The buzz has been on for a while in Eureka Springs, (Arkansas) that the current band to hear, which I kept missing, was Opal Agafia and the Sweet Nothings. I heard it enough from people whose opinions I trusted to believe it was true, but upon hearing that Ron Landis was a member, playing, no doubt, any stringed instrument they put in front of him, I was sold.
When I saw that Opal and the boys were doing a Colorado tour and their Colorado debut in Boulder was to be the night before The Rocky Mountain Folks Festival begins just up the road in Lyons, I was determined to be there for that.
Last night, I was.
Opal Agafia and the Sweet Nothings are the real deal. A new and unique deal. They boast a big sound: a wall of layers in a semicircle around that voice and her songs — all stirred into a gumbo of familiar genres and feels and tastes, rendering something all their own, yet familiar.
Opal’s vocals are big like Janis, pure like Joni and 100% born of her roots and soul like Mavis — Opal’s roots being the Arkansas Ozarks; her soul her own.
For all the people who think I mean Appalachian when I say I am an Ozarks hillbilly, come hear what Arkansas done good sounds like.
Keep an eye on these folks.
My Colorado peeps can catch them the next two nights in Denver and in Buena Vista Sunday the 20th. I will be seeing them again in the Ozarks at The Hillberry Harvest Moon Festival October 15-18 outside Eureka Springs, Arkansas I hope many of my friends will check out the top-shelf line-up playing with them at Hillberry and join me there.
#goodworkifyoucangetit