Thao & The Get Down Stay Down - ‘We the Common’ + Dawn Chorus
Ingredients: 1 ounce Southern Comfort, 3/4 ounce port, 1/2 ounce Punt e Mes red vermouth, 1/3 ounce fresh lemon juice, 1 teaspoon grenadine syrup, 2 ounces cola.
Mixing Instructions: Mix all ingredients, but cola into a cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass and top with cola.
Notes: The opening track of Thao Nguyen & Co.’s latest album is listed as “(For Valerie Bolden)” a reference to the young woman that Nguyen met during her first visit to San Francisco County Jail with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners. She did so while taking time away from music to live a regular life after years spent on the road touring with her band. The result of her musical sabbatical is 'We the Common', a punchy folk-jam LP mixed with beats and banjo licks that would draw smiles from fans of Dilla and Sufjan both. The type of music that begs to be played live, or at least at a party with friends and good drinks, Thao tapped John Congleton (Bill Callahan, St. Vincent, Explosions in the Sky) for the production work and the result is sonic bliss. Invite the neighbors over, mix up some cocktails that can match the fuzz of Thao’s guitar and lift your glass to an album that deepens your love a music just a little bit more.