The Love Language, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, and Taylor Brown

The Love Language

Stuart McLamb is the creative force behind the North Carolina-based indie rock band The Love Language. What started out in a Winston-Salem apartment as a lo-fi love letter developed into a panoramic indie pop pastiche. The band is known for its accessible wall of sound approach that harkens back to the days of Phil Spector and his recordings with the Crystals & The Ronnettes. But beyond the strings, the horns, the glockenspiel, and the healthy dose of reverb, there's the songs. And singer, songwriter, guitarist Stuart McLamb has a knack for lyrics and melodies that burrow deep and stick around long after the concert stage goes dark.

The most recent release by The Love Language is called Ruby Red – it's their  third record, and was released on Merge Records, the indie label that could based out of Durham, NC.

You can see The Love Language live at Bailey Park in Winston-Salem, for free, on June 25th.  It's part of the new “Sunset Thursdays” free concert series, presented by Flow Honda & Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.

The family friendly event starts at 6:30, and if you're hungry there will be food trucks on site. Before The Love Language takes the stage you can see opening act Below The Line.

Back in 2013, Eddie talked with Stu via phone about Ruby Red, his days in Winston-Salem, and the evolution of The Love Language sound.

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Dmitry Sitkovetsky

In April of 2002 a renowned Russian violinist was invited to perform Beethoven's Concerto for Violin with the Greensboro Symphony. That performance left a lasting impression. The chemistry between soloist and orchestra was just right, and the following year the guest artist was appointed Music Director of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra.  

It's a position Dmitry Sitkovetsky holds to this day. Dmitry spoke with David Ford by phone from his studio in London, and he began by asking him about his musical use of time in his 2004 recording of the Beethoven Concerto with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St, Martin in the Fields.

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Taylor Brown

Taylor Brown's debut collection of short fiction came out in May of last year. In the Season of Blood and Gold, published by Press 53, includes twelve stories of dynamic characters and timeless landscapes.  From alligator wrestlers, to Confederate soldiers, and a tattooed artist exploring the map to her heart and to her mother's, the stories are impressive. 

Writer Charles Dodd has said of the collection, “With ferocious economy and a great big heart, Taylor Brown writes one of the best debuts I've ever picked up.  These are stories, verses, meditations, and accusations, everything in short you could hope to get from important fiction.  This work demands your attention.”

In the Season of Blood and Gold was recently a finalist for the 2015 International Book Award (Fiction: Short Story). Fans of Taylor's writing can look forward to his first novel, Fallen Land, which will be released in January of 2016 by St. Martin's Press. Fun fact: the first chapter of the novel is the title story of In the Season of Blood and Gold. The novel tells the tale of two orphans on the run from Confederate guerillas near the end of the Civil War.

Taylor Brown stopped by WFDD to discuss his process and propensity towards writing about the South.