Magnolia Electric Co. plays powerful performance

Earnest lyrics, powerful singing and some impressive guitar work dominated the performances of Tuesday night’s show at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Proving to be a great night for modern country and folk music, The Hollows, King’s Daughters and Sons, and Magnolia Electric Co. delivered solid sets, though each possessed a different style.

Opening the night was Bloomington’s own The Hollows, a country/folk quartet led by singer and acoustic guitarist Kate Long. Backed up by a stand up bass, a drum set and an electric guitar played mostly with a slide, Long’s songs were slow and mellow, sometimes to the point of melancholy.

The band’s playing was tight and the songs were well-written, but in the end, what could’ve been a fantastic performance was marred by a lack of confidence. After having to restart her first song after hitting a wrong chord, and a similar mishap in the group’s final song, Long confided to the audience that she was really nervous.

Next up was King’s Daughters and Sons, a folk-tinged post-rock five-piece out of Louisville. The amply bearded singer and guitarist Joe Manning led the group’s sonic assault, revealing a band with a richly textured sound that falls somewhere between early folk singers such as Woody Guthrie or Bob Dylan and modern post-rock bands such as Do Make Say Think.

Manning’s voice was gravelly but also powerful. Many of the group’s songs began with slowly building, interlocking guitar melodies and minimal bass and drums, fronted by Manning’s venomous folk singer delivery and lyrics. Then, the Daughters and Sons would burst to life at the peak of the tension, tearing into energetic grooves accented by passionate singing and some beautiful melodies from pianist Rachel Grimes.

King’s Daughters and Sons’ final song, “Open Sky” was a definite highlight of their performance, beginning with flawless, three-part a cappella vocals from Manning, Grimes and lead guitarist Michael Heineman. Falling then into a colossal-sounding bass groove, the set ended with complex two-part guitar melodies.

Rounding out the night was local legend Magnolia Electric Co., dressed formally as if celebrating its first Bloomington show in some time. Guitarist and singer/songwriter Jason Molina poured out his mournful voice to members of the audience, some of whom had risen to stand at the foot of the stage to be as close to him as possible.

With a furrowed brow and eyes that seemed to stare back into some distant, gloomy past, Molina sang out over his group of local musicians through their long set of country rock. Featuring lead guitarist Jason Groth and skilled bass, drum and keyboard players, Magnolia’s sound was dynamic. Sometimes minimal, soft and desolate, other times rousing, epic and powerful, the group played a mixture of older and newer material.

The group’s performance of “Shiloh Temple Bell” was energetic, as was “Farewell Transmission,” a song by Molina’s previous group Songs: Ohia, in which the opening guitar lick was greeted with applause. A tender rendition of “Hold on Magnolia” followed, and later, an explosive version of “I’ve Been Riding With the Ghost,” which featured a guitar solo from Groth.

After their final song, Molina saluted and waved goodbye to the audience without saying a single word throughout the entirety of the set. Bringing an end to a night for which their band was the exclamation point, Molina and company walked off stage, leaving behind a theater full of smiling faces begging for an encore.