Back Beat Seattle | Memory Lane

Kevin Morby w/Coco @ the Showbox – 11/11/22
Show Review & Photos by John Rudolph
Memory Lane Series, part 136

Kevin Morby – photo by John Rudolph

I love when I cover a band that I’m not very familiar with and my mind is blown. Kevin Morby and his opener, Coco did that to me and I’m so thankful for the journey.

The show started with Coco, led by Maia Friedman of the Dirty Projectors, playing with such passion and a sense of self. Her voice is soft but with plenty of depth and enough power and sensitivity to compliment the band. Coco played for nearly an hour and I could have enjoyed her melodies all night long.

It must be said, when I photographed Coco from the photo pit, I fell in the dark cramped space and hurt my shin. Maia stopped the show to see if I was okay. It was clear that she is fully aware and that comes through in her music.

Coco – photo by John Rudolph

Somewhere around 9 pm, Kevin Morby and the other 7 members of his band took the stage and the fans were ready. . . ready to dance like nobody was watching. Like I said earlier, I wasn’t that familiar with Morby and now after the show, I haven’t stopped listening.

Kevin’s tour was in support of his new record, This Is a Photography. His first five songs were from that album. There’s a of course an indie sound with a heavy dose of the blues/R&B. His back up singer was heavily used to create that soulful sound.

For the next set, he told us that he was going to play his older portfolio. It must be said that I stayed as late as I could so I could take in as much of his rich sound as possible.

I started the night not knowing much about Kansas City’s, Kevin Morby. He has at least one more fan now.