Music at the Byrd

This afternoon I went to the Byrd for the screening of "Loosen My Tie," a documentary about local band David Shultz and the Skyline.

As you would expect in a music town, local musicians were abundant: Antonia (Jonathan Vassar and the Speckled Bird), Michael (Now Sleepyhead, Pedals on our Pirate Ships), Josh (Mermaid Skeletons) and Prabir (... & the Substitutes), among others.

I even saw the lovely blogger Tess (Parasol Party).

Everyone was there for Michael Hagan's film about the trials of making a living at music.

Hagan and Shultz were childhood friends and the film began as a class project in 2002 and evolved into the feature-length documentary we saw today.

The origins of the project meant that the audience got to see six years worth of touring and recording as well as the band's attendant changes.

It was the kind of film that would make fans out of even those convinced they're not fans of folk/acoustic rock.

It ended with the recording of their latest CD in Maine and the unknown of what the future will bring with the CD's release.

And while I've seen Shultz and the Skyline live at least a half dozen times, at the moment I am eagerly awaiting their CD release party at Gallery 5 on September 26th.

It was clear from what we saw that the band is stretching themselves on the new CD (their third) and what we heard sounded brilliant.

David's songwriting keeps getting better and better and the band sounded tighter than ever.

You'd be a fool to miss this show.