Notes From the Grid is a bi-weekly column about the Columbia County music scene written by Rob. It is featured every other Friday in the "On the Scene" supplement of the Hudson Register Star. See all »

August 21, 2011

Liv Carrow - Hudson Nightingale

Liv Carrow is a Hudson music maker, and a central musician in this here Hudson grid. She plays guitar, bass, recorder, banjo, ukulele and sings, she is a musical bird and Hudson is lucky enough to have been her roost for more than a year. This charming and intelligent young lady is the epitome of the Hudson scene, often an a player but also in a supporting role – she might be helping a local act by playing bass, or helping to organize and network various musical enterprises as well as providing guidance and firm counsel for aspiring musicians in the Hudson.

Liv wants you to enjoy her music, because she enjoys it. She is interested in the authentic exchange of human emotion through sound and intent and that is something she is really good at. I have seen people actually a gasp or shake their heads before commenting on how good her songs are. I’ve done it too. I am usually intrigued by a how such simple songs take on a focused complexity upon a second or third (and in my case tenth or eleventh) listening. Friends and fans often make requests of favorites but no one is ever disappointed when Liv says “Here’s a new one”

She grew up in the Trenton/Philadelphia area almost equidistant between New York City and Philadelphia she has in her short life learned to twirl, to tap dance, sight sing, been a choir member and dabbled with the violin as well as the aforementioned instruments.

She learned to sing harmony with her mother in the car and uses the philosophy of that skill as a form of music therapy and anger management. As a teen in the “cultural desert of central New Jersey” She played bass learning to read in order to participate in pit orchestras for local shows. She began playing jazz on her bass and became interested in Prog rock and decided to further her musical education at Bard College, just a bit south of Hudson. There she developed mixed feelings for the obviously patriarchal jazz music education (“I was defeated by the system”) and switched from Jazz Studies to German (?!?!) became interested in Ethno-musicology and switched her musical focus to folk music.

Why folk music?

“It’s accessible. It involves guitar and traditional instruments and song structures.”  There’s all kinds of places to go in the folk tradition, every culture has a different take on the best way to musically document human traditions and experiences. In the middle of the twentieth century there were passionate arguments regarding the who what when where and how of folk music but today the borders have thankfully softened.

From Bard, Liv moved to Philadelphia and quickly became an integral part of it’s vibrant folk scene.

“It’s funny, Philadelphia is populated by upstate New Yorkers and lots of Philly people go to New York City, and New Yorkers come to Hudson and then the circle goes around again.”

Liv found a good music scene in Philadelphia,  the old traditions were still there, it was easy to get shows (“It’s very neighborhoody, there’s a lot of house shows and plenty of places to play though attendance in not usually great.”) Espers, Larkin Grimm, the Folk Freak scene colored North Philly, South Philly had a lot of edgy indie bands, but west Philadelphia was more punk and that is where folky Liv observed the Freak Folk scene as an audience participant, this is where bassist Liv began performing in the indie scene, and this is when starry eyed Liv Carrow decided to follow a boy to Brooklyn.

In New York the older and wiser Liv Carrow was more defined by Anti-Folk, radical politics and an inclination to resist the system. She began writing songs on guitar, playing at the Sidewalk Cafe, The Cake Shop, Piano’s and Pete’s Candy Store as a solo or playing her recorder or her bass in bands.

While visiting some old friends from Bard she came to Hudson, having heard good things about the Spotty Dog in particular and the music scene in general so she set down roots and here she remains, a fixture here in Hudson using this Columbia County as her local base, a place to return to from her regional and national tours.

Liv confided that a big part of the area’s creative attraction is the musical diversity - the professionals like Otto Hauser, Meshell Ndegeocello and Melissa Auf der Maur, the art rock of Alexander Turnquist, Ryder Cooley and Melora Creagor (from Rasputina) , a big mix of genres at the Spotty Dog and a lot of Alt country, folk and blues, both national acts (at Club Helsinki) and local boys (the Simple Machines and the Landlines and a lot of buskers at various locations around the county). There is also a huge Noise/punk scene here and there’s also the glamour/dance party thing that features DJ Giovanni, Musty Chiffon and Trixie Starr. For a chance to see Liv in action check out the upcoming events below.

Upcoming significant events

Yukari Roja performs at Club Helsinki
Monday Night Showcase

Liv Carrow performs at Club Helsinki June 30
(with J P Harris & the tough Choices)