Monday, September 15, 2008

Goodnight, San Francisco

The Bittersweets played Club Passim on Thursday night, September 11, 2008. The four person band is fronted by singer and musician Hannah Prater. Yes, that was a xylophone she was playing at one point. Most of the songs are written by keyboardist Chris Meyers. They record for Compass Records, which has been building its list and may be the new Rounder.

They played a great set featuring songs like Wreck (“He was a cowboy living in a concrete world, trying to escape the life he’d furled”) and the title track to their latest CD, Goodnight, San Francisco. The band recently moved from San Francisco to Nashville, and this CD is their goodbye:

“Goodnight, San Francisco
Goodnight all you lovers, dives, and rags
Get on home, it’s getting late”

Though their sound ranges into Americana and Rock, they’ve got their Folk roots right with an anti-war anthem:

“When the war is over
Is it ever over?

Can the world begin again?
Can we fly away and pretend?
That all of the lives that we wrecked
And the ships that we left out at sea
Will find their way back home.”

It was bitter and it was sweet, and we just wanted to shout out, “Yes, we can.” If only life were so simple.

We’re seeing a trend of blue state artists moving to Nashville, such as local favorite Amelia White a couple of years back. Nashville is closer than San Francisco, so in the case of The Bittersweets that works for us.

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