Daily Archives: April 24, 2016

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Frontier, Brunswick Maine

I was so glad to finally get to see Maine’s own Connor Garvey. We’ve traveled in similar Maine music circles for ages, but our paths had somehow never crossed. Sorcha Cribben-Merrill is a friend in music. She’s played Swine & Stein Oktoberfest in my sweet little town in 2013 and 2014, but I’d also never seen her play a sit down show. This was a lovely Saturday night to really sit down and see both of these talented Maine musicians shine.

Connor and Sorcha played the whole night together, alternating between their songs. Connor joked that he’d wanted Sorcha to play some shows together for a long time, and so he just went ahead and booked a handful of dates as a duo. It forced them to finally sit down and work out parts for each other on their songs. Their harmonies were lovely. These two are clearly friends and it was great to watch them happily share the stage with their wide range of musical stylings.

I really like Connor’s song “Willow.” His voice is crystal clear and it’s always refreshing to be able to hear all the words to a song. The lyrics to “Willow” resonate—“The more she showed/Her longing for a love not there/She wept for a love not there.” One of the best things about this night was hearing the stories behind a lot of the songs. Sorcha talked a lot about her grandfather, who was a country doctor in Oregon, and played “Carving,” which she wrote about his life, and “Spark,” which she wrote on an airplane on her way to his memorial.

Connor played a lovely song for us he played on his wedding day. Sorcha followed up with a song about unrequited love. The whole night was like sitting around a campfire in their backyard. It all felt wonderfully personal. Connor told us a funny story about how he accidentally booked a gig on St. Patrick’s Day (he’s a redhead with an Irish name, so avoids that), and played plucky “Irish Song,” which he wrote for the occasion.

Sorcha and Connor co-wrote a stunning song about the love they have for their grandparents and more specifically about all of the things their grandparents have passed on to them. You should really check out “All These Things.” I hope Sorcha and Connor record it together soon. What a treat to see you both play!

xo,

bree