Magical. Mesmerizing. Mystical. Those adjectives aptly sum up last night, when the Staves—aka sisters Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor—enchanted the audience at a sold-out Cat’s Cradle Back Room in Carrboro, NC, for some 80 minutes. They opened with “I Don’t Say It, But I Feel It,” closed with “Eagle Song,” and joked between those bookends about cucumbers, pizza and their sister Emily, who left the group to focus on raising her children. While the wondrous three-part harmonies that so bewitched Diane and I in 2017 have become two, they still left us—and everyone else—spellbound. In fact, it was one of the least-noisy shows I’ve attended, with everyone’s eyes and ears directed at the two women on stage.
The current tour is titled, “Acoustic Tour. Isn’t It Exciting?” One might think that the format—just Jess, Milly, their guitars and ukulele—would make it all the more likely that Emily would be missed. Though she was by me (and other fans, I’m sure), their incantations remained potent. “I Don’t Say It, But I Feel It,” from their recent All Now album, laid out the night’s agenda, which mixed their impressionistic songs with their extraordinary vocals. In some respects, their songs are the audio equivalent of Laura Knight, Berthe Morisot and Annie Swynnerton paintings. One highlight was the CSN-flavored “Make It Holy”—though, sans Emily, it now sported a distinct Crosby & Nash-like veneer. Still lovely.
Other songs included “In the Long Run,” “All Now,” “Next Year, Next Time,” “Mexico” and “Good Woman.” (I wasn’t close enough to the stage to grab a set list, so am working from memory.) Surprisingly, their recent single, a cover of the Beatles’ “She’s Leaving Home,” wasn’t part of the night’s agenda. Instead, they shared a heartfelt rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s “America.”
Of course, a Staves show wouldn’t be complete without some comedic moments. At one point, they mentioned that their tour rider included cucumbers backstage, which their roadie/guitar tech/guitarist in their band had laid out on the stools holding their water. That led to a discussion about which food might be good to eat on stage—and they settled on pizza, which they fantasized would be best if delivered mid-show. A few songs later, the soundboard guy pointed to someone walking toward the stage with two slices of pizza! They and the crowd erupted into laughter. (They put off chowing down until the end of the set, however.)
The last time we saw the Staves, in 2017, they introduced us—by way of the opening act—to a singer-songwriter who’s gone onto become one of my (many) favorites, Mikaela Davis. This night was no different: Shallow Alcove, a quartet originally from upstate New York that, like the Staves and Davis, conjures the folky flavors of a long-gone era. One highlight from their 40-minute set was a cover of Billy Joel’s “She’s Always a Woman”; another was their own “Mangos,” about anxiety. They stopped the latter mid-song to direct the club’s staff to help someone in the audience who had collapsed, then picked up where they’d left off once the person was helped outside. It was heartening to see people helping people.
The Old Grey Cat 
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