Folk punk musician Sydney Lyndella Ward (who performs as Sunny War) played a solo acoustic blues set for her Sycamore Session at the 2022 Nelsonville Music Festival.
Ward opened her set with a song she wrote amidst the pandemic, titled, “All Life’s Worth,” from “Can I Sit with You?” (Hen House Studios). Following that, she performed “He Is My Cell,” from “With the Sun” (Hen House Studios).
Next, Ward performed a cover of Reagan Youth’s “Anytown.” Ward said she'd learned the song when she was toying with the idea of crafting an album of '80s hardcore rock covers reimagined in blues and ragtime styles.
Before Ward's next song, “Free Love,” she explained that she wrote this song as a teenager while living in San Francisco. Later in the set, War played “I Sold My Soul,” a song she'd written with her band, Anus Kings, and which was featured on their 2011 release, “Seems You Haven’t Learned” (Hen House Studios). - Lily Manoukian
SET LIST
1. “All Life’s Worth” - 5:00
2. “He Is My Cell” - 9:27
3. “Anytown” (Reagan Youth cover) - 13:51
4. “Free Love” - 18:27
5. “Rain or Shine” - 21:11
6. “Every Day Every Night” - 25:18
7. “Red, White and Blue” - 30:34
8. “I Sold My Soul” (Released by Anus Kings) - 33:45
9. “Can I Sit with You” - 38:08
10. “Big Baby” - 42:32
11. “Got No Ride” - 46:02
The Sycamore Sessions are presented by the Nelsonville Music Festival in collaboration with WOUB Public Media and the Ohio University Scripps College of Communication’s School of Media Arts and Studies. The performances were recorded and produced by Media Arts and Studies students under the supervision of Host and Director Josh Antonuccio and Associate Producers - Director of Photography Andie Walla (Media Arts and Studies Associate Professor of Instruction), Audio Supervisor Adam Rich (WOUB), and WOUB’s Arts and Culture Editor Emily Votaw. All performances took place during the 2022 Nelsonville Music Festival, which is a production of Stuart’s Opera House.