Two Runner & Dessert Boys

Two Runner at Kilowatt

TWO RUNNER

Amid the excitement and ambiguity of a new start, Paige Anderson of Two Runner poses poignant questions on Porchlight, her resolute and tenderhearted new record. Beautiful string arrangements, intimate confessionals, and rollicking hymns for the lost and determined, here is an artist who’s been on the road consistently since early childhood - with persistence and commitment to her craft clearly in no short supply.

Porchlight offers tunes that are warm and steady, relatable nostalgia twinged with the ache of needing to move on. The result aptly links the uncertainty of letting go and simultaneous resolve of someone faced with no other choice. A destiny perhaps sealed from an early age, as Anderson began her touring career in a six-person family bluegrass band from the age of nine. Now nearly a decade into her own music career, she’s seen stages warming up for Sierra Ferrell, Watchhouse and Molly Tuttle.

Although change often comes en masse, it is surreal and jarring to start again. Paige Anderson offers Two Runner as solace and escape for those needing to reset, with sage comfort and kindness from her own accounts, the way all great songwriters do. Porchlight is perhaps best summed up by the chorus in track five, ‘Mocking Crow’: “Wake up tomorrow, there’s no in between - your heart knows what you need.” A reckoning, a stark look in the mirror, hope, and forward movement against all odds.

DESSERT BOYS

Dessert Boys are a Nevada County country band mining the slag heap of American music for strange ores, obscure gems, and sublime treasures.

Featuring Whipcream Willy on guitar, Apple Pie Anna on guitar, Butterscotch Bill on guitar, Barry Cobbler on... you guessed it: guitar, Shortcake Shana on bass guitar, and Drumstick Dave on drums. They have been called the “Harlem Globetrotters of Country Music” by someone.