In the late 1920s, record company talent scouts scoured the country, searching to capture (and monetize) the music of rural America on a piece of wax. It was the preservation of a moment in time, rather than a decree as to how all future versions of the music should sound. How times have changed.
With few notable exceptions (insert fans of the Grateful Dead, Phish and other jam bands here), modern-day consumers of music have largely come to expect the live performance to replicate the recording. For these consumers, it is not familiarity that breeds contempt, but rather the refusal to provide it. They scoff when a song “does not sound like it did on the record.” Some artists simply don’t care.
Enter Illiterate Light. The duo from Virginia, Jeff Gorman (vocals, guitar, synth bass) and Jake Cochran (drums, vocals), intentionally make their live shows different from their albums. As Jake told my friend and Roadcase Podcast host Josh Rosenberg, if the duo wanted to hear the same song every night, they’d put on the album. It’s a bold move, but one that has earned Jeff and Jake a well-deserved and devoted following.
Imagine the albums sitting each night at the merch table. It’s faint, but if you listen closely, a slight tremor is building. At closer inspection, the albums are coming alive. Rattling as if possessed, each song fighting to escape the confines of the sleeve, only to be born again on stage. Once there, Jeff and Jake grab each song like a piece of clay, squeezing it until every last ounce of sweat, grit, passion and emotion has dripped from their pores. It’s a performance that no fan of blues-imbued rock will want to miss.
As for their albums, Illiterate Light has released three studio albums since forming in 2015. The latest, Arches, was released on November 1, 2024, and continues the duo’s refusal to be pigeonholed into a particular genre. As Jeff describes it, “[w]e’ve always been shape shifters, moving between heavy, dark distortion and gentle sweet fingerpicking, writing aggressive songs, introspective songs, and love songs, exploding and embracing.” For the duo and their fans, it’s about the feeling, not the genre.
Beyond their music, Illiterate Light is also working hard to bring a different kind of energy to the music industry. For several years now, they have been hosting The Bike Stage at the Newport Folk Festival. This year will be no different. Primarily powered by bicycles and solar energy, the idea, according to Jeff, is not to greenwash the music industry, but rather to look forward. Jeff and Jake can’t see the future, but they are open-minded about it. “What we are interested in is how to collaborate with one another, how to think differently, how to dream, how to feel.” I’d bike for that.
For more on Illiterate Light, including their tour which is currently scheduled to continue through August, head here.
All images: © Derek Smith / High Voltage Concert Photography for American Blues Scene
