Yr. Weekend, Pt. 3: Cory Branan (MP3!) + Blind Pilot + Clory Martin + More

Trying to be a little more timely for today (which is Sunday, July 15th), at least… Before I get into the shows going on today/tonight, though, I wanted to point out something I realized while scanning through the show listings yesterday:

Sun., November 11 – Celtic Thunder @ Bayou Music Center
Sun., November 11 – Gaelic Storm @ House of Blues

Yep, Celtic Thunder and Gaelic Storm are both going to be in town on the same damn day, and that’s freaking awesome. Not that I really care about the music they play, mind you, but c’mon, if this isn’t the sign of the Celtic Apocalypse approaching, I dunno what is; it’s got to be some kind of omen, folks: “Lo, and these two bards shall play on the eve of the 11th day of the 11th month in the Year of Doom, and their musics shall join together and bring forth The Morrígu once more from their shadowy realm, and the three sisters shall lay waste to the kingdoms of Man forevermore.”

(Something like that, anyway.)

So…okay, with that out of the way, here’s what’s on today:

Cory Branan/Audra Mae @ Rudyard’s
Alright, so here’s my favorite of the small-but-good pile for this evening. Cory Branan has emerged — pretty much out of nowhere, really — to become one of a small handful of songwriters who I just can’t help but worship, the way folks used to worship guitar heroes back when I was a kid.

The guy’s like a rockstar to me, based almost solely on his amazing, awesome, how-the-fuck-did-he-do-that songwriting abilities; Branan is sincere and sarcastic at the same time, clever but poignant, and poetic as all hell, pulling together bits of Springsteen, Steve Earle, Bob Dylan, Paul Westerberg, Alejandro Escovedo, & Jay Farrar into a rootsy-, folk-country-tinged troubadour who can blow away hosts and hosts of pretenders with a bare handful of words.

If that sounds like hyperbole, I promise you it’s not; I adore his 2006 release 12 Songs, and his long-awaited followup on Bloodshot Recs sounds even better, to my ears. By which I mean that it’s fucking awesome. But hey, if you don’t believe me, here’s a little proof:

Cory Branan – “Bad Man”

See? You’re welcome.

Blind Pilot/Lost Lander @ Fitzgerald’s
I’m not really sure why it is, but I somehow keep thinking Blind Pilot is a different band. Maybe it’s the “Pilot” in the name, or that I first heard ’em at the same time as some other band, I dunno, but I keep expecting these guys to be some murky, quasi-heavy, arena-sized atmospheric rock band. And no, that’s definitely not them, and my confusion’s becoming a major hindrance, because what they actually are is pretty great.

With recent release We Are The Tide, they still sound arena-sized, to me, but it’s a different crowd than what I’ve had stuck in my head. The band does some pitch-perfect indie-folk-pop that calls to mind Fleet Foxes, Death Cab for Cutie, and Coldplay all in the same thought, and that’s no mean trick — and not a bad one, either, in my book…

Check out the band doing “Half Moon” (one of my favorites off Tide, btw) for Yourstru.ly, right here:

(Full disclosure time: I literally cannot resist a song/video that includes a mountain dulcimer. I just can’t.)

Clory Martin @ Last Concert Cafe
I’ve mentioned {Clory Martin} here before, but I wanted to point her way once again, because she’s a very, very promising folk singer/songwriter with a great, bluesy voice. I’ll freely admit that I’m not the greatest of prognosticators when it comes to who’s going to “make it” and be successful and whatnot — although I’d humbly submit that’s less because of me and more because the musical taste of a large percentage of the world flat-out sucks — but I’m going to step up on this one and predict that someday soon, Ms. Martin really will get some recognition outside this city, and it’ll be well-deserved when it happens.

Runners-Up:
Cozy Blankets/Romantic Feelings/Curved Graves @ Mango’s ($5)
Panteon Rococo/El Sonido Callejero/Fuska @ House of Blues