Red Horse at City Winery
March 23rd, 2013 by Mr. C
Red Horse – the collective folk music trio of Lucy Kaplansky, John Gorka, & Eliza Gilkyson played at the upscale and rustic venue – the City Winery where the posh and privileged intersect with the die-hard fans of the said performers. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the passions of a full-service winery that crafts their own spirits from grape to bottle – gently aged in barrels stored in the bowels of City Winery’s basement, but listening to your favorite band play live at this space sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. The constant chatter, wine glasses & beer bottles clinging & clanging – the whispers and outbursts not related to the performers or the music, & the constant pacing of the staff really starts to annoy me. Then you have the clumsy Chocko and Mr. C waiters/waitresses/busperson shattering plates and glasses on the floor as they hurriedly try to clear your table in order to whisk you a fresh round of drinks. I think the most optimal spot for listening and watching a show at CW is front and center of the stage. Any seat behind the sound board puts you in glass shattering siberia!
(John Gorka)
(Lucy Kaplansky)
(Eliza Gilkyson)
Despite my bitter lemons, the chino-mex-filipino line cook staff of Planet Chocko huddled around a table and enjoyed the tunes coming out of Red Horse’s mouth! Yu understan’ the wordz comin’ out of my mouff!? With his typical self-depracating humor, John Gorka did a fine job introducing his bandmates! Lucy the psychologist from Chicago turned greenwich village fast folk performer 29 years ago and Eliza the new age folk technician from L.A. belting out a mix of ballads, poetic lyrics, and rally cries against the government! I really love the different styles of these 3 especially when they combine forces. The individual vocals of Gorka’s majestic & clear baritone voice, Eliza’s haunting melodic tones, and Lucy’s touching lyrics delivered with her tender melodies all stand alone as separate knockout punches! As a unit, they often deliver rich sensual harmonies and backgrounds that compliment each other very well. Their self-entitled album Red Horse has each one of them perform a song written by the other two as well as performing one cover song, and one song of their own. It was great to hear a few different songs on their setlist that was not on the album such as Lucy Kaplansky’s ‘Ten Year Night’ & ‘Scavenger’, John Gorka’s ‘Down in the milltown’ & ‘Ignorance and privilege’, and Eliza Gilkyson’s ‘Beauty Way’ & ‘Slouching towards Bethlehem’. The three performed a fun set at the City Winery but not without some hitches like when John Gorka seemed to forget a few words in ‘These walls could talk’ and a few off key guitar chords on the miniature G-sharp guitar. But who’s keeping track when wine glasses and serving plates are playing their highest note when they meet the City Winery floor! John Gorka closed out the night with an inspirational rendition of Curtis Mayfield’s – “People get ready”.
(Red Horse performing Curtis Mayfield’s – People get ready at the City Winery)
SETLIST
I am a child
wild horse
scavenger
Forget to breath
These walls could talk
Blue Chalk
Walk away from love
Down in milltown
Ten year night
Beauty way
Ignorance and privilege
Sanctuary
Slouching towards Bethlehem
Don’t mind me
Wayfaring stranger
People get ready
Tags: eliza gilkyson, folk, john gorka, lucy kaplansky, red horse
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