The Moab Grassroots Music Exchange (MGME) is hosting two unique and diverse musical trios on this month’s “community platform.”
Vinyl Tapestries of Salt Lake City and the Shagbark Hickories of Buena Vista, Colorado, are just two of several musical acts that will spend a few days with the new organization, which began hosting musicians in April.
“I think the community of Moab is starting to know MGME for hosting monthly live-music campouts,” MGME co-founder Jenna Talbott said. “But what some people aren’t aware of is the bigger picture of MGME. MGME is a community network that rallies to host, support and celebrate our guest ‘featured artists’ of the month for a few days. We feed them, show them around Moab, network them with local musicians, connect them with KZMU, provide them with accommodations and then there is the monthly campout.”
Both bands will be arriving days before the campout, which is on Saturday, Aug. 1, to find themselves embraced by local sponsors and community members.
The Lazy Lizard Hostel and The Launching Pad Bed and Breakfast will be accommodating the musicians this month. Restaurants Eddie McStiff’s, Eklecticafe and Milt’s Stop and Eat will be providing meals. Red River Adventures will be taking the trios rafting down the “daily” section of the Colorado River, and Bob’s Famous Fresh Moab Coffee will fuel them along the way. WabiSabi thrift store continues to provide essential items to the desert-scape venue MGME calls home.
Community members of all ages and musical tastes are involving themselves by hosting jam sessions, prepping meals, leading expeditions, and volunteering time and energy to the MGME-hosting platform.
“We keep hearing people say that this is perfect for Moab, and I think they’re right,” Talbott said. “This community has a lot to offer, and if we activate and rally together in a hospitable way, we can not only celebrate one another, but we can continue to enjoy the inspiring diversity that outside talent offers.”
Vinyl Tapestries, the “atmospheric psych-rock” trio led by front woman Samantha Calmes, is a newly formed and evolving band that has begun turning heads in Utah, with Lee Sopko on drums and Mat Hockett on bass.
Vinyl Tapestries turned the heads of Moab residents back in May at the MGME campout, when the band performed an impromptu early-twilight set after a torrential downpour, Talbott said.
“I felt like we were literally fighting for our music, working with the mud,” Calmes said. “Vinyl Tapestries is something I’ve worked really hard for. Now learning to maintain it is a new chapter. Festivals like (MGME) will be our saving grace — surrounded by the most epic scenes and people — it’s hard not to gain something from these experiences.”
This time, they are back as MGME Featured Artists. While Calmes said their previous MGME experience was a memory she’ll hold onto forever, they are hoping for less rain and more full moon.
Douglas Francisco, leading the Shagbark Hickories with his steel slide guitar, also turned heads at an MGME event when he stumbled across an afternoon potluck jam behind FMC Headquarters in June.
“I was surprised by what an awesome community I found,” Francisco says of this first visit through Moab.
Francisco was on tour with friend Nathan Rivera, and the duo lit up the coffee shop ally with a sound telling of faraway places.
This time Francisco is bringing Raphael Millan on percussion and William Boddy on stand-up bass to back his slide guitar music inspired by Gypsy jazz, classical, blues and klezmer.
“We are new to each other musically and personally so there are stories yet to be told,” Francisco said.
Talbott said the story behind the music and musicians is just as compelling to MGME as the music itself.
“That’s where a lot of the inspiration comes from. These guys are out there doing what they love and we all can appreciate that,” Talbott said.
Vinyl Tapestries and the Shagbark Hickories to perform
“We keep hearing people say that this is perfect for Moab, and I think they’re right. This community has a lot to offer, and if we activate and rally together in a hospitable way, we can not only celebrate one another, but we can continue to enjoy the inspiring diversity that outside talent offers.”
For more information on how to get involved, go to www.facebook.com/moabgme.
When: Saturday, Aug. 1.
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