A few years back the freak-folk scene seemed to be all the rage with acts like Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and Sufjan Stevens helping to cultivate a new brand of  “Cosmic American Music”. With the former helping to pave the way, a new crop of acts – that includes Woods, Megafaun and Papercuts – are percolating to the surface that are worthy of your attention. Among those bands that are melding acid-drenched, sun-baked vocals with hazy, psychedelic acoustic music is the Raleigh, NC-based band Bowerbirds.

Last week I took in the band’s headlining show at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, which came the day after the release of their sophomore album Upper Air. Leaning heavily on new material, the band delivered a mellow set of dreamy, psych-folk with lead singer Phil Moore’s gentle vocals and strumming guitar and accordion/keys player Beth Tacular providing gorgeous backing vocals. Let’s check out this performance of Bur Oak they did for the always fantastic Take-Away Shows…

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The band continues their lengthy summer tour with Megafaun tonight with a show at La Sala Rossa in Montreal, Quebec.

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Jeffrey Greenblatt

Jeff joined the Hidden Track team full-time in 2008 and helps guide the site in his role as Managing Editor and Social Media Coordinator. Each week Jeff pens Pullin' 'Tubes, Tour Dates and Bloggy Goodness in addition to features, video posts and more. Jeff is a graduate of The George Washington University ('98), with a degree in Journalism, and has worked in the media and technology industry for the likes of MTV, VH1, A&E and Joost.

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