LIVE REVIEW: Leslie Mendelson, Low Lily in Lincoln, MA (08.08 – 08.15.25)
It’s a lovely thing in the summer to sit outside and listen to live music. It’s extra special to see music at unique venues. The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Mass. hosted a five-week outdoor summer performance series. Couples, families, friends set up in camper chairs or on blankets with cooler bags and picnics. Some people brought their dogs or children. Several people were sketching. There’s also a cafe on site to purchase food. This beautiful setting in bucolic Lincoln in the woods with lots of greenery, fresh air and the scents of grass and pine makes for a delightful summer evening. The musicians aren’t up on a stage but standing on the grass with a couple of speakers set up. Could be better sound and a better set-up, maybe with the musical act up on a riser or stage providing better sight lines.
On August 8, Grammy-nominated artist Leslie Mendelson performed two sets on a lovely warm,but not too warm, evening that cooled off as the sun went down. Her sets gave off coffeehouse and retro vibes. Mendelson’s most recent album is After the Party. Mendelson said she infuses several types of music on her album and has a love of 70s country music. “The Good Life” is inspired by Merle Haggard, Glen Campbell and Willie Nelson. “I live in Brooklyn but I was born and raised in Long Island–we’re trying to be New England. They should just let us in,” Mendelson said. She played a wistful, pretty “Rock and Roll On The Radio” and noted, afterwards, that there’s a Boston (the band) reference in the song– in the second verse she sings “it’s more than a feeling.” The dramatic and moody “I Know You Better Than That” is from the 2009 album Swan Feathers which Mendelson said she didn’t like because it was hard to make and was “ironically nominated for a Grammy.” She’s liking it much more years later. Mendelson is a charming, comfortable, natural performer. “I come from a long line of schtick. My dad fancies himself a comedian,” she explained. Her grandfather was in the USO. She’s in a family band with her dad and her cousins called The Sh*tty Sh*tty Fam Band. “I fell in love with Randy Newman. I was a strange eight-year-old,” she admitted. She introduced the slow, thoughtful and melancholy “The Good Life,” by saying: “Picasso said all children are artists. As we get older we’re afraid to make mistakes.” She co-wrote the song “A Human Touch” with Jackson Browne for the film 5B, a documentary about the staff and patients of San Francisco General Hospital’s AIDS ward during the early years of the epidemic. My favorite song on the album is “I Know a Lot of People”–a moseying country style song with kazoo and twangy guitar. It’s about social media and has the relatable line: “I know a lot of people but I don’t have many friends.”
The following Friday, the string trio Low Lily performed. The Vermont-based roots trio is Liz Simmons (guitar/vocals), Flynn Cohen (guitar/mandolin/vocals) and Natalie Padilla (fiddle/banjo/vocals). They combine Americana, folk and bluegrass for contemporary arrangements and melodies. They opened the set with a cover of Shawn Colvin’s “Round of Blues” from their most recent album Angels in the Wreckage (2023). They do a lot of glorious harmonizing on “Angelina” and “Hope Lingers On.” It’s mellow, inviting, crowd-pleasing music. At one point during the set, a couple danced in the back and a woman danced with a young child. The instrumental “Keep the Pachysandra Flying” showcases the banjo with its wistfulness and toe-tapping beat. As she was tuning, Simmons said she had banjo jokes like “Welcome to Heaven, here’s your harp. Welcome to Hell, here’s your banjo.”
You’ll want to keep this series in mind for next summer.
Leslie Mendelson performs again in New England on August 29th at Norman Bird Sanctuary in Middletown, RI (TICKETS) and on October 10th at The Parlor Room in Northampton, MA (TICKETS).
Low Lily are performing throughout New England in August, September, November, and December. For dates and tickets click HERE.
Featured image by: Ethan Covey
