a classical harp played through a fuzz pedal, an electric toolbox guitar, a hand-made peanut dish banjo, an old air-compressor and a PVC xylophone. It comes together to create beautiful, nuanced indie-folk with African rhythms and swampy rock guitar riffs thrown in.

I've had the album for a couple weeks and have listened to it several times, but maybe I hadn't listened in the right headspace or listening on my laptop wasn't the best way to go or maybe I just wasn't paying attention, because in no way was I prepared for the show we got. See more after the jump.

Tonight At Anthology: The Barr Brothers

photo by Andre Guerette, courtesy Shorefire

The Barr Brothers recently released a self-titled album on Secret City Records and if you haven't had the chance to pick it up (or download, as you probably do), you're missing out on quite the gem of the kind of folky rock that makes this blogger swoon. I don't know who you trust as your music filters or tastemakers, but when a band gets a video premiere on NPR, or is gushed about on My Old Kentucky Blog, WXPN and the like, and credible reviewers describe the band as a cross of the Avett Brothers and Blitzen Trapper, I can be  fairly certain that I'm gonna trust those sources and dig the band. The Barr Brothers are playing tonight at Anthology and as far as I know there are still tickets available. Don't trust me on this one, trust NPR.