Don’t forget: Today, Saturday, December 4, 2010 is the Greenville Record Fair, sponsored by Horizon Records, and held at The Handlebar from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Two years ago today, on Thursday, October 16, 2008, I first saw Jessica Lea Mayfield perform at The Handlebar in Greenville, South Carolina. Only the week before, I’d bought her debut album, With Blasphemy So Heartfelt, when I heard it playing over the system at Horizon Records. (Fun fact: The album was produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys.). The musical style: dark acoustic folk featuring a sad vocalist singing about pain beyond her years. The gig at The Handlebar was actually a part of FODfest, an annual touring festival dedicated to the memory of Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl, who was apparently also a musician. Only ten or so people were in attendance. Since recording the album, Mayfield had hired guitarist Ritchie Kirkpatrick, who put an entirely new spin on her material. He was obviously influenced by My Bloody Valentine and the shoegazing bands, and his approach, coupled with Mayfield’s pre-existing material, added a new depth to the music, which was already quite good. It became one of the best shows I had seen at the venue. There was a sense that we were witnessing something special before anyone else had the opportunity to discover it.

In the video above, Taylor Moore performs at Horizon Records in Greenville, South Carolina on Monday, August 30, 2010.

Not too long ago, Alex Hills of  JP and the GIlberts,  updated that band’s tour blog to recount their experiences in Greenville, South Carolina.  Along with Datus, the band had played an informal gig at Horizon Records on Monday, July 26, 2010.

Recalling that day, Hills writes:

We arrived in Greenville, SC in the middle of a thunderstorm. We were playing at Horizon Record’s Monday night music series. If you’re ever in Greenville, be sure to stop by this store, the selection of new and used records is something. Out friend Aaron works at Horizon and he had set us up with the show. Datus played first and melted some faces.

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The show ended pretty early (around 8:00) so we figured we’d try to find somewhere else to play. Once again, Lily and Tim’s wizardry was able to score us a show last minute this time at Rhythm and Brews in nearby Greer. Thanks for having us, R&B, we all had a great time.

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After our second show we made our way over to Aaron’s house where we played some more music and enjoyed some good company. Day three of the tour done.

The post includes a number of photographs and embedded videos of that day.

We previously posted a video of Datus playing at that gig here.

Datus, the rock band from Brooklyn, New York, plays an informal gig at Horizon Records in Greenville, South Carolina on Monday, July 26, 2010.