Review: Trevor Gordon Hall at Host Church 05/11/13

Kaki King was hard to follow. But Trace Bundy is just that good. I’d put the shows about on the same level, but from very different perspectives. But how do you top Kaki King, followed by Trace Bundy? Isn’t that today’s challenges? We can see anything we want on youtube, so what sets your live show apart enough to justify getting out of the house?

The answer? One of two things – either something completely unrelated, but equally great, like following Kaki and Trace with Between the Buried and Me… Either that, or another of the same general genre, but different enough and better enough to be viewed in a completely different light. Standing with the indie rock percussive fingerstyle goddess, Kaki King, and the acoustic ninja, himself, Trace Bundy?? Yes, you get someone who can stand shoulder to shoulder with the best of the best.

Enter, Trevor Gordon Hall. Remember, the guy with the kalimba on his guitar?

So I went up to see Trevor at this little church in the middle of nowhere, with Kelly and Andrew; Brad met up with us later. We get to this place and there are like 10 cars and not another man-made structure in sight. There are fields in every direction. Also, a massive cemetery. Like, probably enough graves for each person in the town… I'm expecting a pretty bum crowd.

But pretty much, in spite of the few cars we saw, the whole town was there; 180 pre-sales and a super packed sanctuary. Since no one ever sits in the front pew of a church, we grabbed those seats to get a close up view.

Once we get to the actual show, we get to how Trevor can stand up next to Kaki and Trace.

First, there is a huge difference in stage presence. Kaki King has a bit of an edge; she’s got that lesbian cult following thing going on and she’ll curse on stage. She’s not a full-blown story-teller, but she can hold a conversation with the audience. It’s unfiltered and personal. Trace Bundy, on the other hand, is a story-teller. He’s animated and his stories are entertaining and fun; he’ll keep you laughing. He’s still personable, but the stories start to be as much of a performance as the music itself.

Trevor Gordon Hall, on the other hand, is a bit more serious; he's very collected and intentional. When he plays, he’s playing for the intellectual, musical side of things; not focusing on entertainment. Even his innovation of the Kalimbatar is completely void of gimmick, solely focusing on blending two logically complimenting instruments. He wants you to think and to analyze what the music, itself, is. He does throw some humor in here and there, but it’s not quite as intentional as the others.

These characteristics are all reflections of the individual’s personality, though it’s also a reflection of the actual music. See, Kaki King has all of these playful tunes, mixed with some spiteful ones, and a bunch of lost-love songs. It’s very emotionally driven and has a lot of attitude behind it. And you see that. Trace Bundy, like I said, is a story-teller; his songs tell stories; they take you on an adventure. What you get from these two is that the music is the way it is …because it is the way it is.

Trevor doesn’t have too much adventure behind his songs, nor does he have a lot of pent up emotion being released. But his music has a certain depth to it that you don’t see too often. As he introduces each song, you hear references to philosophers, literature, and classic film. His latest album, after all, is titled, Entelechy, which is “… the philosophy of Aristotle, the condition of a thing whose essence is fully realized.” His works are striving towards the fully realized potential of himself, of music, and of the guitar.

Each of these performers have their pros and their own style of performing that make their shows unique. Trace has performance and entertainment nailed. Kaki King has variety and flare. And Trevor has depth and, arguably, some of the best guitar chops you will ever get to see/hear.

Though I would/will see them all again, I’m gonna have to give the top spot to Trevor. Perhaps I have a bias? A) I played a gig with the guy B) I take lessons from him when we’re both around C) he played at my wedding… But when it comes down to music, and strictly music, Trevor takes the cake.

Here are a few videos…

...an intro to the Kalimbatar

And this one just blows my mind...

Guitar Lessons

You won’t get better if you surround yourself with mediocrity. Sure, if you’re any good, you’ll stand out in a mediocre crowd, but you’ll stagnate. And where does stagnation and mediocrity get you? Nowhere.

The key is to continue learning in whatever you do. And you need to learn from the best. The guy down the hall in your college dorm may have put together this really catchy tune using garage band, but you’ll be hard-pressed to learn much from him. Using garage band is great, but to be a recording engineer, you need a lot more. Likewise, his one song won’t help to teach you how to compose. The I, IV, V and gritty vocals won’t quite get you to the top.

Now I’m not saying you need to necessarily take music theory classes or even lessons, but you do need to be immersed in exceptional talent in some way.

In my time at Messiah, I listened to tons of mediocre singer/songwriters who played all the same songs, all the same way. Of those, there were a few gems who were inspiring; who could teach you something. And you could learn something from them. Those were the people I tried to surround myself with, musically. The few collaborations I did in my time there, especially, were huge growth experiences.

Since then? I’ve got a single room in a city that tries, but doesn’t do anything great. I’ve met a ton of great people at open mics, but I can’t walk down the hall at 2 am to find someone to give me a hand with a new composition. I’ve played guitar more than I got to at school, but there’s been something missing.

Within the percussive fingerstyle genre, who do I really have to look to? Trace Bundy, Andy McKee, Antoine DuFour? Since I can obviously just stroll over to their respective houses and soak up their imparted knowledge and skill… Right. It’s not that easy. It never is.

Then one day I get this email. Along with hundreds, if not thousands, of others… I mean, it’s mass fan-mail. This guy I had a gig with a couple years back had some slots open for lessons.

Now those that know me …like really know me – know that that would never entice me. I’ve recently talked about taking cello lessons or jazz lessons, but regular guitar lessons? I took lessons eons ago and quitting them was one of the best things for my progress. They were great to start, but I was just sitting there learning other people’s songs that I didn’t want to learn. That’s not me. So why would I want to take lessons ever again?

Well, see a few years ago I played a gig with a guy by the name of Trevor Gordon Hall. A percussive fingerstyle guitarist who loops, uses distortion, and does everything with tonal perfection. I’ve never known anyone to have better tone. Ever. Hands down. Ever. I have never met a single guitarist with better tone than this guy. EVER. If you follow my blogging at all, you’ll see his name pop up every once in a while with regard to innovation and tone.

So lessons with Trevor? He’s right outside of Philly; actually only 5 minutes from Kelly’s parents place… So I gave it a try. I’ve had two lessons and feel I’ve made years worth of progress. I’m doing things I didn’t know I didn’t know. And I’m practicing?!?! For the past 8 years, my practice has consisted of me writing new material. Practice wasn’t working out kinks or getting better, but writing new, exciting things. That’s how I practiced. Over the past two weeks, I’ve practiced only finger exercises, fingerpicking technique, arpeggios, sweeps, and scales.

It’s enlightening. It really is. This guy makes me feel like I know nothing about playing guitar. Every time I sit down to practice I can see and hear where I am getting better. Whatever is going to transpire of this will blow minds. In the meantime, I’ll be locked in my room.

Review: Christmas Music (Trevor Gordon Hall - Let Your Heart Be Light)

Christmas music sucks. It's the same songs, year after year, played incessantly for more than a month straight of EVERY SINGLE YEAR. It doesn't matter that there are new artists singing them; they're doing nothing new. For this reason, I limit myself to only listening to Christmas music at church and on Christmas and Christmas eve. That's it.

And it's not me being anti-Christmas or anything. I hate the commercialization of it and the music; that's it.

Needless to say, my expansive music collection has chosen to skip over the Christmas-themed music. I have 3 Christmas albums: the RelientK one from when I was in middle school, my friend Matt's band, and Trevor Gordon Hall's, Let Your Heart Be Light, The Christmas Album. I haven't listened to the Relient K one in eons and, honestly, I haven't unwrapped Matt's yet. If I try to preempt the Christmas music strike, bad things happen.

But somewhat out of obligation, I decided to take a risk this year. A HUGE risk. About a week ago, I got out Trevor's album and threw it in my car. I replaced the live August Burns Red album (that I was at the show for!) to listen to Christmas music?! And I'm there asking myself, Why?!


It's Trevor Gordon Hall. He's a musical genius, innovator, and a friend. My logic was that if anyone could do Christmas music right, it'd be a guy with vision like Trevor's. But the whole time I'm nervous. I REALLY don't like Christmas music. I'm thinking to myself, will my respect for Trevor disintegrate after hearing this? Am I going to impulsively drive into oncoming traffic to stop this? What will happen if I actually do like it?! How should I feel?


Yes, I did wonder ALL of those things. But in a moment of trust, I hit play and began my venture to work. It's less than 20 minutes, so I figured, worst case, it'd be a crappy morning drive.


I didn't expect, however, to pop the disc out and take it in to work with me. But sometimes you're broadsided like that. I had high hopes and reasonable expectations, but this album I would listen to year-round.

Here's the breakdown:

It starts out with Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas; commercialized and generic, but fresh. It's got a nice intro tacked onto it and some good harmonic work throughout.

Next is I Saw Three Ships. This is played in a very Trace Bundy-like style; some nice finger work to start off, followed by a very bouncy rhythm that has you bopping back and forth to the music.

O Holy Night follows with a more traditional sound, but done very elegantly. It's got a Don Ross feel to it. Nice and peaceful with few surprises, but just a generally good sounding piece.

The First Noel starts out with The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire). It's a good, familiar way to lead into the meat of the song. What got me about this one, time and time again, was how organic it sounded; there is so much string noise in all of the right places. So many people try to remove any extraneous noises when these are the ones that make the guitar sing.

White Christmas - from the start you've got this big, resonating harmonic. The song is big and open. A lot of times guys will try to cram as many notes as possible into these songs, but this is the perfect balance.

Frosty the Snowman - pretty typical, but spiced up with some sleigh bells and harmonica part way through the song.

Auld Lang Syne - he brings in a Rhodes and a glockenspiel for this song. I love the sound of glock and guitar. Matt Stevens turned me onto that. There's just something about that mellow bell-like resonance... It's a great arrangement.

Silver Bells - it starts out with what sounds like a ukulele and then gets some nice slide work overlaid on top. It's adds a nice mix to the album. If I had to guess, there's also some looping going on here, as Trevor does some pretty crazy stuff live and would probably be able to do the whole thing live...

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - fretless bass intro. YES! It's super smooth and is coupled with a slow gear kinda volume swell effect on the guitar. There is actually a lot more focus on the bass than the guitar on this one - which on a 15 track album makes for a good break.

Christmas Time Is Here - this brings you back to the guitar-centricity of the album. It's got some nice quiet acoustic parts and then jazzy, lightly distorted leads with a hint of delay, over top.

Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep) - is that an e-bow? The spacey, sustain of an e-bow really adds to an album that is, overall, a little slower. Good call by Trevor.

Angels We Have Heard On High - it's nothing exciting, but definitely helps to bring the album together more. It's one of those things I guess you expect to hear, and, like many other tracks on this album, can take you back to the stripped-down simplicity of the original hymns.

Edelweiss - throughout the album, there a few places where Trevor uses an e-bow really subtly. It's one of those things that differentiates between good and great. Here's another instance of that.

Christmas Medley - Usually the contents of a song like this would be enough Christmas music for me for the year. Instead, I've listened to this album maybe 10 times so far. It really is that good.

And there's a bonus track. You'll have to check that one out for yourself...


So tonight and tomorrow you need to listen to this. It is literally the only album on my approved Christmas music list.

spotify: Trevor Gordon Hall – Let Your Heart Be Light - The Christmas Album


not on the album, but SO GOOD live -