Jason Anderson bringing 'First Light' in return to Seacoast to play book Book and Bar

PORTSMOUTH — It’s been seven years since Jason Anderson last played his home state of New Hampshire (and nearly a decade since his last seacoast appearance). But that’s all about to change as he makes his way back on Saturday, April 22 for a very special performance at the Book & Bar here in Portsmouth.

The trek from New Brunswick, where he now resides, marks the start of his first tour since the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020. Which isn’t to say he hasn’t been busy. He has been writing countless tunes (releasing EPs and a new full-length record along the way) and regularly taking his show to livestream platforms.

Seacoastonline caught up with the prolific singer songwriter to trace some roots, discuss the events of the last few years, and what excites him about setting foot back on his native soil.

Seacoastonline: New Hampshire. You’re coming home. How long has it been since you’ve played a gig in your home state?

Anderson: It’s been way too long! The last one that comes to mind was 2016 at White Park in Concord as part of Matt and Luke Bonner’s awesome Rock On Fest. I love how much those two give back to the state. I’ll never forget playing their “Sneakers and Speakers” show in Portsmouth in 2014. A lot of amazing things happened that day (like seeing Okkervil River absolutely tear it up!) but the memory that stands out most is Maggie Hassan (then governor, now U.S. senator) watching me and the band from side stage and then shaking my hand afterwards and saying something incredibly touching like, “New Hampshire is proud to have artists like you.” That was wild! Like, wow, thank you, Maggie!

Seacoastonline: How long has it been since you last toured?

Anderson: Oh, I did a couple short jaunts in the fall of 2019 and early 2020, as well. Good times, all systems go, and I was set to head out again in March of 2020 when everything ... changed. Needless to say, those March shows didn’t happen!

Seacoastonline: What took you to New Brunswick where you currently reside? What do you dig about it?

Anderson: My amazing wife is from Ontario. The two of us were living in Toronto when she finished graduate school and was subsequently offered a job out in sweet New Brunswick. It seemed like a serendipitous opportunity to move to a smaller place, be closer to nature (there are a lot of moose in this province!), and get in the Northeast zone. We’re now sort of triangulated between Maine, Québec, and the ocean, which is a pretty nice place to be. Lots of hiking and swimming and opportunities to explore places like Nova Scotia and PEI. Happy to be here!

Seacoastonline: Man, you kept me going during the height of the pandemic. Your livestreams were so dang fine. Was it weird to do those shows? It seemed like you lacked no energy given that there was nobody physically present (outside of your lady, of course…) What was that entire experience like? Seems like you kept a pretty regular cadence going, which I and so many others considered one of the highlights of our week. Thank you.

Anderson: Thanks so much for saying that, Chris. I’ve honestly been kind of blown away by the feedback I’ve received over the last few years from folks who have connected with those livestreams. It’s really humbling because the online shows themselves have been such a lifeline for me and I’m honored that people took the time to not only check them out but truly engage. What started as a creative way to continue performing in isolation quickly took on a life of its own as the audience around these virtual events grew. At this point I’ve logged over 150 (!) concerts from home and, honestly, each one has inspired and surprised me in different ways. Of course, singing into a phone will never be the same as sharing physical space in a venue. But maybe what made these digital gigs so successful is that I never pretended it was the same, while at the same time sort of always carrying on as if it, in fact, was. Whatever the case, what a delight to see this admittedly strange platform become something totally unique and uniquely compelling in its own way. I am so very happy about that. And proud of it, too. More than anything just grateful for the outlet and appreciative of all the people who logged on to be a part of it.

Seacoastonline: Let’s trace some roots. Why music? What got you interested in pursuing it? What’s kept you at it all these years?

Anderson: I have to 100% credit some awesome women in my family. My great grandmother had an incredible record collection, walls and walls of vinyl, and used to send our family these eclectic mix tapes in the mail. All sorts of stuff. Country music, Christmas music, each cassette dutifully labeled with her beautiful cursive handwriting. As I got a little older, she, along with my aunt, another music fanatic, started sending me musical care packages. I can still remember getting a dub of "Born in the USA" with a black and white photocopy of the LP insert and liner notes! Then they sent "We Are the World!" So those two, my great grandmother and my Aunt Carol Jean, they lit the fire in me for sure, which was then so tenderly nurtured by my grandma, who was the very first one to sit me down at a piano and start to teach me to play and remained such a support and source of encouragement through the years. And indeed, ever since then, music has been such an irrepressible part of me. There’s something about music, both listening to it and performing it, that, for me, is an intensely centering practice. It brings all sorts of things: energy, calm, joy, release. And I am as big a fan of the form as I am a practitioner of it. Maybe even more so!

Seacoastonline: Can you remember your first gig? What was the scene like?

Anderson: Both of them happened in Concord! First gig in the audience was at a Beatles tribute band at Capitol Center for the Arts with my dad. It was amazing. And so amazing of him to take me. He was wonderful like that. (My second concert was the two of us, again, at Lollapalooza 92! Just think, my dad and I saw Ministry together!) First gig on stage was at THUMS (Thursday’s Underground Music Stage) with my mom. It also felt amazing which is different than it actually being amazing but for a bunch of literal kids from northwest Merrimack County it truly was everything. It was an open mic situation and our parents had to be there because we were all very underage. I remember reading about THUMS in the Concord Monitor, always seeing the listing for it, how cool it looked, THUMS in caps lock and bolded font, and one day thinking “heck, we can do this.” Which, technically, as musicians, we very much couldn’t, (and also as 15-year-olds we also very much legally couldn’t), but we totally did anyway. How beautiful. Go for it, always!

Seacoastonline: Was there an experience in particular that led you to spending your scratching that musical itch?

Anderson: I have always just loved the performing arts so much and have always had such an omnivorous appetite for it. (My very earliest musical memories are three I could not get enough of at the time (and still love): the "Annie" soundtrack, the Beatles, and the theme song from "Fraggle Rock!") My parents exposed me and my brother and sister to so much music and film and theatre when we were little. There were always records on at home, tapes on in the car for family road trip singalongs, and they took us to movies and plays, too. I remember sitting on the couch in the living room listening to "Abbey Road" and "Let it Be" over and over and over again. We still put on an original Christmas pageant every year for my mom and dad in that same living room, that’s one of our big family traditions. The cast has grown over the years with spouses and kids. It’s great. One year my siblings were with their in-laws, so it was just me and my uncle and we still did it! The show must go on!

Seacoastonline: You seemingly thrive off of performing for people and feeding off of the aura that surrounds a room full of people feeding off of you feeding off of them. I distinctly remember shows at the Red Door in Portsmouth where you’d wind up stepping off the stage and just engaging the audience completely acoustic, smack dab in the middle of the room. Magical nights. What do you get out of performing?

Anderson: Music has always felt deeply relational to me. In this way, especially in the live context, I have come to think of my songs as a conversation and my shows as a community. I love the feeling of sharing space in the present tense, of feeling both totally free and totally focused all at once. What a rush. When performing I feel 100% myself and 100% in the moment. What a gift! And if I can be (or at least try my hardest to be) a catalyst to help put the audience at a show in that place? That, in many ways, has been my life’s work as a musician. And, you know, guitar solos and stuff. Kidding. But it truly feels actualizing, what music can do! So, I chase that. Every show has that moment where you feel like you’re right there in it, as opposed to outside of it observing. And some shows feel that way from start to finish. Those are the magic ones. When I get to be a part of something like that it makes me feel more alive than I ever have.

Seacoastonline: You’re a prolific writer. Much like our mutual pal Guy Capecelatro, you never stop. What inspires so much lyrical output?

Anderson: Guy is a national treasure. I love him so much and am perennially in awe of his output. And it’s all so good! For me, a big part of the songwriting process is simply a love of language. I have always loved words. I love Boggle and Scrabble and I love the New York Times crossword. I love etymology and idioms and the stories held within linguistics. And most of all I love books. So, there is this love of language. And then that collides with this love of experiences, things that happen off the page, so to speak, and how experiences, macro ones like travel and micro ones like conversation, will inevitably inform our creative processes. I had a poetry professor tell me once, “We’re in the business of taking in the world.” That’s it.

Seacoastonline: Your latest record is “First Light.” What were your goals for this effort? You definitely record all the time. When do you know it’s time to make a record?

Anderson: When a collection of songs feel of a piece, when they seem to coalesce around a story or even a feeling, that’s when I become most interested in trying to string them together. With "First Light," the thematic idea became the shifting definition of what “home” means. That’s, I think, the key narrative thread. In terms of aesthetic, I wanted this record to combine the minimal and maximal, to take what were essentially bedroom folk songs and explode them onto a much larger and more daring canvas. I was lucky. Lucky enough to work with Thomas Wincek, an incredible and incredibly creative producer, and now incredible friend, who has done some really amazing, really textural stuff in the past with projects like "Volcano Choir" and "All Tiny Creatures." Tom was such a perfect partner for this material. He took these humble acoustic tunes to such an epic atmospheric place. This record has a terrain all its own. I am so proud of our work.

Seacoastonline: You’re playing the Book & Bar in Portsmouth on April 22. What excites you about the gig? What can folks expect?

Anderson: So very much excites me about this show. So very much! This is my first tour since the pandemic. This is the first show on that tour. Which means this is the first show I will be playing in the United States since February of 2020. Wow. That’s a lot of firsts! And the fact that all of this is happening in my beloved home state of New Hampshire? It just feels ... perfect. Everything about it. What can folks expect? Well, considering all of the above, I think folks can expect me to be sobbing through most of the set. There’s a good chance of some tears! Seriously, though, it is going to be emotional. Heck, I’ve gotten emotional just drawing up the setlist and rehearsing the songs, so to be on stage performing them in a room full of people, dear friends I haven’t seen in years, my parents there, gosh, that will be something wonderful, some kind of singular catharsis, I think. I’m really excited to find out.

Visit bookandbar.com and jasonandersonmusic.net for information.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Jason Anderson brings 'First Light' to Portsmouth to play Book and Bar