Last night today: Kevin Morby & Jessica Pratt at Barn Light

Monday night, people filled The Barn Light for Jessica Pratt and Kevin Morby — a show which had both the intimacy of a singer-songwriter open mic and the energy of a late-night Americana barn bash.

Pratt started off the night, lulling the audience to sit down on the Barn Light’s concrete floor by sitting in a chair herself. The seated crowed proved their innate indie-ness when Pratt asked, “Did anyone watch the Academy Awards last night?” and received an overwhelmingly apathetic collective “No,” despite the packed awards party that the same venue had hosted the night before. Accompanied by a bassist, Pratt played acoustic-cool music over her soft, soprano voice for a delicate 45-minute set in front of an iridescent orange curtain and a Brew Dr. Kombucha logo.

For the next 15 minutes, people refilled kombucha and stretched out their bodies in anticipation of Kevin Morby, who, along with a drummer and another guitarist (who switched to bass later on), took the floor at 8:30 pm.

With a Western-style shirt and shaggy blonde hair, Morby fit the cool-older-brother bill. His first few songs were played to a crowd half-entranced and half-socializing until “Harlem River,” the title track off his debut 2013 album of the same name. Morby switched to electric guitar, stepping away from the mic to perform intricate solos, hold his guitar Beatles-style and swish his hair from side to side. The final chord was met with the most applause of the night.
He immediately followed with “All Of My Life,” the folky ballad from his newest album, Still Life. Morby mentioned this was his first time playing in Eugene, which was met with a round of applause before Morby bade us an early 9:15 goodnight farewell.