It’s a rare and beautiful thing (well, at least to me) to be lucky enough to get so excited about a show that you want to vomit out the abusive butterflies flying circles in your intestines. It used to happen to me years and years ago when I was much younger and going to far fewer concerts every year but it does happen occasionally these days. Slaughter Beach, Dog is my most recent addition to the list of my five favorite bands of all time but they are no less important to me than any of the other four. I saw them for the first time playing Thalia Hall last year touring their fifth studio album Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling and it was, without a doubt, my favorite show of 2023; it was one of those shows you walk away from feeling inspired to write, play, create, and just be a better person in general.
I knew Jake Ewald, lead singer and songwriter for Slaughter Beach, Dog, sometimes does solo tours where he goes out into the heartland of America playing grand collections of new and old favorites and covers of many of his favorite folk songs. What I didn’t know is that I’d ever be lucky enough to witness a lone Jake ranger standing mere feet from me armed with his greatest weapon belting out some of my favorite music that he helped bring into this world. The second he announced he was going on a solo tour across the American bedrock, I immediately got tickets for his second show of two at Space in Evanston. Two shows in one day is quite the ambitious shower thought turned reality but it honestly made it that much more exciting for me with all the unopened doorways of possibility that the later show could bring. Almost every song Jake has ever written for Slaughter Beach, Dog could make for an incredible acoustic journey since it’s clear he has a strong musical background in folk music, so suffice it to say, my head was spinning, crying, laughing, not waving, but very much smiling.
A few days before the show I took a moment to study up on all things Erin Rae. Since she was raised in Nashville, it’s not difficult to see all the inspirations on Rae’s sleeve. She is a songwriter born of her surroundings and fueled by a love of storytelling like all great country artists before her but in a more indie folk light. Coming on stage and quickly prefacing her performance with the fact that she’s going to start things off sad and just kinda hang there for a bit tells you everything you need to know about the road Rae has traveled to get to the stages she plays on every night. “Gonna Be Strange” fired off her setlist and was a touching and emotional start to the evening. Taken from her 2022 album Lighten Up, it’s one of my favorite songs from her discography.
One thing I was hoping to walk away with from this concert was a more in-depth glimpse into each artist’s personality and I’m pleased to report Erin is hilarious, sweet, and a little awkward but in the best way. Her lightheartedness shined almost as brightly as her reverberating timbre that made each song in her set that much more delightful and inspiring to watch. It was funny to hear, however, that after her in-between-set salad dinner, she was feeling very sleepy and a little out of it, which is more than understandable but I think her relaxed demeanor on stage just made us, the audience, even more comfortable. In addition to “Gonna Be Strange” being a strong highlight of her performance was her song “Wild Blue Wind” off her 2018 debut album Putting On Airs which shimmers and glistens with bittersweet nostalgia and heartache like your favorite Gillian Welch song. I couldn’t have been happier about Jake deciding to bring her out on his tour as an opener as she put on a sublime performance that made for a brilliant passageway into Slaughter Beach, Dog’s set.
Although this concert was billed as a Slaughter Beach, Dog show, this concert, and tour for that matter, isn’t what you’re used to with Slaughter Beach, Dog. Your normal tour from the band would look like five or so guys on the big stages of medium-sized concert halls and auditoriums killing it nightly with twangy indie rock riffs, steady percussive grooves, wicked slide guitar leads, and none other than Jake Ewald’s heavenly emotive folky vocals rounding it all out playing mostly originals and maybe a cover or two here and there. However, a semi-solo tour like this one with just Jake Ewald and lead guitarist Adam Meisterhans is more focused on covers of country and folk standards coupled with a good chunk of songs from whatever new album is out at the time. What I was most hoping for with this show was to hear a grand selection of covers of songs that Jake considers to be influential to the sound of not only his band at large but for their fantastically twangy new album Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling that came out in the fall of 2023. Knowing that Jake was doing some duets with Erin Rae, I was also really hoping to hear some more minimalist renditions of songs from the new album with Erin singing some verses. If there’s any time left, sure, let’s throw in some oldies too! Who wouldn’t want to hear an even more stripped-down “Phoenix” in a venue that can barely hold 300 people? Much to my surprise, I got all of this and more and it was an utterly lovely time.
Jake came on stage around 10 at night and after a quick wave started playing a gorgeous rendition of “Gold and Green”, a fan favorite from their 2017 album Birdie, one my favorite albums of all time and quite arguably their best. Moving gracefully even further back in time, Jake was quick to follow up “Gold and Green” with “Politics of Grooming”, one of the most underrated songs in their catalog coming from their debut LP, Welcome, released in 2016 around a year before Jake’s previous band, the iconic and legendary emo outfit Modern Baseball, announced an indefinite hiatus. It was one of the few songs from their back catalog that I absolutely needed to hear live and thought this tour would be my one chance. Much to my later surprise, Jake went on to play an unreleased Slaughter Beach, Dog song called “To Live Again” which he has been playing on multiple stops along this tour. I’m not quite sure on the history surrounding this song, if it actually is a Slaughter song or a remnant from Jake’s Modern Baseball days, but it was a beautiful folk song that I hope sees the light of day sometime soon.
After three songs, Jake invited Slaughter Beach, Dog lead guitarist Adam Meisterhans to the stage to provide some tasty lead guitar work on some songs coming up in the setlist. We got our first cover with Townes Van Zandt’s “I’ll Be Here in the Morning” released on his 1969 self-titled album. I first heard this song about a year or so ago in a YouTube video of Jake and Adam doing a solo show in some Philadelphia church, if I recall correctly, and I’ve been in love with the song ever since. It seems to be a favorite of Jake’s as they perform it somewhat often and it makes a good deal of sense why after hearing the songwriting style on their newest album. Getting comfy on the cover train, the George Jones country classic “Things Have Gone to Pieces” was next and Jake covered it in such a magnificent way it sounded just like a Slaughter B-side.
Bringing back out some Slaughter Beach, Dog songs, Jake and Adam played through two great performances of “Are You There” from their 2020 album At the Moonbase and “Glowing” from their 2017 EP Motorcycle.jpg. Having already heard “Are You There” live I was excited to hear it again in a different style but “Glowing” really got my make-believe motorcycle humming as that’s been on my setlist bucket-list for ages and it couldn’t have been more of a treat.
It was at this point in the show that Jake and Adam welcomed Erin Rae onto the stage to sing through some songs from Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling, an album that apparently she sang background vocals on for almost every single song on the record which completely blew my mind. I had definitely remembered hearing some beautiful background vocals on a majority of the songs off that album but had no idea they were all from Erin! Suddenly this tour package made even more sense. We got six out of ten songs from the new album and they all sounded as good or even better live as a duet. “Bobcat Club” and “Strange Weather” particularly shined bright but hearing one of my favorite Slaughter songs, “Summer Windows”, live for the first time stripped down to nuts and bolts was more than my little heart could bear. Breaking up the Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling portion of the setlist, Jake was nice enough to throw in an Erin Rae original for us with a performance of one of her most popular songs, “Playing Old Games” released as a single in 2016. Jake’s vocals fit in effortlessly with Erin’s leads so much that it gave the song a whole different vibe and sound that even managed to improve upon the original.
Jake and friends closed out their pre-encore set with a couple of covers starting with “Everyone Loves a Winner” by William Bell and co-written by Booker T. Jones released in 1967. After listening to the original after the concert, it’s amazing how different it sounded through Jake’s lens. I can only say that after this show, all I want is aSlaughter Beach, Dog cover album filled with 40-50-year-old songs reimagined as twangy indie emo songs because my, oh, my do they have a knack for it. Finally, a cover of the all-time folk classic Blaze Foley song “Clay Pigeons” closed out their pre-encore set and gave me shivers all up and down. I first encountered this song as I’m sure many did through John Prine’s masterful cover which is ironically one of his most popular songs. Up until recently, I didn’t even realize it was a cover until I saw the 2018 film Blaze directed by Ethan Hawke about the life and times of Blaze Foley. I do prefer the John Prine version but the original is not without its charm. The John Prine song being one of my all-time favorites, it was an unreal experience to get to see and hear one of my favorite modern singer/songwriters and musical heroes of mine put their own spin on it.
Jake came back shortly after “Clay Pigeons” wrapped up by himself for a couple of encore songs and a couple of interesting stories. Asking for recommendations from the audience for what to play next, someone shouted out “Building The Ark”, the closing track to their 2017 EP Motorcycle.jpg. It’s admittedly my least favorite song from the EP and I would have loved to hear many other songs from their back catalog but Jake gave a great performance of it having not played it in over a year and it definitely gave me a new appreciation for the song. After a short story regarding the first time Modern Baseball played in Chicago in a house with a gas leak that was running rampant for the first half of their set, Jake brought out the harmonica neck holder for the forgotten Modern Baseball song turned Slaughter Beach, Dog classic known as “Intersection”. This along with “Clay Pigeons”, “I’ll Be Here in the Morning”, and “Politics of Grooming” was the one song I needed to hear to stave off insanity for the rest of the calendar year. Of course, the performance ended up making me cry a little but the waterworks could have been a lot worse all things considered; what can I say, I’m just a sucker for some acoustic guitar and harmonica.
All in all, it was a phenomenally impactful show for me but I was disappointed to later read that many Slaughter fans didn’t quite agree—with many complaining over the lack of love shown to old Slaughter songs seeing as over half the set was dedicated to both the new album and songs they didn’t even write. I can understand their disappointment but on the other hand, I think it’s important to understand where our favorite artists come from musically and to hear firsthand the songs that inspire them on a daily basis when writing new records. Jake has opened my eyes to songs and artists I wouldn’t have ever looked at and I think that gift is utterly priceless compared to him just playing the same old songs we’ve already heard live and on recording countless times. For most shows on this tour, Jake and Erin didn’t even have setlists so all the songs they played, you could tell they really wanted to play. I hope anyone who is somewhat on the fence about going to see a semi-solo Slaughter Beach, Dog performance decides to pull the trigger because I assure you, you will not be sorry. Plus, you get storytime Jake, which is the best Jake (that is, outside of a State Farm insurance office)!
Photos by Lorenzo Zenitsky.
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