Charlie Mars Salutes Relix
Photo by Cole Boyle

Singer/songwriter Charlie Mars, String Cheese Incident vocalist Bill Nershi and Assembly of Dust frontman Reid Genauer all performed at Relix’s October issue release party last night. The event took place at New York’s Billy Reid store—a East Village boutique specializing in southern-bred luxury clothing, shoes and leather. A mix of musicians, subscribers, managers, promoters and other friends of Relix attended the event, including Mars’ current girlfriend: Weeds star Mary-Louise Parker. Reid himself was present at the event and brought along a batch of custom designed Relix Billy Reid t-shirts. Most of the evening’s soundtrack was provided by Shangri-La Music, the label that recently released the debut album by current Relix cover subject Monsters of Folk

Mars kicked off the live music portion of the night with a short, acoustic set that peaked with his originals “Meet You By the Backdoor” and “Listen To The Darkside.” The indie-approved singer/songwriter was recently profiled in Relix’s Man at Work section. Later in the evening, Genauer and Nershi popped into the store to play a brief, collaborative set. Nershi and Genauer—who humorously described themselves as the punny “Billy-Reid Band”—were scheduled to play full sets with their respective bands at the nearby Bowery Ballroom. Shortly after doors opened at the Bowery, the musicians ducked out of their own gig to play songs like Bob Dylan’s “Quinn the Eskimo” and Genauer’s “Speculator” at the Relix event. They then packed up their guitars and ran back to the Bowery for their packed performance.