Transforming

I went to see a concert tonight - no, not a concert, that sounds like a pale, weary word for something electric and alive - I went to see people sing and play music at the Old Town School.  I knew it would be good, because the name I was following was Anais Mitchell, writer and performer of Hadestown, a transcendent folk musical based on the story of Orpheus. (Never heard it?  Oh, I'll wait.  Click through.)   But recently Anais teamed up with another folk performer, Jefferson Hamer, and they've written/re-written/arranged some folk ballads from The Child Ballads.

Someone else tonight compared listening to these two play to the warm and relaxing sensation of taking a bath - it was like that, and it was also like being pumped so full of oil that all the rusty, awkward parts of your heart finally swing free and open up, leaving you vulnerable but also gloriously free.  No more squeaky sounds as you try to feel.

I spent an ungodly amount of money on cds (and a tshirt) tonight, but I suspect the truth is the recordings, though brilliant, will not be able to recapture the performances - at best they just refresh the memory of something glowing and vibrant and necessary.

It's a good reminder to me that sometimes the best thing to do is leave your house, because the amazing talent and fascination of the people outside of it are worth exploring.

Unexpected but completely enchanting was the opening duo, Mike + Ruthy, two-thirds of the now-defunct group The Mammals. They opened with a ukelele, a harmonica, and Ruthy's bluesy low voice.  It was gorgeous.  I was just a little afraid Anais wouldn't be able to match up to how effortlessly charming those two were, chatting with the crowd about their two children tucked in the soundproof green room and writing songs and finding other people's great songs.

I shouldn't have worried, of course, Anais and Jefferson were absorbing in their own perfect way.  But now I have three new cds and that doesn't even cover all the ones I wanted.  Sigh.

Also, I have to go to bed, because it's getting insanely late.  But at least I was up reading the lyrics in Old English to the Child Ballads, and not watching some lame tv sit-com rerun.  I was learning things tonight.  And relishing them.