Follow Your Art’s New Concert Series Kicks Off With Alastair Moock and Friends
(L to R) Sean Staples, Chandler Travis, Alastair Moock, and Mark Erelli
On Saturday night, Follow Your Art Community Studios (FYACS) hosted the first of a series of three concerts scheduled for this fall. Alastair Moock, the headliner, was joined onstage by Sean Staples, Chandler Travis, and Mark Erelli in an exciting start to the series.
The concert series is billed as “Live from the Living Room.” However, the weather on Saturday evening was beautiful, so the concert was held outdoors instead, at FYACS’ new outdoor performance and gathering space. The Big Yellow House’s former garage provided the stage, and chairs for the audience were set up in the new patio area. With only a few dozen attendees, the sold-out concert was intimate, and the music filled the patio area without being too loud or overwhelming.
Moock is a Melrose resident and a GRAMMY-nominated singer-songwriter who plays in a wide variety of venues throughout New England and beyond. He shared that his Melrose concerts are usually related to the Opening Doors Project, the organization he founded with Reggie Harris, so it felt “decadent” to perform his own songs here at home in Melrose.
Photo From FYACS
Moock played acoustic guitar and harmonica and provided lead vocals; Staples played mandolin; Travis played electric bass; and Erelli played electric guitar. The musicians used their instruments to create more of a bluegrass or a blues feel on different songs. Group members provided background vocals throughout, and the whole group sang in four-part harmony more than once.
Erelli was a late addition to the group: Kris Rodolico, the executive director of FYACS, explained when she announced his addition two days before the concert, “Sometimes fun and unexpected things happen at your local community non-profit arts center, especially when your neighbor is Mark Erelli!”
FYACS' Outdoor Performance Space During Their 5th Birthday Celebration, September 8th
Photo Credit: Nancy Clover
While the musicianship was top-notch throughout the concert, some songs were a little rougher around the edges, which sometimes gave the audience the feeling of listening in on a jam session. At one point, Moock announced, “we’ve never practiced this one!” and the audience could hear the musicians get in sync with one another and create their sound together, live.
The quartet mostly performed Moock’s own compositions, ranging from songs he wrote in 1995 to a song he had written two weeks before the concert. The subject matter included historical subjects like Fannie Lou Hamer, Claudette Colvin, and John Brown, and personal reflections on family and growing older. They also performed a few covers, including John Hartford’s “In Tall Buildings,” an audience singalong of Huddie William Leadbetter (“Lead Belly”)’s “Midnight Special,” and an encore of Elizabeth Cotton’s “Freight Train.”
Sean Staples will return to FYACS in October for the next concert in the series, featuring Lisa Bastoni. As FYACS continues to make improvements to the Big Yellow House and find exciting new ways to support the arts in Melrose, we look forward to seeing what will be coming next.
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