In true singer-songwriter spirit, John Craigie's shows feel a bit more like intimate dialogue than performances, with their blend of humor and reflective storytelling. Feb. 15, he performs with Glen Phillips, lead singer of Toad the Wet Sprocket, at Vilar Performing Arts Center. Phillips will play the first set, then join Craigie to collaborate at the end of Craigie's set.
"We played a round at a festival recently, and it was really cool. I think it was just a long time coming," Craigie said about sharing a tour with Phillips. "He's a great storyteller. He's an amazing songwriter. He's got such a good voice and a great, gentle energy to him, and he's got all those Sprocket songs, which are forever hits, so he brings a lot."
As a musician at University of California Santa Cruz, John Craigie leaned more toward then-up-and-coming singer-songwriters like John Mayer and Jack Johnson, as opposed to the jam-band craze. And since then, the authentic honesty of singer-songwriters has gained new momentum -- just like it did in the revolutionary 1960s. These days, Craigie masterfully speaks to the issues of our modern world through the genre.
"It just was very natural for me. It felt very honest," he said. "I think I was always really into that art form. Even before the music, I enjoyed storytelling in a friend group. It was something that I think is really fun and really important. It's cool how everyone can tell a story differently -- I mean, obviously, there are facts -- but there's a different perspective and pacing, and I love that."
Alongside his regularly sold-out tours and annual river trip on the Tuolumne River outside Yosemite National Park, he has gathered fans at Newport Folk Festival, Pickathon and High Sierra Music Festival, while also hitting the road with the likes of Jack Johnson, Mason Jennings and Bella White. He gives back to people not only through the energy he delivers through his live shows, but also through initiatives like last year's holiday #KeepItWarmTour, which raised money for people experiencing food insecurity.
Meanwhile, Phillips, the primary songwriter of Toad the Wet Sprocket, has helped shaped that band's folk and pop sound with introspective lyrics, which resonated with fans. When Toad went on hiatus, Phillips turned his attention to a solo career and also collaborated with other artists.
Both Phillips and Craigie released separate albums based on the pause the pandemic brought. Phillips' "There is So Much Here" returns to themes of love, beauty and remaining present, after his previous solo, "Swallowed by the New," which revolved around grief after a divorce. He described his latest album as one about "showing up for what is and letting it be enough."
"As I sat still during the lockdown, I realized how much is always here -- in the space around me, in the sensations of my body, in the sounds and smells and tastes and thoughts that emerge and drift away. It's not a new concept, but it is a novel experience when you've spent your life running from one thing to another," he said. "With this batch of songs, I noticed I was writing hopeful music again. I'd turned the corner and was more interested in curiosity and play than I was in gazing at my navel. I was finally in a state of being that wasn't about grief and loss. Things felt doable and even exciting again."
Meanwhile, Craigie's 2022 pandemic-born album, "Mermaid Salt," inspired him to layer synthesizers and drum machines -- something he previously resisted -- to "building" the songs, rather than playing them live with a band. His themes revolved around feelings of isolation, endings and new beginnings.
With last year's release of "Pagan Church," he explored "the sound of everyone coming back out," he said, as opposed to "the sound of isolation and solitude."
He recorded the album with TK & The Holy Know-Nothings.
"We realized there was this chemistry between us," he said.
It blends acoustic, slide and bluesy guitar with Southern-style boogying electric guitar and bright organ acoustics, all in the name of channeling the power of community.
"There are a lot of things, like fun sassiness in a song called 'Judas.' That sort of sassiness is something that maybe I wouldn't have written on "Mermaid Salt" -- I wasn't really in that headspace. And I like 'Viking Sex.' There are more songs about passion and love and that kind of things that weren't on the other (albums)," he said.
Late last year, he released "Greatest Hits...Just Kidding...Live - No Hits," with an aim to make listeners feel like they are experiencing a live show with the rest of the crowd.
The Vilar's show promises to be a mix of storytelling and songs revolving around the warmth and intimacy of sharing music in community.