Alternative blues band Houndmouth played at The Canopy Club on Tuesday night, bringing a mixture of folk and rock to Champaign-Urbana. Hailing from Indiana and led by guitarist and vocalist Matt Myers, Houndmouth first formed in the summer of 2011.
Tuesday was a big night for music in C-U. Slow Pulp performed at the State Farm Center and MJ Lenderman headlined at Urbana’s Rose Bowl Tavern.
Houndmouth started their set with “Darlin’” and “Black Gold,” both from their 2015 album “Little Neon Limelight.” Capturing some midwestern charm, the opening songs set a soulful, twangy tone.
“Black Gold” tells the tale of an oil-rich family. Verses like “And all them liquids that they’re choking on is dark/ Darker than a Georgia night with a heavy heart” detail the pernicious nature of greed.
It’s through this distinct brand of storytelling that Houndmouth truly shines. Myers, the band’s songwriter, paints scenes of now-defunct Hollywood sets, unrequited love and late night trips gone wrong.
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Later in the set, the band played “Ludlow,” from their 2013 album “From the Hills Below the City.” Both the lyric “Where did all of the workmen go?/ Sure ain’t down in Ludlow baby” and the song’s title are references to the Ludlow Massacre. In 1914, the Colorado National Guard and Colorado Fuel and Iron Company attacked a group of striking coal miners and their families, killing almost two dozen people.
Houndmouth also performed “Hey Rose,” “McKenzie” and “My Cousin Greg,” further showcasing their lyrical realism through their sprawling cast.
In “McKenzie,” the narrator laments an unrequieted love, reminiscing on how their relationship has primarily occurred in the dark.
“I was aiming to drive you home/ Slept on the sofa the night the Hudson froze,” Myers sang.
Closing out their encore, Houndmouth played perhaps their most well-known song, “Sedona.” The song was certified platinum in the U.S.
Will Vavrik, graduate student in electrical engineering, said he attended the performance after hearing of the band through “Sedona.”
“Back home, one of my best friends, she and I will go hiking together, and she showed me their song this January,” Vavrik said. “And then the day after I saw they were playing here in Urbana and I was like, ‘I have to get tickets.’”
The crowd was also familiar with the lyrics, singing and swaying along to the ballad. Wearing a Hoosiers sweatshirt, Myers thanked the Canopy audience for attending, inciting cheers from the crowd. The audience briefly visited the dusty deserts and pink sky of Arizona before heading home to C-U’s drizzly March weather.
