TETON VILLAGE, Wyo. — A double-bill featuring Oregon indie-folk-pop veterans Blind Pilot paired with Canadian throwback country-folk duo Kacy & Clayton, it’s an Americana sweet spot in the Mangy Moose’s winter lineup. They’ll take stage this Wednesday.
Now, imagine 2008 when Blind Pilot’s popular album of soft indie folk lullabies, “3 Rounds and a Sound,” was rising in popularity—Pandora was a hot item the same year, Spotify just launched, and it was dubbed “the year of free.” The music industry was a little more wild west, on the verge of entering the content creator-sphere, and bands were already experiencing the reduction in physical music sales and figuring out the challenges of free, on-demand audio streaming services. The band was on a small indie label, had just added four members to expand its live sound, and was on the verge of signing to ATO Records.
Twenty years after forming, Blind Pilot has chiseled an elegant sound that is both panoramic and intimate, with pop hooks and sonic ambiance. Produced by Josh Kaufman of Bonny Light Horseman, the band’s 2024 outing “In the Shadow of the Holy Mountain” is the band’s fourth LP and the first in eight years. Perhaps under-welcoming in its reception, the album is still a testament to the band’s core sound and what they built in the aughts.
For cousins Kacy Anderson and Clayton Linthicum—Kacy & Clayton—the guitarist/vocalist pair of childhood buddies grew up a few miles from one another in the rural community of Saskatchewan, where their family started a ranch in 1911. They’ve been releasing albums since 2013. In many ways, their version of folk music is vintage, and certainly a tip of the hat to fellow Canadian folksters Ian & Sylvia. A combination of country influence, sweet but sad melodies, strong male-female vocal harmony, and British folk rock, the duo has honed a sound that is full of nuance and detail—something that producer Jeff Tweedy said is “as good as the artists they are drawing from…taking the things they love so intimately and telling their own story.”
Ox Presents presents Blind Pilot with Kacy & Clayton, 8:30 p.m. Wednesday February 19 at the Mangy Moose. $29. MangyMoose.com.
