Delta Rae
Pleasantville Music Festival
Pleasantville, NY
July 13, 2013
Elizabeth Hopkins - vocals, percussion
Ian Holljes - vocals, guitar
Eric Holljes - vocals, keyboards
Brittany Holljes - vocals, percussion
Mike McKee - drums, percussion
Grant Emerson - bass
Source: master audience recording
Taper: larryrulz
Location: approx 15 feet from stage, facing left stacks
Sound: mp3 samples attached in the comments
Time: 50:38
Lineage: CA-14 (cardioid) > CA Ugly preamp > Sony M10 (24/44) > Audacity > TLH > FLAC 6 > foobar2000 (FLAC tags)
Taper's Notes:
I didn't know much about this band coming into the festival. Their single "If I Loved You" has been getting a lot of airplay
on the local rock station The Peak 107.1, but that's all I knew. They put on an inspired, powerful performance.
Four excellent vocalists who show off their skills with great four part harmonies throughout the show. I'm now officially
a fan. I'm also very happy with this recording - the vocal and instrument mix from the PA system is excellent and there is
minimal crowd chat. I also made a video recording of the part of this show. You can watch it on my YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/elvisisking45
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Here's a portion of a good article about the band:
http://lineup.bonnaroo.com/band/delta-rae--
Delta Rae � Carry the Fire
Seymour Stein�s office sits way up in the high rises of the Rockefeller Plaza; a corner office, with a beautiful view out over
New York City, its surfaces cluttered with all of the memorabilia, awards and accumulated paraphernalia of a lifetime spent
in the music industry. It was into this office that the six members of Delta Rae shuffled one day in the summer of 2011. A
rather convoluted connection had led them here to this meeting, their first with a major record label, and no one was quite
sure how to proceed. �We were very nervous,� recalls Ian Holljes, with perhaps some understatement. �But we talked
briefly, and then Seymour said �Well, why don�t you sing something for me?�� The band duly launched into Hey Hey Hey,
a joyous, rollicking tune that begins with an exquisite four-part harmony. Ten seconds in, Stein asked them to stop. The
band balked. But Stein stood up, walked to the door and hollered for his colleagues to join them. �You gotta hear these
people!� he cried into the hallway. �They sound so beautiful!�
The story that led Delta Rae to Stein�s office, a major label deal, and the release of their stunning debut album, had in
fact begun many years before, in the Holljes household, where siblings Ian, Eric and Brittany, enjoyed a childhood that
was close yet itinerant, carrying them from Durham, North Carolina, to the Bay area of San Francisco, via Nashville,
Tennessee, and Marietta, Georgia. Throughout it all, they relished the continuity of great music � their parents� record
collection, rich with James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon. Along the way, Ian and Eric forged what
they describe as �a close musical bond� writing songs together from a young age. Their younger sister, meanwhile, was
in possession of �this huge, brassy voice,� Ian recalls. �When she was young, it was like a lion that you couldn�t quite tame.
But as she got older and we got to know her voice we saw the power in it.�
The brothers both headed back to Durham for college, and after graduation decided they should pursue music in earnest.
They convinced their lion-voiced sister to join them, as well as an old friend, Elizabeth Hopkins, whose singing they had
always loved � �it�s got that raspiness,� Eric says, �that old soul to it.�The four set up home in an old house in the woods,
and set about finding their collective voice, crafting their songs, and playing them live. �Very early on I felt we had found
something special,� says Ian, who with his brother writes the lyrics. �It was really the uniting of the four voices, a type of
music that resonated with me. Just to be in the thick of it is amazing, because the four people in this band sing with such
heart � you just lose yourself in it.�
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Setlist:
01 The Morning Comes
02 Cold Day In Heaven
03 Is There Anyone Out There?
04 The Chain
05 Twisters In The Canyon
06 Whatcha Thinkin 'Bout, Baby?
07 Unlike Any Other
08 Bottom Of The River
09 Forgive The Children We Once Were
10 If I Loved You
11 Dance In The Graveyards
Easy Star All-Stars played this festival as well and the audio was already uploaded at:
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=457560
A DVD is coming soon ("dubbed" audio, of course!)