The Littlest Bird Sings the Prettiest Songs
June 29th, 2006 . by Jilly
Last night I saw Jolie Holand at my favorite San Diego venue, the Casbah. Sean Hayes opened for her. Hayes is from North Carolina, and currently resides in San Francisco. He’s a lanky guy, with an amazing voice. Jolie Holland joined him on stage, during his set and lended her vocals and her violin playing. Their voices harmonized very well. Both of them have a folky style. After the concert, I spoke with Hayes briefly. I asked him if he collaborated with Jolie on the songs they performed together. Hayes said that he wrote all the songs, that Jolie just hops on the stage and accompanies him. Hayes is a super-nice guy.
If you’ve never heard Sean Hayes before, you can hear some of his songs here.
It was so hot last night. Jolie Holland came on stage wearing a polyester blouse, a heavy black skirt, and nylons. In between songs, Jolie would stop to fan herself. She played a lot of her new work, but I was thrilled that she played some of the oldies but goodies. She performed Old Fasioned Morphine and The Littlest Birds. Her voice is bluesy and sultry. During her performance, she played guitar, violin, keyboard, and a cigar-box banjo (???). She told us a story about how her long-time boyfriend dumped her for another girl. And just that morning, he called and asked her if she would buy him a standup bass. Then she launched, into this really beautiful song about their breakup. She also told us about how she tried to be a busker for a while, but she didn’t want to be like the homeless people that play guitar, so she played violin on the streets. And she showed us a little trick, she taught herself. She played a song on the violin and sang at the same time.
If you haven’t heard Jolie, you can hear a couple of her songs here.