7/21 - Wine Rack Soundtrack with Byron Isaacs
of the Lumineers, Lost Leaders, and previously of Ollabelle & Levon Helm Band.
One of my favorite collaborative productions to date, Byron Isaacs’s show in NYC was an amazing step out of quarantine imposed on events by the pandemic in 2020 & 2021. Together, Byron & I worked on a program to share his history of music - a legacy going back (in the spotlight, at least) to the early 2000’s, highlighting music from all of the groups mentioned above, as well as his solo efforts that stay current to the very month we presented.
July 2021 - Wine Rack Soundtrack with Byron Isaacs of the Lumineers, Lost Leaders, and previously of Ollabelle & Levon Helm Band.
Photo by Jamie Kalikow
Fortunately, Byron knows a thing or two about wine! Definitely a pleasure to chat with on the subject- he made a great effort to ensure we were choosing all the right tunes to size up to what would reach the audience’s palate. We narrowed down a number of songs, a few unreleased even, that did just that.
We presented at the brand new location of my venue management alma mater, City Winery in New York. For the show, I curated 4 City Winery wines from various vintages, including their ‘19 Sauvignon Blanc from Lake County, CA, their ‘17 Roussanne and ‘19 Grenache, both from Mendocino County, and their ‘19 Merlot from Finger Lakes, NY. In that order, the audience enjoyed these wines with each duo of songs below:
You Can Tell Me Anything (Solo) - Lake County Sauv Blanc
Man of the Times (Solo) - Lake County Sauv Blanc
Heaven’s Pearls (Ollabelle) - Mendocino Roussanne
I Should Love You More (Solo) - Mendocino Roussanne
The Line The Lie (Lost Leaders) -Mendocino Grenache
[there’s another song here I’m forgetting, help, Byron!] - Grenache
Isolation (Solo) -Finger Lakes Merlot
Calvary (Levon Helm) -Finger Lakes Merlot
In preparation for the show, we also did an exclusive Instagram Live session, available to view on my IG, where Byron performed his solo original “Almost Gone” with Olivier Minot’s “La Boutanche” 2020 Beaujolais..
