In the video above, Jessica Lea Mayfield plays “For Today,” the second track from her 2008 debut album With Blasphemy So Heartfelt, at The Grey Eagle in Asheville, North Carolina on Sunday, March 27, 2011. Richie Kirkpatrick is the electric guitarist. (Video taken by the YouTube user gavinconner).

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.