Moments: Night 23 on The Rock and Roll Highway with Angela Perley and The Floorwalkers | Columbus, OH

7/17/14
I woke up in Bloomington not knowing where or if I’d be heading out that day. The night before had been a wonderful rest stop catching up with the incredible photographer, Joni Bilderback. I met her in magical Marfa Texas over a year ago and it was awesome to cross paths again. She gave me a fabulous place to rest in the coolest house! She introduced me to some of the best cheesey pizza w/ranch that I have ever had.
nom nom nom! thanks for the hospitality, Joni!

I messaged a band I found in Columbus, which looked to be a good next point, during the night while hanging with Joni but had gotten no reply in the morning. I laid in the comfy bed and weighed my options… sleep and rest for a day? or see what discovery lay down the road? Both sounded awesome, so while chilling in the comfy den bed, I pulled my computer over and did a search for live music in Columbus and found a link that I had not seen on my search the night before. A band called The Floorwalkers was playing and they had a badass video that I watched immediately 6 times in row. YES. This was the show, this was the reason the other band hadn’t written me back. Opening for The Floorwalkers was a band called Angela Perley & The Howlin’ Moons. I pulled her up on facebook and found we had one friend in common, a fantastic music man out of Nashville named Andrew Leahey. I hit up Andrew and he put me in touch with Angela. Things always happen for a reason and I knew I was meant to discover their music. I was psyched and hit the road.

I walked over to The Columbus Bicentennial Pavilion and found one heck of a great spot in the middle of Columbus, Ohio. One end of the commons had a huge stage covered by a white fabric canopy structure and a sprawling lawn lined with food trucks lining either side. This spot is fantastic. The lovely people that I met told me about the year long concerts and events that the city throws here. Every town needs one of these!!

Angela was just finishing up her sound check so we chatted for a moment and then since there was some time to kill before the set, I went and took a shower and attempted to download some of the prior nights awesome. I was excited to see Angela, I had heard great things about her from Andrew!

Angela Perley & The Howlin’ Moons ROCK. They opened the gorgeous night with a magnetic, swaggering and soulful performance. Angela’s beautiful voice went from delicate and vulnerable to commanding and powerful. She is the real deal with charisma to boot. (She also wears fantastic boots and awesome throwback 50’s sunglasses). Their sound is a bit bluesey, a bit country, a bit rock and roll with a lil bit of folk to warm up the mix. And boy are they beloved, the people gathered for the show are die hard fans with good reason. The Howlin’ Moons deliver a damn fine show and if that wasn’t good enough, Angela plays a handsaw. She makes that saw sing in ways that I didn’t know it could. It was downright beautiful and eerie and all around awesome.

Next up were The Floorwalkers & their video had me psyched and their show took my expectations to the next level. They are soul. They are funk. They are folk. They are rock. They are reggae. They are a little bit swing. They are badass. The show was diverse, polished, highly energetic and absolutely engaging. I found myself boogying more than creating images and I had to remind myself to keep looking for the magical moments instead of losing myself in the music. The entire crowd was INTO IT, the expansive lawn was now full of dancing, grinning folks who were in on the secret of this local Columbus band. Fans pointed to their ‘Support Local Music’ hoodies and then at the band. The Floorwalkers are posed to become everyone’s favorite local band across the USA. They will boogie their way into everyone’s hearts with just one listen. & if all that isn’t enough, they rock kazoo’s.