By: Andrea Myers
The Terminal Bar filled with excitement Friday as Stook prepared to begin his set, accompanied by six other musicians. The group crowded on to the tiny stage, complete with a large wooden organ and at least four guitars, beaming as they looked out into the room. As soon as the first chord rang out, audience members shot smiles at each other across the room, and it seemed that everyone was instantly friends.
That's the thing about Stook (aka Joshua Stuckey, though he prefers to be called the former); his down home nature and infectious charm spread through the room like a fresh breeze, brightening the dusky bar. Despite the fact that the sound was terrible at first (the vocals were barely audible during the first few songs), Stook and his Jukes laughed and played through a set of songs off his debut album, the finely-crafted The Soundtrack to My Minneapolis. The record is a great mix of roots-rockabilly janglers and slow moving crooners, and his live set captured the same kind of versatile range of sound that makes his album so captivating.
Highlights of the set included “One Blue Teardrop,” a soaring alt-country ballad that would nestle in perfectly on a Jayhawks album, “22nd Street,” a sweet narrative about a girl trying to find love, and a great sing-along cover of The Band's classic “The Weight.” Organ player Toby Lee Marshall went wild at times, playing sprawling, complex jazz organ solos and shaking his head violently in time with the music. Singer Erin Heitkamp appeared shy at first, but unwound as the set wore on and was able to show off her strong yet tender voice. And guitarist Jonathan Earl displayed great technical ability as he took charge of most of the electric guitar solos during the show.
The night culminated with the final song, a singing, clapping encore of Stook's best song, “A Song is More Than Just A Song.” With the friendly audience gathered up close to the front of the stage and the members of Stook's band leading the clapping and dancing, the whole room seemed to join together for the music lovers' perfect chorus, “So sing out loud, sing out loud, sing out loud / Won't you dance, won't you dance, won't you dance / 'Cause there are some of us who've known it all along / A song is more than just a song.”
Photo by David de Young.
Location Info:
The Terminal Bar
Artist Info: Stook
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