The Head and The Heart ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Doe Bay is a place that brings out the best in people. You end up hugging people you may have just met and sharing whatever it is you might have to share with the person next to you. That The Head and The Heart, a band who engenders much the same response wherever they perform, were at such a festival, felt not just right, but a destiny fulfilled. Lots of bands make music, but only a few bands make music that naturally brings people together the way the Head & the Heart seem to do so effortlessly. Though only scheduled for a single Friday night set, the band could be seen singing songs at the campfire and guest-appearing on the stage for a host of other bands, before gathering once again on Saturday night to do an impromptu midnight set on the General Store porch in front of a crowd of hundreds. This extraordinary presence marked them out as the pied-pipers of the festival — any time their songs floated on the summer San Juan air, people followed.

After the festival had ended and as the sun set on our final night at Doe Bay a crowd gathered for the band as they played down the sun on the furthest point of Doe Bay. People emerged from their tents, came running down the trails and waved and sang along from departing boats. In a weekend that was as much about the community we created as the songs that were sung, no moment felt so poignantly demonstrative of that notion than the impromptu chorus of other Doe Bay performers that joined The Head and the Heart for their session. Like no other band at the festival, The Head and The Heart understood that in this place, the experience of making music with friends and making new friends through music was as important as the music itself.

Some moments feel meant to be. This moment on the cliffs, of a band on the brink of something big and backed by a community that loves, supports and connects to their songs as if they were their own was that moment for us. It was the culmination of four spectacular days of sessions and a wonderful wild ride this year with the band, but more importantly, it was a culmination and celebration of the community that The Head and The Heart had themselves built over those days. This video is a wonderful reminder of the community and bonds that will exist long after the band’s first Doe Bay is just a memory.

The sun may have been setting during their Doe Bay Session, but with just announced dates at The Paramount with Vampire Weekend this month and then the Showbox in November, it is clear that The Head and The Heart’s star is still rising.

The Doe Bay Sessions - The Head & The Heart from Sound on the Sound on Vimeo.