Review: Mandolin Orange brought Americana magic to Red Butte

By Joshua Wood | [email protected] 

Mandolin Orange warmed up a cool August evening with their evocative storytelling and trademark musicianship. The Americana/folk duo played for a sold-out Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre on Aug. 7 and followed opening act Anais Mitchell.

Mandolin Orange opened their set with “Golden Embers,” the lead track off their latest album “Tides of a Teardrop.” With lines like “Her memory will ever shine like golden embers in the night” starting off their set, the duo set the tone for a concert heavy on lyrical storytelling and dynamic playing.

Backed by drums, stand-up bass, and guitar, Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz took turns on vocals and acoustic guitar. The talented couple from North Carolina showcased the musicianship for which they are known. Marlin’s trademark mandolin ranged from sorrowful to shout-out joyous, while Frantz offered both haunting and playful moments on violin.

Red Butte Amphitheatre offered an ideal setting for the performance. Frantz commented from the stage that in her green room in Red Butte’s rose garden, she tried to match her outfit to the surroundings. “We get to play some pretty beautiful places in the summer,” she said. “And this is right up there.”

Meanwhile, the cool, still evening blended well with the band’s thoughtful lyrics and tempo. As Marlin sang “Everything's so great can't get better, makes me wanna cry/That I'll go out howling at the moon tonight” from his song “The Wolves,” a first-quarter moon swooned across the night sky. Behind the band, banks of stage lights intersected forming purple clouds of light that rose and vanished in time.

Anais Mitchell set the tone for the evening as a capable opening act. She traveled to Salt Lake from Steamboat Springs, Colorado where she and guitarist Austin Evans also opened for Mandolin Orange. In the setting sun, dragonflies fluttered over the Red Butte crowd as Mitchell sang in her strong, breathy voice.

Mitchell closed her set with “Morning Glory,” preceded by songs from her the Broadway musical she wrote entitled “Hadestown,” which won eight Tony Awards. She closed with “Why We Build the Wall,” which was written in 2006 but seemed prescient years later. “The wall keeps out the enemy,” she sang, “and we build the wall to keep us free.”

Mandolin Orange continued the evening’s storytelling with numbers like “Jump Mountain Blues,” a song based on a Virginia story about a young woman who jumped off the namesake mountain when her father refused to allow her to marry her true love. Marlin sings, “Every little thought of you is a small reminder of my regrets,” as the heartbroken father sees his daughter’s ghost jump from that mountain again every night.

Mournful stories told through the mandolin, violin and powerful voices gave way to moments like “Waltz About Whiskey” in which Marlin sings, “Now the only thing I know of a ring is the circle my glass leaves behind.”

One of the highlights of the performance was “Wildfire,” a song about the Civil War and the hatred from the era that should have died long ago. Marlin sang, “The South was spent/But its true demise was hatred, passed down through the years.” He concludes singing that he was born a Southern son where they swear the South will rise again, but when it died “hate should have gone with it/But here we are, caught in the wildfire.”

It was fitting that Mandolin Orange played an instrumental tribute to American folk, country, and bluegrass composer, John Harford. With masterful musicianship, dynamic performance, and lyrics as haunting as the voices that sing them, Mandolin Orange showed how they carry on the legacy of their musical heroes and forebears.