Preview: Houndmouth at The Anthem on Aug. 7
- Grace Guernsey
- 20 hours ago
- 2 min read
Oh, Lordy—buckle up! Houndmouth is on the road again, this time touring their newly released album, Lordy. The band, based out of the humble New Albany, Indiana, is headed to D.C. on Friday, Aug. 7, to play at The Wharf’s popular music venue The Anthem.
The night will begin sharply at 8 p.m. with opener Rayland Baxter. Baxter’s easygoing and soulful tunes will ease the crowd into a night boasting blends of alternative blues, rock, and country sounds. Houndmouth’s ability to straddle these vast, yet quintessentially American, genres allows for an unmistakable sense of time and place to permeate their music. The warm and unhurried folksiness of the band’s work embodies the laxity of a Midwestern day, and Houndmouth pays homage to these often forgotten parts of the country with songs titled “Come on Illinois,” “Halfway to Hardinsburg,” “Sedona,” and, on their newest album, “Carbondale.” The band’s discography spans many states, and now, too, do its members, as they make tour stops at nearly thirty locations across the country.
Lordy shepherds in a new era of Houndmouth—one in which their songs are more stripped back and their instrumentation sleepier than ever before. The electric guitar, a hallmark on the band’s previous records, is noticeably absent on this album, much like former band members Shane Cody, Katie Toupin, and Zak Appleby. Lead singer Matt Myers is the only remaining member of the band formed in 2011, and some fans have jokingly rebranded the group “Houndmatt” rather than “Houndmouth.” While internal conflicts and growing responsibilities have changed the band’s composition, they have also altered the band’s sound, making way for more mature, subdued tracks. Without a doubt, if Houndmouth can take concertgoers on a journey even a fraction as impressive as the one the band has been on for the past fifteen years, then all those in attendance on Friday will be in for quite the ride.
Grace Guernsey is a rising senior in the SFS studying Culture & Politics and minoring in Spanish. She hails from Louisville, Kentucky, the city just across the river from Houndmouth’s home base of New Albany, Indiana.