"New River Blues" LIVE
Written by Michael Hurley
Performed by Michael Hurley and Meara O'Reilly
LIVE at Cafe du Nord, San Francisco CA
The inspirational Meara O’Reilly has a penchant for musical creativity in unexpected and varied forms. A driven interest in the realm of auditory perception has led her to build her own series of instruments for projects and performances in sound design. Her earlier involvement with a troupe of eastern woods-folks known as The Feathers was Meara’s original point of connection with Michael, playing the same venues and meeting through friends in Brightblack Morning Light. Meara’s work as Avocet, developing her singing with the chladni plate, and her collaboration with Brooke Sietinsons’ kaleidoscopic light show led to a co-tour with Michael in 2008 and some charming duets on stage (she’s the lovely lady singing “New River Blues” with him in the film). She has also performed with Lucky Dragons, Vetiver, White Magic, Deerhoof, Bill Callahan, Akron Family, and Dinosaur Jr.
Meara has worked on pieces for the Exploratorium in San Francisco, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and in collaboration artists David Wilson/Ribbons at BAM. In her focused exploration of the interaction between sound and its conduits, she is able to create a whole body experience, knowing the effect that listening to something so familiar and so other can produce on the soft unsuspecting being. To be present for a performance of Meara's is to alter your point of view.
