Live review and photo gallery: Jon Snodgrass and friends at the Ivy Room

Albany, CA – 09 Jul 2023

A loosey-goosey, reverse-order, laid back event

Call him what you will, but I think that Jon Snodgrass (Armchair Martian, Drag the River, and more) is a pillar of our music scene. The man may not be amongst the biggest acts, but they all know him, and many will jump at the chance to join in at one of his rambling “get together”-type gigs.

…and so it was on a pleasant Sunday evening at the Ivy Room in Albany, CA (a little town nestled along the bay just north of Berkeley). On the bill was Jon, Darius Koski of $wingin’ Utter$, and Dog Party. I haven’t seen Jon live since 2011 (Scorpios on a party barge tied up to the Rhône river in Lyon, France), but the way this tour was advertised, I expected something similar: a more relaxed atmosphere, mostly acoustic event of songs and storytelling. That is just what we got.

With the firm but cryptic recommendation to “be there at 6. don’t be late. Trust Me,” I arrived on time (early, actually), and then waited until the show started around 6:40 anyway. I chatted with another attendee who, besides being a fan, is acquainted with Jon, and flew in to catch the Santa Cruz and Albany gigs. He let slip that the SC gig’s surprise appearance was Chad Price and a Drag the River performance. Sure enough, we spied Chad moseying around the crowd and soon both he and Jon took the stage to start things off.

This is where that “reverse-order” thing comes in. In what would normally be the headlining event, it’s DRAG THE RIVER, but, no… they decided to do this first (for reasons that became clear later). That’s perfectly fine, but just a bit of a surprise. To begin, Jon is a ringleader and consummate showman. In between the songs he chats and banters with the crowd. An early comment about giving “100%” for the song, but the result not really reaching that, turned into an ongoing motif for the night, with the crowd giving their ratings when a song went right (or wrong). He mostly leads the show, and Chad was happy to play the songs along with him.

Drag the River, Armchair Martian, and more were represented with Jon on the electric and Chad covering acoustic. They even “covered” the “Lagwagon song” “Losing Everyone” to much laughter (Lagwagon bassist Joe Raposo was in attendance). You can tell how comfortable those two are together, and watching them play in a relaxed setting seems more like sitting in on a practice session then a performance. Even the slight mishaps (“key change!”) are followed through without stops and starts, and they’ll roll with the punches, laugh, and keep playing.

After a bit, Jon stepped down and Chad performed by his lonesome– always a treat. Soon it was time for him to finish up, as it turns out he had to skedaddle and hop on a plane.

Darius was next to take the stage, also on electric, with Jon joining in for a bi before stepping off the stage with the comment to give him a call when needed, and Darius went solo. The songs were great and, in this format, Darius presents a much more soulful, world-weary performance than with a full band (or in person). A bit of a hiccup in the middle as there was a problem with the electric guitar, and a call for Jon to come keep the crow occupied while it was fixed went unanswered (Jon was busy selling some merch), so Darius switched over to acoustic.

Eventually Jon returned again and they covered a… The Kinks(?)… song I think. The advertised joke was that neither of them can sing high enough, and Darius needed the lyric sheet to help. I found that Jon has a way of pleasantly cajoling people into playing songs they may not know very well, or aren’t really in their wheelhouse. It was a blast.

After Darius finished up, Jon played some more songs, including pulling Dog Party’s Lucy Giles up on stage for yet another cover that his unwitting partner didn’t know completely by heart. Lyrics were pulled up on a phone and the two went at it anyway. Ultimately these free-spirited and very unrehearsed moments throughout the night proved to be some of the most endearing of the evening.

That was the end of Jon’s set, and Dog Party took the stage for some acoustic joy. I was forewarned by Gwendolyn that this wasn’t their usual electric act, but I couldn’t care less. It was a stellar performance and tackled a lot of the country/western music, and styles that have given the act the foundation they were built upon. Storytelling (mostly by Lucy) gave background to the sisters’ growth as siblings and as musicians, and the music that has made them what they are. Even standing on stage playing acoustic duets was a fairly powerful experience. Dog Party rules.

A bit after 9:30pm the gig was done (a bit surprising for a 21+ show, but it was a Sunday). I chitty chatted a bit with Jon on the way out, and then had to head back home across the bay. Kiddo had summer camp bright and early in the morning.

Confessions of a merch… enthusiast? (definitely not a merch whore, we’ll leave that to Tom Trauma): Dog Party had the best stack of goods, including stickers, buttons, albums, shirts and hoodies. Darius had some Koski-branded merch, including stickers, buttons, and… maybe… shirts? I can’t recall. Jon had the same, but I didn’t move quickly on the 3/4 sleeve Snodgrass baseball shirts. In the end I picked up a button from all three to add to the collection on my flatcaps (did you think the TGEFM skull logo was just for fun?).

All photos by me as Asplenia Studios.