No, The Lovely Sparrows didn’t book a Midwest tour around their Daytrotter session, but they did make their evening with us feel like the anchor leg to their short trip north from their homes in Austin. Their set was thoroughly thought through and the crack band thrown together specifically for this tour was aligned rightly with lead singer and songwriter Shawn Jones, making forth with songs of countless sonic delights, on par with the fanciest of desserts and the choicest of coffees. We snapped a photograph of Mario-looking Sparrow Nathan Siler (Jones’ words) looking as if he was pulling a gun from his coat, but looks can be terribly deceiving. He was more into informative deep tisue massage discussion than he was about packing or unpacking heat. He introduced us to rolfing, something that we didn’t know about, by taking an elbow to Jones’ shoulder meat in between song takes. The night before, the guys stayed at a friend’s pad in Chicago on a night off, and it still being early April, the air temperatures were none too sweaty yet. They slept in a room that they thought had no heat. They toughed it out, ultimately freezing under their less than ample covering only to find out in the morning from their host that all they had to do was turn the thermostat up. Sillies. Jones reenacted his violent shivering from the night before for the Daytrotter cameras and explained how crunched in the blades he still was. That’s when the information from Siler comes in. You can still see it here on the YouTube. The Sparrows also played some pretty new songs that you’re going to like to bits and pieces. — Sean Moeller

Second song
Chemicals Change (The Lovely Sparrows) [2.70MB] [1742 downloads]


– original version appears on Pulling Up Floors, Pouring On (New) Paint
For the Daytrotter session, and the tour, we stripped this song down a bit. The cello plays some of the flute parts from the record, and then meanders here and there. This version is more upbeat than the one on the EP.