9 pm, $5, 21+
Melodic and dynamic, personal and political, Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray’s music is tough, emotionally resonant and intellectually challenging. The band successfully melds roots, psych, folk, country and garage rock in the Laurel Canyon tradition with deeply felt social commentary and 90’s indie sensibility.
Perhaps this sound should come as no surprise. The two main singers, accustomed to nomadic lifestyles (Miss Shevaughn growing up all over the Deep South, and Yuma internationally), recently settled in the golden dappled hills of California’s Central Coast, while their rhythm section, featuring Ben Tufts on drums & Derek Evry on bass, hails from Washington D.C.
“It’s a long distance affair, but we make it work,” says Miss Shevaughn. “Recently the guys camped out at our ranch house in CA to write and record a new album. It was so invigorating. I felt so inspired. Ideas were just flying and magic was happening moment to moment. I feel like we’re all really close. Working like that and traveling together just feels right.” (The new record is projected for release in 2016.)
The elemental parts of this band are impressive: dynamic, transformative drumming as aggressive as Dave Grohl, but with as wide of a textural palette as Mick Fleetwood. Expressive, colorful guitar tones that bring together the artistry of the 70’s and the energy of the 90’s as well as something totally new. Their songwriting easily straddles familiar, nostalgic, and dark, starlit, uncharted territory.
Make no mistake – Miss Shevaughn’s voice is a powerful and distinctive force. But the heart of the band is revealed when she is joined by Yuma Wray’s high-lonesome howl, and when the group’s intricate four-part harmonies fall effortlessly into place.
“What do you call homesick for tour? Away sick?” asks drummer Ben Tufts.
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray feel most at home on the road. Shevaughn & Yuma lived in their car playing show after show for all of 2011 before self-releasing their critically acclaimed, debut album, We’re From Here, in 2012. Ben and Derek joined them on the road shortly after that. Following a year of intense travel complicated by illness, the passing of friends, uncertainty and self-doubt, Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray released Lean Into the Wind on Seven Dead Arson Records in 2014. They immediately followed it up with the wedding of the two main songwriters and a “Honeymoon Tour”. The album was widely heralded, and was named by NPR’s Sound Opinions as one of the best “buried treasure” records of the year. The song “Blue Dream” (written by Bile Green) was included on Greg Kot’s end-of-year mix-tape.
On the road, Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray have played over 300 shows and have opened for such acts as The Futurebirds, Levi Lowrey and Megan Jean and the KFB and Tina and Her Pony. They have been featured on radio stations including: WDVX, KCBX, WMUC, KCPR, KRBX and KSKQ, and have played the Kingman Island Bluegrass Festival (headlining the Americana Stage), Del Ray Music Fest, Washington D.C. Black Cat Halloween Party 2013, Independent Chicago Songwriter Festival, Eclectica Music Festival and Art on the Avenue.
Four singers. Four songwriters. Four multi-instrumentalists. Each member of Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray could easily front their own band, but together their synergy is palpable; live or in the studio. Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray has created something that is familiar, but, at the same time, completely original, vibrant, natural and real.
