Shenandoah Davis at CHBP 2010 ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

Who doesn’t wish they could relive their favorite concerts over and over again? Thanks to the release of Shenandoah Davis’ stunning set with the Seattle Rock Orchestra at the Triple Door, I can. While I have always been impressed by SRO’s faithful reinterpretations of contemporary and canonical classics: OK Computer, Funeral, Pet Sounds, Bowie, and their next show, the songs of Queen; it has been their shows backing local bands original compositions that have been my favorite. Their set with Grand Hallway switched me from like to love with the band having seen them reach their truly grand orchestral potential.

Seattle Rock Orchestra’s evening with Kaylee Cole and Shenandoah Davis at the Triple Door on April 2nd was a year in the making and with Scott Teske’s carefully crafted orchestration and the gifted bows and horns of SRO, Davis and Cole’s songs were fully realized in a way few artists will ever get to experience. And Davis rose to the challenge, sounding more operatic vocally and more accomplished on piano than ever, which if you’ve seen Shenandoah perform before, is saying something indeed.

To see two local song-writers treated with the same pain-staking reverence and thunderous applause as names like Bowie, Wilson, Yorke and Mercury is one of my favorite local music memories. Not of 2011, but period. It’s this kind of collaboration, that extends beyond SRO to Matt and Mike Gervais of Curtains for You who joined Davis on stage for a number of songs and to Cole, who joined her for a duet performing a song by Nick Jaina, a Portland singer-songwriter, that makes what’s happening in Seattle right now so special.

Take a listen for yourself, the album is also available for digital purchase via Bandcamp.