“A lot of people say, how do you get to play at Hub City Vinyl? And the first time is maybe a crapshoot, but the third time means that Lloyd loves your music, and that is why we’re glad to have Bywater Call back here.” (Lloyd Thoburn)
These words from Lloyd Thoburn – owner/operator of Live at Hub City Vinyl in Hagerstown, MD – to welcome Toronto, ON southern-soul/blues band Bywater Call back to the venue deserve to be immortalized. Having graced the stage of the area’s most vibrant new music venue in both June and November last year, this exciting seven-piece band returned for a three-peat – officially becoming the first invitee to perform a hat trick of shows here in the ‘gateway to Western Maryland.’
“Thank you for being here with us this evening,” lead vocalist Meg Parnell offered, as the band were welcomed to the stage by another packed house. “It’s a pleasure to be back at Hub City Vinyl, and to be the first band who has been here three times.” And with two sets over a two-hour duration, Bywater Call fulfilled their mission to blow the roof off the room once again – no doubt leaving many in attendance ever hopeful that the band earn many future invitations in the process.
Go ahead and research the touring schedule for this band and prepare to discover their status as true road warriors – here in the US, up in their native Canada, and Europe too. Yet for a band that tours relentlessly, Bywater Call are never complacent – forever mixing things up, tossing in previously unheard covers, road-testing new material, and turning older cuts into extended ‘surprise’ jams. In short, a band that NEVER takes the easy option of sticking to a cookie cutter formula and repeating the same show time and time again. You may not know what you’ll hear on any given night, but you are guaranteed to have more than a memorable experience and to be dazzled by some stellar musicianship.
During their debut at Live at Hub City Vinyl last year, Bywater Call were eager to showcase tunes from their upcoming 2024 “Shepherd” album. With their sophomore visit, “Shepherd” was out in the world, and the band found their groove mixing tunes new and old. And with this three-peat, Meg was happy to share some fresh news about “Sunshine,” their latest single. “We’ve got a lot of variations on the Bywater trip. We’ve just put this tune out into the universe,” she announced. “It’s a live version of a new song, which is leading up to a live album that we’re gonna put out this summer. Probably a little more information than we should share, but this is called Sunshine.”
So how about those variations? Well, on this given evening, we were privy to some great jams between slide guitarist Dave Barnes and both Julian Nalli (tenor saxophone) and Stephen Dyte (trumpet) during performances of “Ties That Bind” and “As If.” Bassist Mike Meusel shared a pair of solos, while drummer Bruce McCarthy – laying down the tempo all evening – put on a skins-pounding clinic to commence “A.M.” As for keyboardist John Kervin, not only did he shine as always, but his love of vintage bluegrass music has started to seep beautifully into Bywater Call’s ever-evolving DNA.
“You may or may not have noticed this banjo sat on this subwoofer speaker,” Meg stated. “John Kervin has a bluegrass band back home in Toronto called Duke Street Turnaround. You should check them out. And we’ve gotta get a little banjo over here, this is called Clutter.” Mike and Julian would take a momentarily leave during this tune, while Stephen handled vocal harmonies behind the keyboards, Bruce added kick drum, and Dave strapped on an acoustic guitar to complement John’s banjo licks. It was an absolute pleasure to witness this musical transformation – and hope to discover more of this diversity that future material may bring.
Wrapping up with a pair of cuts from “Shepherd,” Meg would offer her final address. “Well, thank you again so much for being here. Thank you for having us back, three times in a row, it’s been phenomenal,” she offered graciously. “This is an awesome spot, and you should tell your people that this place is here because it is awesome, because there is more happening. If you don’t know, there is a big awesome room being built next door here.” Referencing a secondary room currently under construction within the venue – one close to completion – perhaps Meg was planting seeds for another future visit, and an opportunity to play a room with a much larger capacity. Stay tuned – if it happens, we’ll do our best to be there and live in that moment with Bywater Call.
Set List:
- Hold Me Down (*Unreleased*)
- Ain’t No Fun (Al Green cover)
- Feelin’ Alright (Traffic cover)
- Ties That Bind
- Sunshine
- Josephine (*Unreleased*)
- Left Behind
- Only (*Unreleased*)
- As If
- Talking Backwards
- Bring Me Down
- A.M. (*Unreleased*)
- Clutter
- Everybody Knows
Encore:
- Now And Never
Photo Credit: Artist social media (tour poster)
The British guy that crossed the ocean and crash landed in central Pennsylvania (to quote Greg Keelor, “And I wonder what am I doing here?”). As the youngest of four siblings, exposure to music from a very early age nurtured my passion and appreciation for many musical genres. Continuing to discover some amazingly diverse and talented musicians based in Canada, I gravitate to live music experiences and remain devoted to spreading the word about such a vibrant music scene.
