Last Wednesday, Adam called to tell me we won the lottery. No, not that lottery. We won the lottery to attend a taping of Austin City Limits! To be honest, I had never heard of the artist we were going to see, but a quick Spotify listen proved intriguing.

Tonight was the concert. In short it was amazing. In fact, Adam and I walked right across the street to Austin Java afterwards so I could write this blog.

The program we received before the show stated that tUnE-yArDs (made up of singer-songwriter Merrill Garbus, a bass player, and a 2-person saxophone section) is “somewhere between Aretha and Yoko.”

And? She plays the ukulele. Sold.

Every vocal sound that you hear is made on stage by Merrill. And I mean every.

Watching her layer vocals, scats, hums, and screams left me in awe of her artistry. Then, just when your fingers start getting into the vocals, she adds in a drum beat, loops it, and your toes start tapping. Then the sax section adds in some jazz runs and I’m practically giving myself whiplash.

The ukulele was unlike any I’d ever heard before. It was pure rock jams and oftentimes I even forgot it was a ukulele.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a concert with so much sensory overload at once. The environment of the ACL studio only added to the atmosphere and I loved every minute.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be listening to her all day tomorrow.

Meanwhile I’ll leave you with a couple of YouTube videos from some of her older live performances.