Shady Maples tweak sound for show at Bottom of the Hill, 2/2/13

Photo: Tom Rhodes

Shady Maples released their debut LP Unfold just over a year ago, and Saturday night they’re headlining at Bottom of the Hill. They’ll be joined by Goodnight Texas, who is on a national tour, and The Heavy Guilt out of San Diego. Unfold was primarily a collaboration between Berkeley guitarist Owen Roberts and San Diego’s Greg Peterson, who mostly played lap steel on the album. For the show Saturday, Peterson’s lap steel will be replaced with a combination of Shira Lee Katz’s cello and Micha Dubreuil’s organ. “Greg and I agree that having the time and space to rehearse is critical to putting on a good show and stimulating the writing process,” explains Roberts. “We’ll keep on collaborating for the rest of our lives, and we’ll collaborate with other musicians and songwriters along the way. So this weekend at Bottom of the Hill, Shady Maples is playing a set with new arrangements of familiar songs and raw new material.”

Below, you can check out an example of Shady Maples’ new sound in a video for “Its Influence”, recently recorded in their rehearsal space. It’s a subtle change from their original recording (which you can also stream below). It sounds a bit smoother than the album, so I think it works pretty well – you should go see more Saturday night.