Mercury Lounge, NYC June 4th 2005 by Bill Richards.
had the pleasure of hearing mr. james yorkston perform at the mercury lounge
in nyc’s lower east side on June 4, 2005, the 2nd of a two-day stint. what
a great an unexpected discovery! i hadn’t even heard of mr yorkston prior.
jy went onstage after elizabeth harper and before sam prekop. mr. prekop
and ms. harper were great, too, but this evening belonged to jy. the room
was transfixed for the duration of his performance. rarely have i seen
anything like it. it seemed many in the crowd were also unfamiliar with
yorkston’s work, and our collective euphoria was almost palpable. pity the
set had to end.
the music stayed with me for days and weeks after the show, until i finally
bought Just Beyond The River. the CD is great, but i highly recommend
catching mr. yorkston live & solo. the solo performance carried an
intensity and emotion that (i think) would be impossible to achieve with a
full ensemble.
i hope jy gets stateside again before too long. or perhaps releases a live
solo album.
(Editor’s note – A JY & The Athletes live album is available now from the JY shop)