Marcus Mumford in Portland, OR – September 27, 2022
Danielle Ponder
A former public defender in Rochester, NY, Danielle Ponder walked away from her day job to devote herself to songwriting full time in 2018. Her debut album, Some of Us Are Brave, incorporates musical influences ranging from ’90’s East Coast hip-hop, blues, pop, R&B and a little bit of rock to embody her soulful songwriting.
Ponder’s stage presence is notable in her strength in her powerful voice and storytelling on stage, bringing the audience to laughs in her telling of her backstory “Biggie”, her one sided love affair with a married man. Ponder absolutely set the stage for the evening for compelling music.
Marcus Mumford
Walking out on stage by himself, with only his guitar, Mumford opened the show with a crowd favorites “Awake My Soul” and “The Cave”. Recanting his day to the audience, in a ‘dear diary’ sort of way, Mumford welcomed his full band on stage, and promised to play his new album Self Titled in its entirety, with a little bit of fun at the end if we made it all the way through.
With a departure from his previous music, Mumford’s new album speaks of his personal healing journey, taking the audience for an emotional journey of pain and forgiveness, which is the exact reason the album needs to be played in its entirety to understand and appreciate the soul wrenching exploration of one’s experiences. And as promised, the encore brought The New Basement Tapes’ “Kansas City” to a round of standing applause.