I first heard Amanda Palmer's music in 2009. A high school classmate introduced my sister and I to her band The Dresden Dolls. She has described her music as punk cabaret - definitely not for everyone. But as an angsty fourteen-year-old, I related to her harsh lyrics and heavy piano and definitely worshiped the brilliant drumming of Brian Viglione. It stuck with me. My sister and I bought all of their albums. We found her solo work and went further down the Amanda Palmer rabbit hole. Her song "Astronaut" off of her album "Who Killed Amanda Palmer?" got me through a rough break-up. She started new bands and got married to author Neil Gaiman and I followed her the whole way.

The Dresden Dolls. Image courtesy of Listal

I saw her last summer in Woodstock with my mom as Palmer brought new and old musicians onto stage with her. They played their music and accompanied her in her set. I loved seeing Palmer in person, then pregnant and wearing her husband's boxers because they were more comfortable than her dress. But I truly adored the diverse crowd that she attracted. While my mom had been worried that she would be the only older person in the audience, she was one of many moms in the audience in addition to young folks, queer folks, people of color and many others. I even ran into an alumnus from my school sporting a set of tiger ears (her signature look). Palmer has this force that brings people together.

I write about her now because I went to her show in Hudson, New York at the Basilica Soundscape. A friend volunteered to go to the concert after my mom's work prevented her from going, even after I described Palmer's music as "weird." It was definitely a weird show. However, it was weird in the best ways. A group from Austin made almost entirely of instrumentals brought nearly a dozen people onstage including Palmer herself and artist Ben Folds. Palmer also invited his daughter Gracie Folds onstage to play an original song. Her current work is with her father Jack Palmer on a collaborative folk album. I found this to be the sweetest thing as father and daughter played together while Palmer's baby Anthony (named after a friend of Palmer's who passed away) sat in Elephant Pants with a caretaker watching the show.

Palmer during her TED Talk. Image courtesy of BookTrib

Palmer had a complicated and magical upbringing into the music business. You can learn the whole story in her TED Talk. Palmer began her performance career as a street performer posing as a ten-foot bride adorned with a white dress and makeup while standing on a box for the height. She would hand donors a flower and share a brief moment of clarity with them, seeing one another as people in need of human connection for those brief seconds. That's when the Dresden Dolls started as she used both to make a living. Soon, they took off and began touring, couch surfing their way through cities and trusting fans to come through for their music. While they signed on a soon lost their major label because they didn't sell enough, The Dresden Doll's fan base voluntarily donated the money they could pay in order to keep The Dresden Dolls playing.

This mantra continued throughout Palmer's career. She encouraged her fans to torrent, pirate, and share her music with the simple request that they pay what they can when they can pay it. Kickstarter campaigns and pay-what-you-can online markets for her music brought together thousands of fans and thousands of dollars to pay for the tour and the record production. The same connection she had with people on the street--simply asking for assistance as she held out a hat for change--connected Palmer with thousands of fans on a personal level.

Album cover for Jack and Amanda Palmer's album "You Got Me Singing." Image courtesy of Stereoboard

Like many artists today, Palmer used her platform as a performer during the recent show to talk about politics. Yes, it can seem exploitative for an artist to make statements about tragedy, but Palmer didn't seem to have that intent. She spoke poetry and sang songs relevant to today about inept politicians, racial violence, and gun violence. As mentioned previously, Palmer happens to draw a diverse crowd. So of course, considering her fans and their expansive identities, singing about these topics weren't just beneficial to her as an artist speaking her mind. Palmer sang to her audience about topics relevant to them.

The couple of songs in Jack and Amanda Palmer's set filled me with such joy and compassion. One was a cover of "I Love You So Much" by Noah Britton. Another was "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" originally written by Richard John Thompson. They were such freaking excellent covers as they both brought such emotion to the performance. Leaving the show, I was reminded of the 14-year-old acting morose with Amanda Palmer's music acting as her soundtrack. While that girl is still somewhere inside of me, she seems to have evolved past singing along to break-up songs. I now sing along to songs about men dying on motorbikes. This feels like maturity.