For this edition of the ongoing Pencil Storm series known as “This Song!” you will have to first indulge me in telling of the weekend travels that led me to my discovery of this fine song (and band).  If your attention span is extra short, feel free to jump straight to the audio at the end.

My wife and I planned a weekend visit to stay with some of our closest friends in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia.  We set out on a Friday afternoon, making the three-hour drive from Culpeper to Newport News where we arrived in plenty of time to settle in before the weekend’s main event, which was to catch Courtney Barnett live at the Norva in nearby Norfolk.  (She was outstanding, by the way).  Saturday morning brought a relaxing start followed by brunch at a popular nearby eatery.  Shortly after noon we headed out to visit several of the very fine breweries in the area.  We started at Coastal, followed by Bull Island, followed by St. George.  We were careful to share flights, or order only a half pint at each location to make sure we didn’t overindulge—at least not that early in the day. 

After a stop back at the house to change clothes and relax for a bit, our friends took us into the City of Hampton, to an area known as Phoebus.  This area seemed like it had been blighted at one time, but it was spectacularly on the rise, with all kinds of cool-looking places popping up everywhere.  We began at Sly Clyde Ciderworks.  I am decidedly a beer person, as I generally have difficulty finding ciders that aren’t too sweet.  I am not a fan of sweet alcoholic drinks whatsoever.  Or sweet beverages of any kind for that matter.  After mulling over the chalkboard with some 10 or 12 choices, my wife and I decided to split a glass of what we thought would be the driest, least sweet cider available at Sly Clyde.  Oh man, it was so good.  I don’t remember what it was called, but we ended up getting a second one and buying a couple of t-shirts to boot.  Our next stop was for dinner at a place called Mango Mangeux.  The restaurant grew out of the success of Mango Mango preserves, which apparently made an appearance on the popular Shark Tank television show.  The restaurant uses the preserves in the vast majority of their menu items, including the drinks.  My mango martini was too sweet for my taste, but I drank it anyway and the food was delicious.

---I’m getting to This Song! soon…--- 

After dinner, we went to an obviously forgettable place since I don’t remember the name of it, to see an acoustic guitar set by a friend of friends.  Matt Holloman played a bunch of originals and a cover or two and he sounded great.  We stayed to offer support and converse with him, because there was no one else in the entire place.  Well, that’s not true, but the one couple that was there sat as far away as possible and paid zero attention to the night’s entertainer.  They couldn’t even be bothered to clap at the end of the songs, which I hate.  (I will clap politely for any musician, no matter what.)  As it was getting late in the evening, and my beautiful and wine-loving wife had endured a multitude of breweries and a cidery without a single glass of wine to be had, I suggested perhaps we move along and maybe grab a nightcap at a place we had walked past called the Fox Tail Wine Bar.  We got an outside table in front of a 3-piece band that was playing and ordered up one last round.  My wife had a glass of her favorite libation and I got a fantastic jalapeno-infused chardonnay that was excellent.

 ---Okay, I’m finally to the band--- 

The band in front of us featured two acoustic guitar players, surrounding a female vocalist that banged on a few things, including at one point a washboard.  They were decidedly rock n roll to me, but they had some twang here and there and I guess could be called folk or Americana.  I found myself liking each song a little more than the one before as they grew on me exponentially.  The vocals were shared between the guitarist on the left, Jason, and Jesse in the middle.  The interplay between their voices was great on the songs they sang together.  Jason sang several mostly on his own as well that were excellent.  His bushy beard, bald head and tattoos made me think of the Hell’s Angels or something, and he was uber cool to watch and listen to. 

At one point he said, “Let’s play a Misfits cover—some punk rock, but it’s a sad one,” and they proceeded to do a slow and beautiful cover of a song called “Die Die My Darling.” (But that’s still not the song that I have been leading up to.)  Right after that, I asked if they knew any songs by X. I figured Jason and Jesse would do an amazing job of interpreting the vocal mixture of John Doe and Exene Cervenka.  I was surprised when Jesse said she was not familiar with X.  I could be quite mistaken, but I think the guitar player on the right leaned in and whispered “You guys would kill that sh*t” but I’m not certain that’s what he said.  The point is, they would though.  An X cover would be perfect for them.  (The song “White Girl” comes to mind.)  The next morning as I drank some much-needed coffee, I checked my favorite streaming service for the band that calls themselves Lori Creek.  That is a fact I nearly left without knowing, but luckily, I did have the good sense to ask them their name as they wrapped up their set.  They also mentioned they would be playing with the full band the following weekend at another venue.  Knowing that they also play fully electric with drums excited me, because I thought they were pretty great playing at a wine bar on the sidewalk as an acoustic act.  Online, I found an LP called Copenhagen from 2020 and a newer 2021 single.  There was quite a bit of older stuff there, EP’s and singles, that aren’t really my cup of tea.  I have been playing the Copenhagen LP on repeat for a while now, and I like the whole thing.  However, there is one song I really dig, that song, called “Smoke.” I hope you enjoy it.

JCE, or John to his friends, was born in 1963 in the Nation’s Capital.  He grew up in the VA suburbs of D.C.  He has a wife of 32 years, and a grown daughter.  He leads a bit of a double life, working by day as the chief administrative officer of a VA county, and spending as many nights as possible listening to live rock n roll with his wife at any club that has a decent band within 100 miles or so of their house.  Oh, and he has an ever-growing collection of about 150 vintage skateboards.