W.S. Walcott Medicine Show

(Snocaps and Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Gang @ Bowery Ballroom: 2025-12-08)

 

Despite some teasing on their socials back in early October that something might be afoot, it came as fairly shocking news when sisters Crutchfeld (Allison & Katie) along with MJ Lenderman and Brad Cook dropped a new album on Halloween under the band moniker “Snowcaps”.  Furthermore the group would be playing a VERY limited run of shows in very small venues in LA, NY and Chicago.  Needless to say, tickets sold out in no time whatsoever and they soon became the toughest of tough to acquire (even on the very pricey aftermarkets).

The 7 date mini-tour came to its conclusion on Monday night at New York’s Bowery Ballroom where the room was so packed that there was barely room to move from the edge of the stage all the way back to the bar.  This, however, didn’t prevent the adoring fans from enjoying what was truly a special kind of musical evening.  I know I tend to throw superlatives around a lot in the course of these writeups but let me be very clear, this show had a magical feel to it. The fact that the band has been very explicit that once these shows were completed (aside from a one off festival set at Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky Festival in Riviera Maya, Mexico in late January) this little project would be put to bed certainly played into this “special” feeling for the night.

The night’s festivities started off with Ryan Davis and The Roadhouse Band.  This group released one of my favorite albums of the year in their New Threats From The Soul collection, so I was particularly excited to see them.  Davis writes VERY long songs and by long songs I mean songs with lots of words and by lots of words, I mean “Desolation Row”, “Sad Eyed Lady, Of The Lowlands” kind of words.  As such, I have to say that

I wasn’t the only one in attendance that was curious as to how this would play out in a live setting.  Let me just say that Davis and the 7 piece Roadhouse Band absolutely just blew me away.  With a singing style very reminiscent of the late great David Berman of Silver Jews and Purple Mountains fame, Davis performed with an understated magnetism that was nothing short of captivating.  And the Roadhouse Gang just lit the house on fire with their crack musicianship and endless energy.

Playing a set of six songs, five of which were from New Threats along with “Junk Drawer Heart” and “Free From The Guillotine” from 2023’s Dancing On The Edge collection. The bottom line is that if it weren’t for what lie in store from Snocaps with their set, I would say that Davis and The Roadhouse Gang stole the show, but Katie & Allison would have none of that.

As has been the case with the previous shows on this run, Snowcaps opened with “Coast”, the lead track off of the album.  And right from the get-go, as soon as the band kicked in after the quiet opening lines of “Close your eyes in the passenger seat, Remember you can trust me, I am not as evil as you think, But I know sometimes, It’s easier for me to “ one could tell that each and every member of the band was not only content but more so, happy to be doing what they were doing.  Jake Lenderman on the drums seemed as

comfortable on the skins as someone who regularly plays drums professionally and Brad Cook on bass just might have been the person on stage having the best time of all.  Next up we would get beautiful versions of “Wasteland” and “Brand New City” followed by the first of what would be many older songs.  This one would be a Waxahatchee song, the driving “Silver” from 2017’s Out In The Storm an album which was the last time Katie Crutchfield delved in indie rock before her moving over to the more Americana sounds of St. Cloud and Tigers Blood.  Following a couple more songs off of Snocaps, we got the first P.S. Eliot song of the evening in “Incoherent Love Song” from Introverted Romance In Our Troubled Mind, a bouncy energetic jump up and down and dance tune dating back to 2009.  Here might be as good a time as any to lament the beauty of listening to Katie and Allison sing together.  Oftentimes, on record it’s hard to discern who is singing what because they do sound very similar.  Allison’s vocals tend to be a little more raspy than Katie’s, with Katie perhaps with a slightly higher range.  That being said, when they sing together it’s just sheer beauty. On “Incoherent Love Song”, when they get to the bridge the two kind of did an acapella rap of the lines: 

but its fine because i’m already hardly alive

and keep on holding on, hostile or withdrawn

its our will, our way, live through it everyday

and i don’t really care to stop it because we’ve

brought it all on ourselves for so long

and it helps us to remain valiant

And it was just perfect.  The sisters for the most part do not sing harmony but rather sing in the same register and its almost as if you’re hearing a live overdub of the same singer but with just enough nuanced differentiation to create quite the memorable blend.

Swearin’s “Dust In The Gold Sack” would follow with its quieter vocal from Allison backed by a cacophony of noisy guitar from her and fellow guitarist Colin Croom.

A while ago Katie had said in an interview about the possibility of her ever revisiting some of her older material to which she stated that she found much of the earlier stuff a little cringy at this point.  Well I for one am glad she’s come around on these feelings as our next song, a short yet sweet version of “Coast to Coast” off of Cerulean Salt was a real treat.

The rest of the set would continue with the remaining songs from Snocaps along with another Sweain’ and one more P.S. Eliot tune.  Upon their return to the stage for their encore, Allison explained how they had made a concerted effort throughout the dates thus far to play different songs for each of their encores, but since this was going to be their last show they were going to repeat a couple because it just wouldn’t be fair not to play them, so we would get a couple of extra songs as a result.  Allison would then jump right into Swearin’s  “Big Change” followed by Katie’s intro to Waxahatchee’s “Be Good” from American Weekend where she explained as she adjusted her capo that the higher the capo, the older the song.  Of course “Be Good”, dating back to 2012,  was one of the older Waxahatchee tunes we would get on the evening.  The next song, “Bathtub” also from American Weekend would have Katie pushing her capo even further up her guitar neck to which she jokingly said, “see what I mean?”

The night would end with two more P.S Eliot songs, “Tennessee” and full on rocking onslaught on “Like How You Are” complete with Allison taking over duties on the drums while MJ came out from behind the kit to assume guitar slinging duties.  And just like that the night was done after close to an hour and a half of majestic and magical music.  I don’t know if Snocaps will resurrect itself any time in the near or distant future but if they shouldn’t it’ll all be OK because they proved that such a project can succeed on their own terms.  The musicians who were part of this musical group came together out of a love for the music and created a fantastic album of memorable music, took it on the road (albeit a very short and limited access road) and had a completely great time doing it with no industry pressure from above or within.  It all makes you wish that this kind of thing could be done more often by artists.  As some dinosaur rock stars once said, “It’s only rock and roll, but I like it” 

Snocaps …Full Slideshow:

Snocaps Setlist:

Coast
Wasteland
Brand New City
Silver
Angel Wings
Over Our Heads
Incoherent Love Songs
Dust in the Gold Sack
Hide
Cherry Hard Candy
Doom
Coast to Coast
Avalanche
Movie Star
I Don’t Want To
Heathcliff
Shitty and Tragic
You in Rehab
Encore:

Big Change
Be Good
Bathtub
Just
Tennessee
Like How You Are

Ryan Davis & The Roadside Band…Full Slideshow:

Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Gang Setlist:

The Simple Joy
Monte Carlo / No Limits
Junk Drawer Heart
New Threats from the Soul
Crass Shadows (at Walden Pawn) Free from the Guillotine