Music Notes – The Choir online concert

While the majority of my music time has been spent listening to jazz, I haven’t forgotten some of the rock bands that have shaped me in some way. So today, because on Facebook, I was able to find out about a special acoustic concert The Choir played online for their fans.
The group’s core is drummer and lyricist Steve Hindalong and Derri Daughtery on guitars and lead vocals. In this set, long time sax/lyricon player Dan Michaels did join them for a few of their classic tunes. The acoustic format really does suit The Choir, demonstrating in particular Hindalong’s percussion chops. Daughtery does not get to layer his guitar as he does on their studio releases, but his voice is a gorgeous as ever, providing the empathetic thrust that drives many Choir songs.
Of course the acoustic setting (Mr. Michaels’ living room) is also appropriate for other reasons. First, the group recently released de-plumed' target=_blank>de-plumed, a disc of re-recorded, stripped down versions of songs from each of the band’s twelve studio releases. Second, The Choir has always made music with a kind of intimate, emotional and spiritual intensity, and their God-given gifts cannot be hidden by studio trickery.
Of course I’m biased. But since rock music has not been part of my day to day listening the past few years, I have noticed that only really great groups have any staying power with me, still knock me off my feet. And The Choir is one of those bands. Listen, they didn’t even play two of my favorite tunes, “Restore My Soul' target=_blank>Restore My Soul” and “Chase The Kangaroo' target=_blank>Chase the Kangaroo,” but they still managed to fill the set with some mighty, mighty good music.

The show appears to have been archived at The Choir’s website and can be seen here.