Langhorne Slim in Telluride
“Time, it goes by”
Admittedly, I had never heard of Langhorne Slim & The Law before Friday night. I was new to town and Sage invited me to come to the concert. I thought it’d be a good way to get out of the house, to socialize in Telluride. You see, my mother, who had spent the week with me, was leaving in the morning, and I’m a little over-emotional when it comes to goodbyes.
What I didn’t expect was to be completely immersed in one of the most enjoyable live performances I’ve seen in a good while. Sitting on the cozy carpeting of Mountain Village’s Club Red, I was reminded of the comfy atmosphere of the East Coast college campus that I’ve learned to call home over the past three years.
Langhorne’s gestures (enthusiasm-filled and endearingly erratic), his vocals (deep and soulful, yet surprisingly smooth), and his lyrics (thoughtful, timely, and emotionally-infused) combined to leave me with the exact feeling of warmth I was craving amidst the chill of the mountain summer.
I danced, not caring that my long curls were turning to frizz. I pondered “Wolves,” which made me think of a dear friend. “Song of Sid” left me aching to dial up my grandparents. In “Never Break” Langhorne croons, “Let’s fall in love with our telephones off,” and, for the brief moment that existed in that bizarre pseudo-lounge/banquet hall, I couldn’t have agreed more. I left smiling, with a new mantra to carry me through the summer…
“Time it goes by, life it goes on/ When the light is on my side/ Love reveals itself to me/ Every garden can grow/ Every mouth can form a smile/ So let yourself go/ Ease your mind for a while.”–Linne Halpern
Purple Moon
The full moon’s silver light shone on the mountains of Telluride, my hometown. I’d just gotten home from college on the East Coast. God, was I glad to be back.
The show was up in Mountain Village, the resort counterpart to Telluride, in a relatively fancy new venue called Club Red. I must admit that for the last couple of years, I’ve been appalled by the influx of new tourists and second homeowners, mainly from Texas. Yet, we have been able to bring in some incredible musicians with the added money.
Langhorne Slim took the stage, a smaller guy with a raw voice. His presence, immediate. He introduced his first song, one that he wrote on November 9th, 2016. A woman interrupted him, “Just play the damn music!” I was aghast; she was surely a one such Texan. Yet, Langhorne wasn’t being political; he was reminding us to be open and loving with each other.
Man did their music back his message. Langhorne Slim and the Law switched between slow, bluesy songs and faster, stomping tunes. By the end, everybody was laughing, crying, dancing, and yelling.
Afterward, I sat in the silver moonlight, thinking of Langhorne’s lyrics. “Maybe it’s too soon/ under a purple moon/ but I’d ride off with you in a big balloon./ I’m going through changes, rattling cages/ I’m going through changes now.” –Sage Marshall
Linne Halpern '18 is an English and American Studies double major at Wesleyan University. She is co-founder and editor of Reverberations.
Sage Marshall '19 studies English at Wesleyan University. He is co-founder and editor of Reverberations. Follow him on Twitter @Sagafanta.
Langhorne Slim playing an encore song.