Harbor Stories: Unplugged featuring Kasey Anderson & Derek Luttrell

411 Great Loop East Drive,Ottawa IL 61350

22 January, 2023

Description

Kasey Anderson’s final album, To the Places We Lived, became, by his own admission, “a sort of Chinese Democracy thing; I just felt like I’d never finish it.” Anderson spent nearly three years on the album, which features perennial Anderson collaborators Andrew McKeag and Eric Ambel, along with appearances from Sadler Vaden (Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit), Steve Selvidge (The Hold Steady), Kyleen King (Brandi Carlile), Jenny Conlee-Drizos (The Decemberists), Casey Neill, Kurt Bloch (The Fastbacks, Young Fresh Fellows, Filthy Friends) and others. “We started the record in 2019, and were close to wrapping it up, but then my dad passed away, and everything just kind of stopped.” By the time Anderson picked back up again, the world was mired in the COVID-19 pandemic, and Anderson’s wife was pregnant. “COVID had everyone at home, so I just started reaching out to friends asking them to play on this record; I scrapped a lot of what we had recorded and built the songs back up from scratch. I knew it was the last record. Derek Lutrell was voted Rockford’s Sexiest Man and currently resideds in Nashville, TN where he lives and creates music. It doesn’t hurt that he has a lush voice, and a beautiful heart. Starting off as a solo musician that would play folk songs for sad people in local bars, he has since found his footing as a band leader and writing force. Derek has a way of sucking you in to his world and letting you wade around in the muddy waters that are his thoughts. Influenced by the writing of Steve Earle, Harry Nilsson, and John Prine; Derek puts a modern spin on some classic songwriting subject matter. His songs take a quick 3-minute peek at life, love, hate, death, and everything in-between. By the end of your listen, you most often leave with more questions than answers.