Nine local bands perform 69 love songs.

by Cassady Sharp 

February is the month for love, but according to Magnetic Fields front man Stephin Merritt, love is not always roses and conversation hearts. It can better be explained in 69 Love Songs, the three-disc concept album the band released on Merge Records in 1999. The songs are quirky, and occasionally dark. Take #9, for example, “Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits,” or #13, “Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long.” The Magnetic Fields have performed all 69 songs consecutively in concert before. But since Merritt schedules his live performances few and far between (in part due to a hearing condition), nine local bands will bring his music to Asheville, performing each of the 69 love songs on the album at the Grey Eagle on Valentine’s Day weekend.

Asheville arts producer and Magnetic Fields fan Chall Gray came up with the idea last fall, but a multi-band blowout at the Grey Eagle wasn’t exactly what he had in mind. “At first I was going to do a small show in someone’s living room,” says Gray, who’s also the marketing and development manager at Asheville Bravo Concerts. “The idea just started to mutate.”

He partnered with musician James Richards, and Matt Schnable and Mark Capon at West Asheville’s Harvest Records, and then sent word to fellow musician pals through (what else?) Facebook. After a set of auditions, the living room gig had turned into a nine-band extravaganza.

Erika Jane, the lead singer of Erika Jane & Remember the Bees, signed up because she’s a longtime Magnetic Fields fan and liked the idea that each band will put their own spin on the Stephin Merritt classics. Joti Marra of the band Fox-Teeth, which includes Asheville singer-songwriter Angi West and Marra’s boyfriend Tyler Ramsey (of Band of Horses fame) agrees. “The whole point of covers is to make them your own,” she says. “These songs are all slightly bitter, but completely awesome.”

For tickets and more information about the Feb. 13 show, visit www.thegreyeagle.com or call 828-674-2036.