San Diegans are continuing to do a pretty good job at following the stay-at-home order, and we've seen a wellspring of creativity from our music community. Some local artists are taking advantage of livestream options like Facebook, Instagram and Twitch while also finding interesting apps like Acapella that make things easier for those performance, or they're pairing teleconferencing apps with music gear to have live virtual band practices.
We've also seen Al Howard of the Redwoods collective posting the lyrics to a new song each day, asking for other musicians to put them to music, and we've been gifted with long-awaited collaborations by couples sheltering in place like Low Volts and Dani Bell.
All of this got us to thinking: What would be some dream collaborations that we would like to see come out of this pandemic? Here's a few we would LOVE to see:
Rob Crow & Shelbi Bennett
Crow's numerous projects certainly display his range of interests and styles, but the Pinback musician shines when he's playing it cool and sensitive, building to a major crescendo. Bennett has the pipes to pull off the quiet/loud/quiet dynamic as she does with the Midnight Pine and the Havnauts. I think you might strike indie-rock gold if these two were to collaborate. They'd probably come up with some supercool band name to boot.
Tom Waits & Heather Marie
I mean, if we're talking "dream" collabs, nothing is off-limits. Many musicians point to Waits -- who grew up in Chula Vista, in part -- as a musical hero and his writing is top-notch, but I've always thought a soft touch to round out that gravelly edge would be lovely, and in this case, Heather Marie of Podunk Nowhere and the Black Sands is my pick to do it. She's got grit when she needs it but the skill and talent to mirror any style he could throw at her.
SoundDiego
Music. Community. Culture.
Justin Pearson & Birdy Bardot
Pearson may have a hard time collaborating since most of his songs clock in under a minute, but should he take the time, I would love to see him and Birdy thrashing around onstage together, she with her high peaking voice and him with his inner fury. Hey, it's a long shot, but that's what dreams are for.
Send us your San Diego musician dream collaborations to sounddiego@nbcuni.com.
