Upon the completion of their second album, Lasting Echo, the band Fictionist stepped from the studio back onto the stage. Only the second show they’d played in a very long time, the Salt Lake City natives were warmly received by the Grind’s music-lovers, some who were new and some who remembered Fictionist’s performance here last spring which showcased material from their debut album, Invisible Hand. Followers of Fictionist were abuzz beneath the starry lights set up for the show, pleased that the new material of Lasting Echo proved even more richly-layered, spacey, and complex than that of Invisible Hand.
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‘The Thrift Store Cowboys’ (TSC) returned to the Grind on the evening of September 29th for a nice, long set of country/progressive rock numbers. TSC picked, yodeled, and rocked out to a packed coffeehouse: every available chair occupied by a listener mesmerized by the band’s spooky country vocals, fiery fiddle, and ethereal rock jams.

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On April 30, Kort McCumber wrapped up a month of singer-songwriter performances at the Grind. From his home in Colorado, he traveled to Cedar City in a rented van with an arsenal of stringed instruments. In a single evening, he played acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, banjo, and the bouzouki an eight-stringed instrument of Greek origin. His musical medium was Americana, with plenty of country twang and blues elements. Kort captured the crowd with a warm, bright voice that shone out like a penny and genuine songs about life and its color. He conversed fluidly with the audience between songs, about river rafting, Rush Limbaugh, and the difficulty of getting an instrument whose name sounds awfully like “bazooka” through airport security. His congeniality coupled with down-home-style tunes made for a very warm performance. His songs seemed to encase honest observations of his own life, like, “try being something you ‘aint and you will fall,” “you’re looking more like your father’s son,” and, “I’ve worked for the rich and I’ve lived with the poor.” Anyone could understand and connect with Kort’s songs; they lacked all pretense. Startling lyrical lines like, “your words are fallen tears that melt the snow,” were snuck into these songs of life’s maxims. As a guitarist, Kort was amazingly technical. His songs were studded with devilishly quick finger-picked stretches and beautifully melodic sections as well. An audience favorite was ‘Katie Brown,’ the first bluegrass song he ever wrote. He proved himself a bluegrass master with lightning-speed picking and yelps of “come on back, Katie Brown, to the arms of your old town.” And whether it was the bluegrass of “Katie Brown,” country, or jig-style tunes, Kort delighted the audience by allowing them the feeling of slipping back to a simpler time, even if only for the space of one song.

-Sarah Thomas

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Karli Fairbanks graced the Grind stage with a voice similar to the vintagey, floral-print dress she wore:  sweet and delicate.  Her pure, bell-like voice lent itself as easily to country yodels as to contemplative folk whispers.

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Las Vegas’ Picture Pilot emulated the sound and pissed-off persona of emo-rock on Saturaday night at the Grind. The frontman had a bee in his bonnet, and sarcastically attributed it to the death of his grandmother. He made it through the show by drinking a little and spouting off snarky comments. The belligerence only added to the performance, though. It was fitting for their high-energy, emotive style of music. Read the rest of this entry »