Joy Oladokun w Becca Mancari at The Truman, Kansas City MO (2023-09-12)

Two rising singer-songwriters, Joy Oladokun and Becca Mancari landed in Kansas City at The Truman to shed light on their own proof of life– growing up and coming out, religious trauma and hardships; and ultimately, their own personal redemption for coming to terms with their own identity and musically storytelling, each in their own unique voice.

The night began with Nashville (by way of NY and PA) indie folk singer-songwriter Becca Mancari, whose third solo LP Left Hand was just released last month (via Captured Tracks Records). boygenius’ Julien Bakerlent a hand to the new record, which shifts more pop in nature rhythmic shakers of the album’s lead single, “Over and Over” played early in the opening set, lyrically hearken back to an early phase of upbringing and coming out in a fundamentalist household of four kids and a pastor father.

More lush sounding and synth-driven on record, the live experience leaned more toward rock, though the highly personal lyrics hit home in any format, including those on the new “I Had a Dream” which unpacks more on the themes of identity, family upbringing, and religion.

Mancari joked in comparing the opener as a “substitute teacher” as a warm-up to the headline act, and asked if we were all having fun. Though not considered a country artist, 2017’s “Golden” sounded the closest to that genre and “Don’t Even Worry” (done in studio w/ex-Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard) was a late set highlight.

===

After a brief set change, the anthemic Miley Cyrus song “The Climb” was cued up as lights darkened and Arizona-born multi-genre (folk, pop, r&b, roots) singer-songwriter Joy Oladokun and band took to the stage for her headlining set, on this, her Living Proof Tour (named from the fourth full-length of the same name, out now on Verve Forecast/Republic).

Though not mentioned from the stage, Oladokun has partnered with PLUS1, so $1 from each ticket sold will go towards supporting gun violence prevention initiatives, one of several causes that have become close to heart for the artist. The set was off to a rolling, positive start with single, “Keeping the Light On” from the new record, then “a song about how much I hate change” fittingly called “Changes”.

The poignant “Taking Things for Granted” was intro’d by Oladokun simply saying, “This is about how no one came to my eighth birthday”, singing of swimming alone and making the point that trauma in childhood, can easily stay with someone all through their adult years.

She joked after, realizing she forgot “If You Got a Problem” on the setlist, so directed the band to go back and play it, and randomly (or maybe not so much, being in the BBQ capital) saying she wants to open a barbecue restaurant called “Risk It for the Brisket”, which elicited cheers.

The Neil Young-inspired “Sunday” was a 2019 early breakthrough, about her own religious trauma and being the kind of song that her younger self needed to hear. Her three-song solo acoustic set was among her favorite moments, purposely being unplanned and decided in the moment.

After mentioning how awkward it was for a Southern woman to recently compliment her as “handsome”, she ended this portion strongly with the depressing but real “Somehow” merged with an influential Jimmy Eat World hit, that is one of her favorites.

The Elton John cover was changed by having dramatic slow beats as its foundation (and also inspired by a certain herb) and that feeling continued into “The Hard Way” from the new LP, with Oladokun starting the song singing, “Jesus raised me, good weed saved me” and sang of the earned rewards of not taking an easier way.

Not afraid to wear her (late 90s/early 00’s) influences on her sleeve, the set would end with the Weezer-influenced, “We’re All Going to Die”- not quite the storytelling point-of-views of the Dawes song of the same name, but it questions in the same way, the way we never fully figure everything out before meeting our end.

The encore proved to be one of symphonies- both sweet and bittersweet, “Don’t start a riot or anything” she remarked, returning to the stage after rising cheers. Starting things was “Sweet Symphony” a song from the new LP about “how cute my parents’ love is”, also cheekily saying “Chris Stapleton couldn’t be here tonight, because of budget cuts”, mentioning the co-collaborator of the studio version of the song.

The night would end on a positive…err, joyful note as Oladokun would finish with the new “Look Up”, a song she said was “about the things that make life matter- the smell of coffee, dogs in sweaters, and Backstreet Boys songs” and the song itself would meld with the late 90’s hit “Bittersweet Symphony” before returning to finish with her last chorus and if on cue, some Backstreet Boys outro music to end the night as lights went up.

 (Click on any image to enlarge and see in full)