WHAT’S PLAYING AROUND
THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
SOUND CHECK
21
JULY 6-13, 2022
SIDE A-LLEY
CONCERTS
Side A-lley concerts
are held most weeks at
Side A Brewing, 1219
Washington Ave. in La
Grande. For updates, visit
the Facebook page or
sideabeer.com.
SCHEDULE
July 8: Midnight Darlins
July 15: Alka Mahdi
July 23: Sage & Stone
July 30: Jezebel’s Mother
Aug. 6: Chris Baron & the
Two Secrets
Aug. 12: Calico Bones
Aug. 20: Megan Alder
Aug. 26: Wes Youssi & the
County Champs
Side A/Contributed photo
Melissa Ruth and Johnny Leal are the Midnight Darlins. They play at 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 8, for the Side A-lley concert at Side A Brewing in La Grande.
Side A-lley concert welcomes the Midnight Darlins
By John Vollinger
Go! Magazine
LA GRANDE — Side A Brewing con-
tinues the Side A-lley concert series
with the Midnight Darlins on Friday,
July 8, 7:30 p.m.
The concert is on the back patio of
the brewpub, 1219 Washington Ave.
The “Darlins” will bring to La Grande
a genre self-described as “Doo-Wop
Twang: The space of blues, the teeth of
country and the grit of rock n roll.”
The band is led by frontwoman
Melissa Ruth — lead vocalist and gui-
tar-player with a voice that can often
alternate between being soft, and be-
ing rugged and spirited — and accom-
panied by her husband, Johnny Leal,
on blues guitar. Together, they craft
a soulful, bluesy approach to themes
such as togetherness and solitude,
and immortality and transience, using
a blend of imagery that ranges from
the cosmic, to the gritty details of the
reality of daily life.
This enmeshing of such a range of
ideas and images is complemented
by the style the “Darlins” bring to their
approach to music. They describe the
feel of their music as owing “as much
for the space between the notes as
the notes themselves…music that is as
sparse as it is interconnected, reflect-
ing the rural Oregon countryside that
they call home. We see that it is not
only the lyrics that benefit from the
slow, spacious, but vibrant life in rural
America, but the music itself; the beau-
ty in the openness that gives us all a bit
of space to breathe.”
This has been a consistent theme
for Ruth — she was, she said, “Born
and raised in rural British Columbia on
a balanced diet of borscht and Bob
Dylan” and the soulful simplicity of
these ingredients of her upbringing
shine through in her music.
If curious, one should check out
“Melissa Ruth — Wake Me In the
Morning” on YouTube. On this acoustic
track, Ruth sings, “While the songbirds
are still singing, before they take their
flight… Please don’t tell me where
you’re going…Just be sure to wake me
when you go,” soulfully describing this
tension between the realization that
things are fleeting, but not dwelling on
that enough to miss the beauty in the
moments.
However, there will surely be many
songs for patrons to dance to; for a
sample of this, be sure to check out
“Melissa Ruth — Long Haul Heart-
break.” While not limited to these two
sounds, you can certainly get a solid
feel of what to expect on Friday.
For more information on the band,
and some more samples of their music,
head to melissaruthmusic.com. For
more on the Side A-lley series, visit
sideabeer.com or check the Facebook
page for Side A Brewing.