Make Music Day has come and gone, once again. Another year of resounding cheer, shared songs, and…livestreaming?

For those who missed the memo, Big Heavy World collaborated with four Vermont studios to livestream a daylong concert featuring twelve artists from across the spectrum of genres. A9 Studio, The Underground, West Street Digital, and Boarding Gate Studio helped us host the party, and Ivamae, The Jim Ruffing Trio, and The Conniption Fits were just some of the invited guests. DJ Craig Mitchell was the party’s host, passing out factoids like hors d'oeuvres and segueing conversation from band to band.

The party was team effort, with each member volunteering their time for the sake of sharing music for those stricken by cabin fever, or for those who just wanted to listen to some of Vermont’s best local bands. It was demonstration of true passion: facilitating and performing in the face of COVID related restrictions.

”This year I joined, or was one of the founding members, of my town’s art and culture committee,” says Vincent Freeman of The Underground. “So I was already interested in getting more involved and more music into our town. So when Make Music Day was first introduced, it was “does your town want to participate?” And I said “yes, I want to make sure that happens. And then COVID was introduced, and things changed a little bit. But again, having that love for live music, I was very excited about being a part of that in my local community here. I’m very happy to facilitate some live music through the Big Heavy World livestream.”

The six hour marathon started with John Howell at Boarding Gate. Where dreams take flight... as operator Tod Moses would say with a slightly wry, endearing chuckle. Howell kicked things off from Boarding Gate’s back porch. Sunlight shined, as it always seems to on Make Music Day, and Boarding Gate’s outdoor studio was an airy respite to the usual tight and mood-lit recording rooms.

Next we bounced to Craig, who was occupying the captain’s chair at Big Heavy World’s studio. Craig, a close friend of Big Heavy World, acted as the conductor of the day’s events, bridging the gap between artists. Following John Howell and our intermission with Craig, we hopped over to Ivamae at A9.

It was at this point we got picked up by Make Music Day’s international livestream, and Ivamae’s resonant chords were broadcasted around the world to over 2,700 people. Her ambiance captured people’s attention and acclaim. Like a poet screaming in space, Ivamae blends poignant lyrics with ethereal chords to produce something equally unsettling and breathtaking. Her lyrics could silence a crowd…and a livestream.

Our connection with A9 was briefly interrupted throughout the afternoon following Ivamae. With The Brand New Luddites on the slate it seemed cosmically appropriate that there would be ‘technical’ issues. They’re always up to something: Smashing cell phones like they were 19th century textile mills. Fortunately, a full playlist with local audio recordings is available on Youtube, safe from any technological antagonizers.

But as DJ Craig Mitchell would later add, when everything goes perfectly, it might as well have been a prerecorded mix. There’s a magic to au naturale music. When the saxophone squeaks, voices crack, a guitar’s slightly out of tune, and you can hear the human element behind the music.

Regardless of technical difficulties, the stream did carry on into the evening, covering one of the most eclectic mixes of musicians ever assembled, with the jazz and blues of Jim Ruffing leading into Marcie Hernandez’s soulful acoustic playing. Jim Ruffing and his friends delivered blues for the weary, guitar solos for the wild and restless, and a jive for everything in between. Marcie Hernandez, an artist known for code-switching, delivered an emotional performance in both Spanish and English. Her current library is about to experience a new addition with her album releasing later this Summer, so stay tuned! Every artists’ set is available on Big Heavy World’s YouTube, with the local, uninterrupted recording of A9’s audio added.

The afternoon continued through the irony of streaming the Luddites. The robot-killing quartet hammered and blasted their manifesto from the Boarding Gate porch with untempered ferocity. Like a war cry for Jon Connor, if you will. They touted red berets and army fatigues and were ready for revolution. Check out their album, Man vs. Machine, and other music by their alter-ego, the Tstunamibots.

Then, like the cool, goose-skinned silence following a thunderstorm, Tom Pearo took the stage. He performed his spacious and speculative set with an air of poignance. His connection to Ivamae is immediately apparent. They’re two artists translating reality into the ethereal. His relatively recent six-song album Headspace is the music you listen to on a snowy February Saturday, or a rainy spring morning. Also check out his new album, I Am a Mountain, which is only two songs but still tracks our at forty-five minutes!

Julia Rose performed a warmly lit live mix which included a bouncing acapella, alternative expressions of love, and an electric ukelele. Her style turns one musician into an entire band, choir, or symphony—whatever the song demands. This, combined with her wide vocal range, allows Rose to explore a wide array of genres in a single set.

The live element to the day’s concerts certainly filled a void. As Andre Maquera of West Street Digital put it in our previous spotlight, “When you’ve got like, five people in a room there and you’ve got this musical conduit, there’s this constant conversation going on on multiple levels with different people and all at the same time. And being able to stay in that pocket and create something beautiful, that’s kind of the highest elevation of the art-form.”

Seeing artists come together in the studio definitely added an awesome element to the recent array of bedroom concerts we’ve seen on Facebook. Each studio brought its own aesthetic, with Boarding Gate’s backporch party and The Underground’s quiet, coffee shop corner vibe. You can learn more about the history of Tod Moses and Boarding Gate Studio, and Vincent Freeman and The Underground in their respective studio spotlights, as well as Andre Maquera’s West Street Digital.

The Troy Millette Band brought their passionate folk rock into the West Street Digital studio. In the quiet confinement of the studio, the band emphasized their soft rock style. Troy Millette’s new single, “I Miss You,” is out now, and blends soft folk-rock with pop edits to create a song which nearly manages to tangibly caress its listener.

Bow Thayer then performed his mixture of folk, country, Americana, and all the niches in between. Porch music, for short. His songs pontificated on life during quarantine, and demonstrated his immense lyrical abilities.

At West Street Digital, Ben Patton put on a show. His rhymes and inflections hint at his background in theater, as do the arcs and emotions of his songs. But I wouldn’t describe his music as show tunes, as other elements of pop, rock, jazz, and folk worm their way into his music.

Amanda Ukasick, the final performer at the Underground, sung about relationships, motherhood, and relationships again. “There’s so many songs that are written about love and feelings and relationships and stuff but I think that’s because it’s such a fluid topic and there’s always room for more,” she says. Her music, self-described as folk-punk, is like an unplugged Billie Joel Armstrong.

And finally The Conniption Fits took us home with an explosive show. One could characterize them as modern college rock, or just classic indie rock. Their new album, This Useless Thread, is on its way out soon, with the title track already available online.

The Conniption Fits at West Street Digital. Photo by Andre Maquera.

You can catch up with all the acts on YouTube! We’ve uploaded all six hours’ worth of content, including the day’s inspiring final set: an interview with local songwriter Phinn “Dominick” Brown, who explores current events in relation to Vermont—what life in a state that is 94% white is like for a mixed race person—in his song, “Damien.” The song was released as a part of the This American Song project. “He is so talented,” said Craig after the interview. “Just to know that he wrote and produced and recorded that song in eight hours is unbelievable.” You can explore the project’s scope, Damien’s interview and his future plans in Thomas’ blog.

Long after the microphones were put away, guitars stowed, and camera lenses capped, our amiable host reflected on the event: “I can’t wait to do it again... now I’m realizing — wait a second — there’s people that can’t won’t or don’t want to go out to a club… There were kids who were too sick to even be here in the first place, so from now on this has to be an element of what we do. So this whole new way of looking at the world and connecting songs is something that we made lemonade out of during this pandemic.”

Big Heavy World is excited too. And whether or not the storm has passed by then, we can guarantee another day of good hearts and pleasant song. Hundreds of listeners tuned in from around Vermont, and we couldn’t be more grateful. We also want to thank the national sponsors who made this day possible: NAMM Foundation, Harmon, Sweetwater, Vic Firfth, Hohner, and Buzz Bone Trumpet.

We’d also like to thank all of our friends who made this happen: Andre and West Street Digital, Vincent and The Underground, Tod and Boarding Gate Studio, and Luke and A9, as well as all of the artists who joined the party. And of course a very special thank you to Calamity and Crowe’s Trading Post who supplied this year’s groovy shirts!

Tech-guru and show operator Bob, stopping by A9 while wearing one of Calamity and Crowe’s Make Music Day shirts. Photo by Luke Awtry.

In short, this Make Music Day was a new endeavor. It explored the power of music even when people are apart, and it may have brought us closer than in years past. Before COVID, Make Music Day was a chance to connect with those in our communities through music. Neighbors could perform for their friends two doors down. Artists could host song circles to bring together friends and family with tambourines, trombones, and triangles. This year, with these close connections at a distance, we went online and made new connections, new friends. Through the Make Music Day international livestream, we could witness ourselves—in our little northeastern nook—participate with other musicians from around the world. We shared the same soulful exclamations with artists from Lagos, Tokyo, and Paris.

As we continue to discuss divisions, inequality, and systemic injustice in current events, it's important to understand some intrinsic truths about humanity. Music, which links us all, is a vessel for human emotion and human stories. Regardless of language or ethnicity, one almost always knows when a musician sings of heartbreak, tragedy, or elation. Emotions, the language of the heart, ignore any man-made borders or social structures. Though we all face our own struggles, the burden for progress weighs equally on us all. On this Make Music Day, we could see the things which unite us all—the songs we sing.

Text by Luke Vidic.

Thumbnail image of Marcie Hernandez by Luke Awtry.

Make Music Day 2020: Hello; Adieu!