Photos and Review by Stephen Bloch

There’s a particular alchemy at work when two artists who clearly adore each other’s music spend an evening proving it in front of 2,500 Milwaukeeans. Tuesday night at the Riverside, MJ Lenderman and Waxahatchee (Katie Crutchfield) didn’t so much share a stage as cheerfully embrace each other’s catalogs — a 27 song musical swap meet that included well selected covers.

These are two of the most accomplished singer-songwriters playing today.  They encompass indie rock with very alt-country leanings so their appeal is broad. There was a give and take throughout the entire show, flip flopping from one artist’s work to the other.  Most songs had them singing together at different points, but others, like Crutchfield’s “Lilacs”, were sung solo (MJ still added his slack-stringed guitar swagger to that song and others). It didn’t matter if you were there to see MJ, Katie, or both, you got it.  I did sense different people hooting and hollarin when each artist’s song began. “Manning Fireworks”, “Joker Lips”, and “Wristwatch” got the most oooos for MJ, while “Lilacs”, “Evil Spawn”, and “Crowbar” got the ahhhhs for Crutchfield. After the audience’s reaction to opening notes, there were ample times where you couldn’t hear a murmur or whisper in the audience. Absolute silence. That’s a rarity for a live show nowadays. Wish this happened more often.

There was no shortage of exceptional covers, that again leaned hard into the Americana/alt-country sound. Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, The Jayhawks and Kathleen Edwards all got the nod.  The last three songs of the encore brought the opener, Brennan Wedl from Waxahatchee’s label, Anti Records to the stage.  Her lush, yet roaring voice absolutely rounded out the sound.

Separately, Lenderman and Waxahatchee are two of indie rock’s finest. Together, covering each other while nodding reverently to their Americana forebears, they’re something rarer: proof that influence and affection aren’t mutually exclusive.