Strand of Oaks//End in Flames

Monday's Mail is Wednesday's Show.
What is Monday Mail, anyway?

It was funny to get this email from Jessi at Goldest Egg:

Strand of Oaks is Timothy Showalter, an Indiana Mennonite turned Pennsylvania Hebrew Dayschool teacher who even drives the school bus for extra cash (and has sing-alongs with the pupils as they ease on down the road). While escaping a relationship gone worse, Showalter returned home one day to a house burned down, leaving all of his earthly possessions charred in flames. Spending nights in downtown hotels and on park benches with a borrowed guitar, he began to face the proverbial demons. Like any good roller coaster ride there came an upside, as inspiration grew like weeds within the rubble; songs led to shows, which led to tours of the US and UK with Jason Anderson and Kimya Dawson.

Strand of Oaks will dazzle audiences on this tour covering the mid-west and east coast with fellow crooner White Pines.

You might say, g, bad relationships and fires aren’t actually funny--and you would be right. They’re not. What’s funny about this email is that one of the shows that Jessi wanted to tell me about is one I’ll be playing with Palmyra. You may recognize that name, White Pines, from a previous local music OSS post. Palmyra’s playing a number of shows with Joe (White Pines) during March, including one on 3/3 in Brooklyn with Strand of Oaks. Bingo! Funny?

I hadn’t had the pleasure of listening to any Strand of Oaks until recently, but now that I have, I’m so excited that we get to play a show with him. His songs are pretty, quiet, lush and heartfelt. His lyrics are earnest without overdoing it, all set against a backdrop of the kind of acoustic guitar tone that makes me jealous, in a good way. Also he recently covered Bruce Springsteen’s “Used Cars” from my favorite Nebraska--a man after my own heart.

We'll all be together this Wednesday at Zebulon in Brooklyn. The show is free and starts at 8. Hope very much to see you there.

In case you’re not in NY, Tim and Joe still have a few more dates left on their tour.



End in Flames.mp3

This is what it feels like
To see the world end in flames.