Bryan John Appleby is perhaps my favorite newly discovered artist of 2013. However, while his epic beard and wonderful songwriting may be new to me, he has been a mainstay of the Pacific Northwest for the last few years. If you want a quick catch up you can find my review of his album Fire On The Vine here, or you can visit all the usual stops of Facebook, Twitter, and Offical Webpage to get your fill of Mr. BJA.
The video below is a BJA's contribution to the wonderful video series The Doe Bay Sessions from the Seattle music blog Sound On The Sound. The video is from 2011 and boasts Bryan John Appleby and his band performing two original compositions. Both the blog and their video series are worth your time and come with my high regards and praise – good on ya mates. It really is fantastic work happening over there, the kind of stuff that helps keep our own little engine that could pumping out our own content everyday.
The performance is a two song set starting with The Road and finishing with Noah's Nameless Wife. The performance is strengthened by the bands unusual orchestration and their thoughtful attention to layering as the song builds. Additionally, I've always been a sucker for thoughtful xylophone performances on foggy mornings. Following this is Noah's Nameless Wife were BJA manages to to nail his choreography with the local Belted Kingfishers. Apparently the cue for their performance is the word "gander", so keep that in mind the next time you need a unique bird call in your folk song. You dig?