Wednesday 19 Jun
 
 

Kanye West — Yeezus

Try as you might, but there’s no escaping Kanye West. Turn on the TV, radio, computer — hell, take a stroll downtown and you might see his mug projected on the side of a building. It’s an undeniable fact of life in 2013: Kanye West is bigger than Buddha, Krishna and The Beatles (today, anyway) and he’ll be the first to let you know about it.
06/18/2013 | Comments 0

John Moreland — In the Throes

With the soul of a poet and the look of a Sons of Anarchy extra, Tulsa’s John Moreland has been gifted the sort of gravely, booming voice that does Bruce Springsteen proud and a similar understanding of the universal human experience. It’s made for some fantastic records — both as a solo artist and with his dissolved Black Gold Band — and In the Throes is his best yet.
06/19/2013 | Comments 0

Jumpship Astronaut — Lights Burn Out

Oklahoma has never been the haven for electronic rock music that it is for country, folk and, as of late, psychedelic pop, but from the sound of Lights Burn Out, Oklahoma City upstart Jumpship Astronaut seems intent on changing that.
06/12/2013 | Comments 0

Various artists — Reaching Out

Like so many Oklahomans, the local music scene has responded with generosity and grace in the wake of last month’s tragedy in Moore. In the weeks since, droves of local musicians have banded together for benefit concerts and radio marathons to raise funds for the relief effort, and with extraordinary results.
06/04/2013 | Comments 0

Progress in Color — Get Well

It’s been a long, bumpy ride for Glenpool’s Progress in Color, which saw a record deal with Epic evaporate before even one record could come of it, but it’s led the outfit to where it was supposed to be.
06/04/2013 | Comments 0
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Music

‘Circus’ folk


Performing for millions on ‘The Voice,’ singer-songwriter Rebecca Loebe would rather play for one room on her ‘Circus Heart’ tour.

Joshua Boydston January 30th, 2013  

Rebecca Loebe
7 p.m. Thursday
The Blue Door
2805 N. McKinley
bluedoorokc.com
524-0738
$15-$20

Singer-songwriter Rebecca Loebe rarely feels right at home on the road as she does when she plays The Blue Door, as she will Thursday.

The Atlanta native cut her teeth in Georgia’s famed Eddie’s Attic, the club that helped foster the careers of Indigo Girls, Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles and The Civil Wars, among others. John Mayer worked the door as Loebe — then a bright-eyed high schooler — played open mics there.

“It spoiled me. I just assumed there was an equivalent in every city, and when I started touring full-time, I realized that was hardly the case,” Loebe said. “The Blue Door shares the spirit of Eddie’s. I think that’s why I am so comfortable there.”

That said, she is more comfortable on any stage now than she was just two years ago. Although the Berklee College of Music grad has toured for more than half a decade, it took a stint on NBC’s The Voice to shatter most of her anxieties. Then homeless (by choice), she charmed both Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera with her unexpected cover of Nirvana’s “Come as You Are.”

“I have this absence of fear,” Loebe said. “It was such a judgment-based experience, it makes everything I’ve done since then just feel like fun.”

It wasn’t the exposure she values most, but the truth it revealed in herself.

“It was much more helpful internally. It gave me a peek inside the belly of the beast of the entertainment industry,” she said. “It made me realize, more than ever, that isn’t the field I want to be in. I want to be a blue-collar songwriter, a more arts-and-crafts approach to making music. I’m not striving for the approval of people, especially the people in the mainstream.”

Reinvigorated, Loebe wrote and recorded Circus Heart, her third full-length album, which hit shelves last fall and found her letting her hair down.

“[I felt] free to try a lot of new things, sonically. We dabbled in instruments I don’t usually play ... and I felt a lot of freedom,” she said. “We really were able to bring out the really message behind each song in the record. I’m thrilled with how the whole album came out.”

Still touring in support of Circus Heart, her travels inspiring new songs, recording might be on the horizon.

“I’m a slow, psychotic writer. It’s a long process to me. I’m just now coming out of my shell,” Loebe said. “Two songs just came out of me this week, though. Maybe I’m in a writing kick?”

 
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