Concert of the Week: Willow Avalon at D.C.'s Atlantis

If Chappell Roan was pop music's latest "overnight success,"* then Willow Avalon is country music's. Just a year ago, Willow was coming off her first LP, Driver, a good record with some solid tunes, but nothing that made much of an impact. Since then, thanks to the help of TikTok virality, she's opened for Cage the Elephant, Charles Wesley Godwin, released her debut album, damn-near sold out a solo tour, and has booked upcoming gigs opening for Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson and at the Grand Ole Opry, and has banked plenty more songs for future release.

*I am completely aware that there is no such thing in reality, but I can definitely feel that way.

Seeing her recently in DC, the second night of her current tour, was the third time I've seen her since last summer. The first two weren't exactly the friendliest confines (the rock crowd at Cage thought they were too good for country music; the Charles Wesley Godwin crowd is "trucker hat country" and not "cowboy hat country"), so I was looking forward to seeing her with other people who, you know, gave a shit and knew the lyrics and were actually there to see Willow. What I couldn't have imagined was just how packed it was in the tiny space of the Atlantis, crammed wall-to-wall with Willow acolytes. 

The show started with Darryl Rahn, Willow's guitarist doing a solo set to warm up the crowd. He's a very talented player and I liked his lyrics (obligatory mention: he played a song that starts with the line "I get a little bit nervous whenever I get on a plane / I have this vision where everyone’s screaming out their lover’s name," realized he was in D.C. just a few days after that tragic plane crash, and got all red with embarrassment before the crowd actually had to tell him it was okay to continue), but he was a bit of a downer before Willow's rootin' tootin' numbers.

That yee-haw silliness is what drew me to Willow's music in the first place. Songs like "Homewrecker, "Yodelayheewho", and "Hey There Dolly" are all firmly tongue-in-cheek ditties. She seems to only have one other mode, plainly and completely sincere, and that's why "Tequila and Whiskey" is her best tune. Despite releasing a new record just a few weeks ago, she played a couple of still unreleased songs at this show and, yep, they were either who-needs-a-man-hoedowns or beautiful ballads. I'm not complaining, I'm just observing.

But if I am complaining, I will say that the show was just too damn short. She played for about 50 minutes. It seemed like she had only barely scratched the surface of her ever-growing library, so why the short show? She did mention that she was feeling under the weather (and apparently canceled the meet and greet), but setlists at other stops look pretty similar. The ticket was only $20, but it was still a letdown. On the way out, I overheard someone say, "I drove here for longer than she played," and I went, "Wait, us too!" Baltimore is an hour away from D.C. without traffic, and when are we without traffic?

I guess I'll just have to see her again.