For singer-songwriter Kevin Morby, music was always the main goal. When he first moved from Kansas City and its super close-knit DIY music scene there, he really couldn’t imagine himself doing anything else. He moved to Brooklyn. He played in two different bands–one called Woods, and the other called The Babies. He moved to LA. He then recorded a solo album called Harlem River, which was written and recorded as an homage to his first days of moving to New York and the revelations he discovered while living there. Soon after he recorded Still Life–an album that continues his Bob Dylan/Lou Reed-inspired vibe with his echoey vocals and his easy-going, nostalgic tone.
Morby’s third album Singing Saw was released in 2016, along with two singles called “Beautiful Strangers” and “No Place to Fall” (a Townes Van Zandt cover). His upcoming record City Music is due out in June on Dead Oceans Records, and his single off the album has already been released called “Come to Me Now”–a song that shows his stirring passion for all the places he’s been to and has loved in his life, the craze of it, the madness, the way these cities are dark and interesting and beautiful, especially as he sings “I can’t wait for the sun to go down. Tired of squinting at this ugly little town. I can’t wait for that moon to shine. She’s my friend, always been, you can see it in my eyes.”
From the beginning of Kevin Morby’s songs to the present, there’s something incredibly endearing about his dreamy vocals and the lonely romance that you can hear on tracks like “Miles, Miles, Miles” and “All My Life.” Looks like not having a backup plan worked out just fine after all for this singer-songwriter.
Bowery Ballroom
5/24
w/ John Andrews & the Yawns
9 p.m.
$18+
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