Words: Jonathan ” Kos” Kosakow

Video & Photos: Curtis Stiles

In August of 2007, a blue station wagon pulled up to the Rockwood Music Hall on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. After checking to make sure they were legally parked, Jeff Prystowsky and Ben Knox Miller unloaded their own gear and carted it to the small stage. Rockwood, though comfortable and with pristine sound, only holds a handful of people, so it’s not spacious enough to host any large band – or even a small one with a large following. On that night, the room was hardly at capacity, but the two members who comprised The Low Anthem were able to grab hold the ears of every listener in the small, dimly lit brick room. And, based on the post-show conversation, I was not the only one who felt they had a music-making future ahead of them.

I saw them again two years later at The Bell House in Brooklyn, in August of 2009, opening for Surprise Me Mr. Davis featuring Marco Benevento (a welcome addition to the bill). As Miller told me, Surprise Me Mr. Davis was the first band to ask The Low Anthem to tour with them, so it was a comfortable match-up for both (and it made for a nice encore as they joined forces on a couple of tunes). The video below is a gospel standard the trio played that night, Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around…

Though I had seen the Anthem multiple times between these two shows, it was interesting and inspiring to watch the group, now a trio including Jocie Adams, gain popularity while also growing musically.

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Since that show at Rockwood, they have toured with Ray Lamontagne and Elvis Perkins. They have played at (among others) Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, and most recently the famed Newport Folk Festival. Their song To Ohio was selected Song of the Day by NPR Radio. The selection honored them with comparisons to Simon & Garfunkel and Bob Dylan. Their latest album, Oh My God Charlie Darwin, was awarded Album of the Month by the UK magazine Uncut. The list goes on.

Their songs – mainly written by Miller – poetically speak of subjects from survival to faith and lost love. They draw from personal experience, but the lyrics are mostly fictional – “a novel, not a memoir,” as Miller puts it. These stories give the mellow music life, and often times they seem too age-old to be created by a year-young writer. When you’re in the audience watching them play, you can’t help but stay quiet and simply listen.

As a whole, The Low Anthem’s combination of folk, rock, blues and gospel hits close to Woody Guthrie and even Tom Waits, but at times lands closer to the blistering rust of Neil Young. Though his main instrument is guitar, Miller also plays harmonica through much of the set, and can also sit comfortably behind the drum kit, pick up an old horn he does not know the name of, or even whistle into a cell phone to create some interesting feedback, as he does during The Ballad of the Broken Bones.

Prystowsky jumps comfortably from instrument to instrument – upright bass, drums and pump organ – while lending a gentle backup vocal to Miller’s rough yet calming voice (which sometimes turns into a whisky-soaked roar). Adams brings yet another delicate vocal to the harmony, and her multi-instrument talents – ranging from clarinet to guitar and many others – give the trio much more versatility on stage. In short, each member is capable of playing any role necessary to make every song work.

Beyond the obvious talent, it is a welcome change to see such modesty in a group. From the moment they come on stage to the moment they walk off, it is clear that the three enjoy making music together. They focus solely on making sure that each note is where it should be and each song fits into the whole, and that is what drives them from show to show.

The Low Anthem are currently in the midst of a short run opening for like-minded folkie Josh Ritter, before they set off a ten-show tour with The Avett Brothers in February.