{"id":1269,"date":"2019-06-10T14:00:30","date_gmt":"2019-06-10T14:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/315music.com\/2019\/06\/10\/bright-series-illuminates-margaret-glaspys-clear-musical-talent-and-emotional-courage\/"},"modified":"2019-06-10T14:00:30","modified_gmt":"2019-06-10T14:00:30","slug":"bright-series-illuminates-margaret-glaspys-clear-musical-talent-and-emotional-courage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/10\/bright-series-illuminates-margaret-glaspys-clear-musical-talent-and-emotional-courage\/","title":{"rendered":"Bright Series Illuminates Margaret Glaspy\u2019s Clear Musical Talent and Emotional Courage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Folk and indie-rock musician Margaret Glaspy\u2019s clear voice rang out Saturday night at Caffe Lena\u2019s Bright Series. Glaspy\u2019s appearance was after an NPR Tiny Desk appearance, and word certainly appears to have travelled about her beautiful voice. The listening room was almost full, with fans eagerly anticipating Glaspy\u2019s newest songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Jim Gilbert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Initially appearing nervous, Glaspy took some time to warm up a bit. She opened with \u201cSomebody to Anybody,\u201d her voice quiet and a bit shy. Humble as her poetry, she began singing the words she is a \u201clittle rock on a big mountain,\u201d and her voice shook a bit as if to betray her nerves. But the 30-year-old Brooklyn musician demonstrated her seasoned stage presence as the night progressed, singing with greater clarity and breath control. By her second song, \u201cEmotions and Math,\u201d she sounded like Brandi Carlile, belting out lyrics that describe the raw authenticity of emotional vulnerability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glaspy\u2019s \u201cParental Guidance\u201d had gritty poetry with detailed word choices that were congruent with harsher chord combinations as she warned others to start to try harder in life. The harsh tone persisted over the next few songs, but she broke the energy of sorrow and sadness by chatting up the crowd.\u00a0Glaspy\u00a0shared she valued the listening room provided at Lena, and reminisced about similar a similar room in Boston where she briefly studied at Berklee. Charming and disarmingly similar to the girl next door,\u00a0Glaspy\u00a0appeared both at once confident in herself and humbly open to criticism as she asked the audience to encourage her playing new songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Jim Gilbert <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Glaspy began to hit her stride with \u201cStay With Me,\u201d using volume and breath control to emphasize her playful message that love involves sharing of roles. She was smiling, practicing some vocal techniques as a soloist that made her sound more produced than possible for a one woman show with a guitar. Break up song after break up song, Glaspy sang that her lover seemed to be writing a book about heart ache, but truly the listener had to wonder: had she had a bad break up?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then came \u201cAngry Again,\u201d and the energy shifted from sorrow to rage. The song was clearly a more political statement than those that would come before and after it, following more in the social revolutionary tradition of folk. After performing it, her face flushed, she would remark that she hoped it would help her get the anger off her chest, \u201cbut here I am all pissed off again\u201d she mused. The audience laughed, and she did too; but the emotions were raw and too intense for her to hide. Her flushed face and neck betrayed her authenticity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Jim Gilbert <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The rest of the set was composed of a memorable cover of Laryn Hill\u2019s \u201cX Factor,\u201d and song after song about new love. Glaspy\u2019s language in her poetry illuminates a real knowledge of how love works: the fighting, the crying, the passion, and even the amazement. Paired with her guitar playing, sometimes it becomes predictable, but never falls flat as her music\u2019s honesty is too close to real experience to be dull.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glaspy was a talented talker between songs, sharing a story about her childhood and sharing a room with her sister, and also a tale about seeing a Swedish heavy metal band. The crowd responded well to her stories, and offered focus and respect for the music in silence during the performances. She closed with Neil Young\u2019s \u201cHarvest Moon,\u201d raising applause from the house. She had shared many new songs during the night, taking risks and baring her true self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Jim Gilbert <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Glaspy\u2019s courage was rewarded with connection. She has a voice that is clear, honest, and wise. But she has a heart, too, that was illuminated by her vulnerability.  If you get the chance to sit in her presence and listen to her, truly lend Glasby your ear. She will likely steal your heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Folk and indie-rock musician Margaret Glaspy\u2019s clear voice rang out Saturday night at Caffe Lena\u2019s Bright Series. Glaspy\u2019s appearance was after an NPR Tiny Desk appearance, and word certainly appears to have travelled about her beautiful voice. The listening room was almost full, with fans eagerly anticipating Glaspy\u2019s newest songs. Initially appearing nervous, Glaspy took some time to warm up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":313844,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,64,105,24,1],"tags":[619,677,2188],"class_list":["post-1269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alternative-indie","category-folk-americana","category-saratoga-springs","category-show-reviews","category-uncategorized","tag-bright-series","tag-caffe-lena","tag-margaret-glaspy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}