While our primary focus is Canadian folk-roots music here at GDW, when Boston, MA singer-songwriter Aoife O’Donovan pays a visit to The Appell Center for the Performing Arts here in central PA, how can we ignore this rare opportunity to catch live music from a GRAMMY-Award winner? Snagging our tickets just a couple of weeks ago, we made the short drive over to York, PA to enjoy some tunes new and old from this highly acclaimed artist.
Of course, Aoife’s music originally flew well below our listening radar – a case of knowing the name, but not necessarily the music – largely coming to our attention back in 2021 when collaborating with Canadian folk artist Donovan Woods on the single “IOWA.” With this new artist discovery, we promptly started to explore Aoife’s back catalogue, and later added both her “Fossils” and “Age of Apathy” albums to our music collection. And let’s not dismiss “I’m With Her,” Aoife’s 2018 collaboration (and full album) with Sara Watkins and Sarah Jarosz (you may recall that we caught Jarosz in concert at this very same venue earlier this year). Small world, right?
Most recently, Aoife’s name pinged on our listening radar once more when collaborating on “The Witch,” a track recorded with Montréal-based folk-bluegrass artist Kaia Kater. This in turn brought our attention to the release of Aoife’s latest studio album, “All My Friends,” earlier this year, and with it, the news of this extensive tour that takes the artist across New England, the US west coast, and even a pair of gigs across the pond. How fortunate for us that this lone stopover in PA was part of the schedule.
We must pause to acknowledge a fabulous opening set from instrumental contemporary bluegrass band Hawktail, and were delighted to learn that this trio of Brittany Haas (violin), Jordan Tice (guitar), and Paul Kowert (upright bass) would join Aoife as her house band for the evening. We recalled seeing Jordan perform several years back with Mandolin Orange (Watchhouse) at a show in MD, while Brittany had recently toured through this area with Swedish fiddle player Lena Jonsson – but collectively, as Hawktail, this ensemble takes the wow factor to a whole new level.
Welcomed to the Capitol Theatre stage (the more intimate room within the Appell Center), Aoife and her bandmates came out swinging, delivering a one-two punch of “Magic Hour” and the traditional tune “Sinking in the Lonesome Sea” – a song popularized by The Carter Family – with no pause, but simply an incredibly smooth transition between songs. “This is a beautiful part of the state, we’re so happy to be here,” Aoife offered following this ten-minute opener. “We had a lovely drive in today, got to explore a little bit of the local culture, I saw some of you guys on the sidewalk before the show. Thank you for saying hello. We’re here in support of a new record I made in March called All My Friends and it’s about suffrage, about the passing of the nineteenth amendment … so you’re going to get my take on this subject matter and we’re gonna delve into some songs here.”
Moving seamlessly into the title track, the quartet would add many of these album cuts throughout the 80-minute performance, frequently revisiting the album narrative of women and daughters – with frequent solo moments for the fiddle and guitars, and with Paul’s notable bass tones on “Crisis” adding plenty of emotional depth to the song’s message. Aoife would later reference the recording of a few reimagined songs with Hawktail – including new cuts “Daughters” and “America, Come,” – hinting of an EP to follow soon. “I don’t really consider myself a political songwriter, I did just make an album about voting, but it brought back some very old songs,” Aoife added prior to performing “Middle,” an older tune already reimagined with Hawktail for the EP. “About 20 years ago I had a boyfriend at the time who tried to tell me the only good art was political art, and he was an old-time fiddle player.”
Ever hopeful to hear some material from those Aoife O’Donovan albums in our collection, we were not left hanging – with fabulous performances of “Prodigal Daughter” from “Age of Apathy” (2021), and “Oh, Mama” from “Fossils” (2013). Also offering up “Hornets,” a song co-written with Sarah Jarosz, Aoife would share a few words about I’m With Her. “You played here in York,” came a cry from the crowd. “We did, which venue,” Aoife responded. “In Glen Rock,” came the answer. “I remember it well,” Aoife countered, with a humorous faux befuddled look, “All of the touring that happened with I’m With Her, I did hit the road with my eight-week-old baby. Everything that happened that year was in, a haze, so if I don’t remember it, don’t take it personally.” “When are you coming back?” “Well, you know, keep your eyes peeled folks,” Aoife would offer, leaving some collective ‘ooh’s’ and ‘aah’s’ circulating throughout the room. We shall indeed stay tuned…
Set List:
- Magic Hour
- Sinking In The Lonesome Sea (trad.)
- All My Friends
- Crisis
- War Measure
- Middle
- Phoenix
- Someone To Follow
- The Right Way
- Hornets
- Daughters
- Prodigal Daughter
- America, Come
- Oh, Mama
Encore:
- You Turn Me On, I’m A Radio (Solo – Joni Mitchell cover)
Photo Credit: Poster / Artist Website
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.
