Concert Review: Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, May 14, Schubas

ladylamb

I live by the Chicago Reader, a free weekly publication that gives recommendations for events and music for the week. Every Monday I get an email itinerary from the Reader telling me what to do for the week, and I do it. Two and a half years into living in Chicago, it has become my personal goal to preempt the Reader – I want to be so far into the music world that I know who’s coming and who’s worth seeing before the Reader even tells me (but being the self-doubting person that I am, I of course still need the validation even after I make the decision.) Lady Lamb the Beekeeper was my first success in this goal.

Out of Brooklyn NY by way of Brunswick Maine, Lady the Lamb Beekeeper is the solo project of Aly Spaltro. Although Spaltro had a sore throat when she headlined at Schubas on Tuesday evening and kept the chatting to a minimum, she did tell the story of the founding of the project. During her night shift at a used DVD store, she pubbed her own music project, giving out free samples to customers, but never adding her own name to the samples, instead using the beekeeper moniker, which came to her in a dream.

Spaltro was a diminutive physical presence on stage, but she more than made up for it with her rich folky sound. She played both guitar and banjo throughout the night, and often reverted to more intimate acoustic numbers, which always seems appropriate in the cramped, cozy, warm space of Schubas. Although she wasn’t at what I would imagine to be her best since she sometimes had to rasp through a sore throat on the high notes, the audience was more than happy to help out by singing along, as were her intermittent band mates when they were on stage – a drummer, a keyboardist and a bassist. Although Spaltro sounded more ferocious with the full band behind her, my favorite pieces were those where it was just her and her banjo. Regarding Ascending the Stairs is a great example – check it out:

https://soundcloud.com/choosemymusic/lady-lamb-the-beekeeper-maine

Posted on by Celeste in Everything