REVIEW: The Head and the Heart Celebrate 15 Years of Their Debut Record
05/07 @ Bearsville Theater, Woodstock
Photos by Catherine Windover
“We as audience members were allowed a seat in their living room right alongside them, and the love between the band members was palpable…”
At the time The Head and the Heart released their self-titled debut album, I was working retail at a certain three-letter “record store” some of you probably didn’t realize still existed. Opening the store the morning of release days had certain perks, including being able to preview the newest releases whilst doing paperwork. (Notice how I said “able” and not “allowed”...)
This CD, with its somewhat bizarro cover featuring a member of the band in a sheep mask shot on an iPhone, was pretty far down the priority list for releases, which was just fine with me. The typical rule of thumb was, the less copies we received of something, the better it probably was. What convinced me to pop it in the stereo that particular morning, though, was the seal of approval that was the Sub Pop logo on the back. The first few songs were admittedly background noise at the time — I had a job to do, after all. But then the delicate sound of “Down in the Valley” came on, and I immediately stopped whatever mundane paperwork I was doing to pay closer attention. 15 years later, that song remains one of my favorites from not only their catalog, but the genre as a whole.
Fast forward to May 7, at the beloved Bearsville Theater in Woodstock. At a time when anniversary celebration tours are all the rage, the sextet from Seattle, WA became another entry in the nostalgic music journal, performing the aforementioned debut in its entirety to celebrate a milestone, and teleporting me back in time to a former life in the process.
But first, Seattle’s The Brudi Brothers set the tone for the evening, taking the stage as if they were transported directly from a Coen Brothers movie. There was upright bass, Dobro guitar, three-part harmonies from the titular brothers, and what can only be described as a yodeling solo. The fact that a band that sounds so old-timey exists in 2026 is pretty remarkable, and they had the crowd hootin’ and hollerin’ by the end of their set.
Then came the headliners, who kicked things off as promised by performing their self-titled record front-to-back, taking their time with it in heartwarming fashion. In between songs, each of the six members took a moment to introduce a song and tell stories about the band’s early days as they lingered around a living room-style set which included vintage lamps, a coat rack displaying the mask and coat from the album’s cover, and an electric fireplace. I’m convinced I even smelled some incense in the air just to complete the scenery.
It was this setup that really laid the framework for the intimacy of the evening. We as audience members were allowed a seat in their living room right alongside them, and the love between the band members was palpable, right down to the light roasting that singer Jonathan Russell received for wearing a pair of overly baggy, striped pants he bought at a local thrift store just before the show. (They made him look like a hand drum player, as vocalist/violinist Charity Rose Thielen so lovingly described.)
Each song was performed with the spirit and care of a band that has grown for the last 15 years right alongside the album. Staple singalongs like “Rivers and Roads” and “Lost in My Mind” were belted from both the stage and the crowd with conviction. Even founding member Josiah Johnson’s songs were handled with aplomb by Matt Gervais who replaced him in the lineup in 2016. Gervais, who is also Thielen’s husband, even sounded remarkably similar in timbre and delivery, which was truly a delight for die-hard fans of the band’s debut.
Once the album was complete, the band left the stage for a brief intermission before returning to perform a second set of discography-spanning songs, including fan-favorites like “All We Ever Knew,” “Another Story,” and “Shake” alongside a few deeper cuts like “Library Magic” and recent single “Arrow.” These were performed with equal emotion and passion, the band taking plenty of opportunities to express their gratitude to the crowd for supporting them throughout their tenure.
When they left the stage, we assumed it was for good — after all, they had just performed over 20 songs — but they had one last surprise for us. Russell, Gervais and Thielen returned for a quick, stripped down encore of their Living Mirage-era song “Glory of Music,” which felt like a surprising choice for a final song, but only until you consider the lyrics within. “I believe in the glory of music…” seemed to be the perfect summation of a night spent reflecting on 15 years of releasing songs that have had staying power for both the fans and band members alike. I think it’s safe to say all of us at Bearsville that night were reminded of the glory of music, and went home a little better for it.
