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LIVE REVIEWS

Live Review: Toy Soldiers, Laura Veirs, The Watson Twins, Sisters 3, Led To Sea, West Chester, PA, Sept. 16, 2010

It was a “Lillith Fair kind of night” in the words of several of the featured musicians playing a rainy, Thursday night WXPN event at The Note in West Chester. Four of the five folky, Americana acts were comprised mostly of women with the exception of hometown headliners Toy Soldiers. I’m not sure if Live Nation, WXPN, The Note or simply the crappy weather was to blame for the weak turnout, but $12 a ticket for a five-act show seemed like a steal to those who did turn out.

Led To Sea—Seattle violinist/violist Alex Guy—began the night with songs from her latest album, Into The Darkening Sky. Guy’s experimental rhythm and timing, along with sometimes spooky/sometimes heartfelt songs, captured the interest of the small crowd, which seemed hypnotized by her steady voice and ferocious bowing.

Next up was Downingtown, Pa., family act Sisters 3, whose perfectly complimentary voices carried their set. The Note began to feel more coffee house than club show, as Cassandra (vocals, keys), Annachristie (vocals, guitar) and Beatrice (vocals) played their doo-wop-influenced folk. After a cringeworthy anecdote from Cassandra that evoked Michael Scott level secondhand embarrassment from the audience and death stares from her sisters, the set definitely could only go up from there. And it did with “Apocalypse,” which showcased Annachristie’s strong vocals, and somber lullaby “Morning Glory.”

After a long and deliberate soundcheck, the Watson Twins, just coming off a West Coast tour with a full band, said they felt “naked” onstage with just their guitars and their keyboardist and insisted throughout the night that the lingering crowd join them on the dance floor. “We’re going to do a stage dive later so if you could just fill this space in here,” laughed the Twins, stepping on each others words. They used a drum machine to fill in the gap of their “rhythm- and drum-oriented songs” that at first sounded a bit like toy instrument, but the sound filled out once Leigh and Chandra began harmonizing over ’70s soul- and gospel-influenced songs. Both the sunny, snappy “How Am To Be?” and cowgirl ballad “Southern Manners” draw from their upbringing in Kentucky, while a cover of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” showcased their heavier, blues influences. Toward the end of the set, the ladies stepped to the lip of the stage and huddled together for “Give Me A Chance,” which transformed the club show into a sidewalk and the Watson Twins into street performers, singing for supper.

Laura Veirs took us back into the coffee house that the Watson Twins helped us escape from, and I was awakened after several of Veirs’ soundscape-sounding tunes, like the title track of her latest album, July Flame. Other highlights included “Wide-Eyed, Legless” and a sweet-yet-rocking version of “Wildwood Flower.”

When Toy Soldiers finally took the stage, they needed to rally to awaken the dwindling crowd. The Philadelphia folk rockers have gone through many transformations since they began as a duo and “a joke band” back in 2008 at Temple University. Recently, the outfit shifted members, slimming down from eight to five. This current five-piece, all-male version of Toy Soldiers retains the same twangy, energetic country/rock sound with frontman Ron Gallo filling in some of the higher-register notes and bassist Bennett Daniels and guitarist Dan King harmonizing. Perhaps it was just being surrounded by talented women all night, but the boys seemed smitten: Daniels dedicated almost every song to “the ladies.” They played crowd-pleaser “Love Ya Like I Love Ya,” and Daniels sang lead on his song “We All Know.” Jordan Hull, the baby-faced, Tennessee native and newest member of Toy Soliders, took the lead on a sweet, country/blues song he wrote called “By The Light Of The Moon.” To close, the boys ended with the loud and gritty “Throw Me Down,” which is truly anything but coffee house.

—Cristina Perachio; photo by Kelly McManus