Adam Ezra Group returns to performing
On what turned out to be the worst Friday the 13th in musical history, Adam Ezra was scheduled to open for Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes in Clearwater, Florida. A pandemic had other plans, however, and the show was canceled — along with the rest of Ezra’s 2020 Get Folked solo house concert tour.
It put Ezra in a funk, and not the fun kind. Never one to stay dejected, though, he hopped onto Facebook Live to air his frustration and sing a few songs.
“It made me feel a little bit better,” he recalled by phone recently. “So I said at the end, ‘How about we do this again tomorrow?’”
Thus began The Gathering, a daily livestream that’s attracted over two million viewers, while picking up major sponsors like lifestyle company Timberland. The webcasts ran unfailingly, even when Ezra contracted Covid-19 himself, and as he and his fiancée drove a packed van from Chelsea, Mass., to their desert cabin in Joshua Tree, California.
Singing and playing on the internet was fun, but Ezra is an inveterate road dog, performing close to 200 gigs most years. So he’s stoked to be coming back to New England to play a few drive-in shows, beginning July 1 in New Bedford, Mass., and peaking on Fourth of July weekend at one of his favorite haunts, now transformed.
“I’m a big fan of Tupelo Music Hall,” Ezra said of the Derry venue, one of the first in the country to convert its parking lot into an outdoor concert facility. “It’s a really special place that obviously understands the power of community.”
Though there were a few virtual Gathering jams, this will mark the first time Ezra, fiddler Corinna Smith, drummer Alex Martin and bass player Poche Ponce have been on stage together since playing last New Year’s Eve at Tupelo, a show that was also released as a live album.
“They are my friends and my partners in crime,” Ezra said. “I missed the hell out of them, and I’m really excited to get to play music with them again. … It’s like breathing, or sharing a milkshake.”
He knows the band will need a little time to find its old form, but Ezra isn’t worried. In fact, it’s one of the things he’s looking forward to most.
“One of the things I love about our following, our fans, is that it doesn’t matter. We’re all going to be figuring it out together,” he said. “I think the mess-ups are going to be better than the parts we nail that night.”
Work on a new studio album was ended by the lockdown, but Adam Ezra Group did release “Find a Way.” The a capella song is just right for the present zeitgeist, with an exhortation to “hold onto each other” and weather crisis. The song isn’t new — Ezra released it on a solo album a while back — but the way it was redone is unprecedented.
“I thought, how can what we’re doing musically help impact the message of the song as powerfully as possible, and four voices depending on each other to create chords and make the music happen felt like the perfect metaphor,” he said, noting that AEG had never worked that way before. “We do not feel comfortable when we don’t have our instruments in front of us, right? That’s just who we are.”
After living in near isolation since early May, Ezra is happy to be returning to music. He’s also amazed at what transpired, including a bout with the virus that wasn’t life-threatening but was very uncomfortable, and time allowed for reflection that he never expected given his lifestyle.
“Can you think of anything that would force us all to analyze life more deeply than having to shut down the engine and stay put for three months no matter where you are? This is part of my life forever … just like touring. The marriage of the two is going to be the sweet spot for me.”