Dana Louise and the Glorious Birds performed at the Sundilla Acoustic Concert Series on Thursday, Feb. 23, and entertained an eager audience with their lively stage presence and sound.
Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship church hosted the concert as part of the Sundilla series, which has run for over 20 years.
The Glorious Birds consists of Louise’s father, Grammy-nominated Ezra Idlet, Adam Collins and Keith Grimwood. The band’s sound combines jazz and bluegrass into a contemporary folk style.
The crowd consisted of mostly elderly couples and Sundilla concert fans who snacked on free refreshments and chatted with the band before the concert began. Sundilla offered a relaxed vibe for the fans and artists to interact and enjoy the music together.
This was the Glorious Birds’ second time performing in Auburn since their first debut at Coffee Cat.
“What sticks out to me here is the incredible community that exists and how incredibly generous everyone is,” Louise said.
The crowd attentively listened to Louise’s vibrant lyrics and danced along to two encore performances after the initial set was finished.
In a nice change of pace, the crowd was not preoccupied with filming or Snapchatting the show and instead listened to and appreciated the music without distraction.
Louise’s music career began six years ago when she picked up a guitar on a solo journey in the Azores Islands pursuing art. There she realized her passion for singing and songwriting.
“It is the fastest I’ve ever seen anybody come up on guitar,” Idlet said. “Everything that she ever learned from anybody,
Idlet described his daughter’s songwriting as a visual process in which she merges a story with chord progressions to express an image.
Louise, who credits her musical inspiration to Laura Viers, Adrianne Lenker and Madonna, expressed gratitude when describing her father-daughter work dynamic.
“It happened because he loves me, and he’s very supportive and is willing,” Louise said. “All of the guys in the band were willing to work for not much in the beginning just because they wanted to be supportive. And I love it, I love playing with them. It feels like family.”
Idlet was appreciative of the enthusiastic crowd at Sundilla. “Tonight the crowd was about, oh I’d say four times the size of our first crowd [in Auburn]. Absolutely the same welcoming and warm vibe. It was ecstatic actually. I loved it.”
Dana Louise and the Glorious Birds are touring Europe next January, a major goal they were excited to achieve.
Idlet is confident in his daughter’s work ethic and ability to play to audiences as the band continues to tour.
“She’s genuine. What you see is on stage is no bullshit. That’s exactly who she is as a human being. And if she stutters she stutters, and if she gets it right she gets it right. But she’s not trying to be something that she’s not, which I love.”
The next show in the Sundilla Acoustic Concert Series will be Eric Taylor on March 3 at 7:30 p.m.
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