Music Review: Russell Eponym @ Unity

Second Life Live Music Review
Written by Enniv Zarf (RL: Paul Kwo)
Metaverse Music
Russell Eponym
Unity SLURL
4 stars out of 5 stars

It's just absolutely fantastic to log onto Second Life, teleport to a concert and discover an absolutely beautiful sound that's soothing, sweet and tender. It's original, it's refreshing and it's just the best way to kick off my Friday afternoon.

Russell Eponym, known as Russell Taylor Ashby in real life is based in Rhode Island, though originally from the UK. There's still a little bit of British still in his accent, but it's not as thick as some other British singers I would hear at this hour.

He works closely to his friend Neil in Second Life who he also collaborate with in real life to as an acoustic songwriting duo, and I think the two cranks out some really sweet tunes. From top to bottom of Russell's concert, his sound is consistent and just pleasant on the ears.

It's also fantastic to hear a singer work into their interactions with the audience with...

...chats that are related to what he is going to sing. He started talking about his inventory having only a 3600 or so items after three years of being in Second Life before he sang a song his uncle wrote a long while ago called "Traveling light." The song really has a very innocent and sweet song of the older days, where people are more shall we say naive perhaps. You know, the days before we had the Janet Jackson Wardrobe malfunction, Britney Spears meltdown and Miley Cirus going topless while still a star on the Disney Channel!

Russell takes us back with his songs to the good old times, when things are just more simple, more pure and just plain good. He's not fancy, he doesn't do all those crazy vocal sounds that everyone tries to scratch the heck out of their voice. He just sings, sings them simply and plays a pretty guitar along with him. And isn't that's what music is really about? Just the musician singing in their real voice telling us a story of their journey, showing us a glimpse into their life.

Now along with the singing and the guitar, Russell also does covers and plays a pretty nifty harmonica. Makes me wanna now pull out my own harmonica that my school actually gave us as a graduation present. He mentioned to us that he grew up listening to Bob Dylan who made him wanting to learn the harmonica. So he played an early Bob Dylan song, I think it was "Don't think twice it's alright" though I can't be sure. But boy does he know how to work that harmonic while still keeping the guitar going and then switch right back to singing. Though I do have to say this one song felt just a little more agitated and rushed then the others. I think he gotten a tad bit antsy from having to deal with all of that. But still is a great song and he did a great job on it.

He also did "Catch the wind" by Donovan and even a Rolling Stones song "Dead Flowers." And I loved how he described himself singing Rolling Stones as a Brit trying to be a Hillbilly. It had a slightly rocky start in terms of the feel, but I think he gotten a little more comfortable in it. But the song really not him and it is exactly as he described it, a Brit pretending a Hillbilly. It does make for an interesting listen though and it had a cuteness to it, almost like a little boy playing pretend. We've all done that as a kid. It was still fun and entertaining and that's what counts here.

The venue he sang at today is a new venue and that I am not absolutely best for him. Unity is just really a simple giant open area where people are sitting all around. The walls are solid navy and the stage is wood. The ground is white sand or snow like thing, I couldn't really tell. I think I would love to be in a small park, or a tight English Pub or some sort of intimate setting listening to Russell sing instead. But a venue is a venue and musicians gotta play whoever hires them! At one point Russell pointed out that this venue would be a great place for a big marathon concert which is what I was thinking. It had a pseudo-Woodstock kind of feel to it. But I would love to see it look even more run down and less single giant wall. It's actually pretty hard to get that real Woodstock feel in Second Life. It takes some real thinking. It actually reminds me of Burning Man here in Second Life and how they really thought out their venue even though the Real Life one isn't so much planned. Everything is thought through in Second Life, if it's any good.

One of the last songs Russell did was a Gershwin song and I am always thrilled to hear. Gershwin is just timeless and I'm just so happy to hear so many singers around singing these wonderful classics along with some contemporaries. Russell is an excellent voice for all these folksy songs. And he plays a lot around Second Life so be sure to catch him at one of his upcoming concerts and be taking to a place where worries don't exist, and where you are just there to have a good old time with a real voice.