Elation Through the Storm With Nether Hour
Sound check before the squall
There was a moment—as the sun dipped toward the Sierras and the lights came up on Nether Hour in the Vista—when it felt like the room itself took a deep breath. Not the kind of breath that prepares for something hard, but the kind that comes after you’ve made it through. Greg Gilmore of Greg Gilmore Music and Henry Stewart with Shawna Howard and the ArrowCreek team had suffered, with us all, a sudden squall of wind, rain and curse –sound check for last Sunday’s outdoor For the Song concert had been drowned out.
But everyone seemed to draw energy instead of despair.
We found a 2nd bass amp and ONE dry microphone. Over 200 people came inside the Vista Room and the ArrowCreek team scrambled to set up chairs and reset the taco bar. We had been watching the weather all week and all day – yet Mother Nature surprised us anyway.
And the Nether Hour said – “Hey, we’re gonna pull this off any and every way we can.”
They used our signed guitar, a borrowed guitar and made the best of it. Prepared for an electric set, the band was left with its voices, personality and intention. The music—raw, alive, and undeniably real—reminded us of Derek Walcott’s poetry:
“The time will come when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving at your own door...”
After the squall, with Huey Lewis in mind. Read on! You’ll understand….
That’s the kind of night it was. A homecoming in a newfound setting, not just for the band, but for everyone in the room who’s ever struggled, stumbled, and still found the rhythm to dance.
Nether Hour doesn’t perform at you—they pull you into the circle. Their songs move with the soul of people who have seen hard days but choose joy anyway. You can hear it in every beat: the celebration of youth not as an escape from pain, but as a bold response to it. Just like Walcott’s poem urges us to reclaim ourselves after hardship, Nether Hour reminds us that art doesn’t just entertain—it restores. It says, “Yes, you’ve been through it. Now come back to yourself. Let the music lead you in.”
Many of the 200+ spoke of how we’ll likely tell the story of when we first saw Nether Hour, and when we first saw Casey Shaw (who performed a COMPLETELY acoustic opener as Greg careened about, makeshifting our move inside.) These young Austin musicians are destined for MORE, promising a level of writing and popularity that should invite us to remember a 2025 June Saturday when we witnessed their in-person harmonies and great energy in a small space.
The night before at Piper’s Opera House, we had the electrified version. Yet the band said ArrowCreek was their most unique and enjoyable evening in years. Post show, Bishop (glasses, left side) said his Mom is dating Huey Lewis. Fresh from a cochlear implant that has refreshed his hearing, Lewis, Bishop noted, had some news. He told the Nether Hour frontmen that if they don’t spend at least an hour harmonizing into a single microphone in their sets, they are missing a HUGE opportunity. The ArrowCreek squall FORCED them to do that, and they talked nonstop into late Sunday night about the harmony that ArrowCreek weather-driven adjustments had created.
As did we!