I’ve said it before: there are some musicians I will never stop filming, as long as they’ll have me. Actually, there’s quite a few. One of them is The Influences regular Djurre de Haan, or AWKWARD i. This Autumn, he’s going on tour with the equally talented Dutch indie folk musician la loye, (Lieke Heusinkveld). When they asked if I wanted to film them playing a cover of Gillian Welch’s Everything Is Free I made sure my schedule was as well. This is the story of how we ended up in the cutest old bookstore of The Hague called The Bookstore Café, after hours on a Friday night.

AWKWARD i’s Djurre de Haan explains: “This song has always been cathartic to me. It feels like a sanctuary for the vocation which also happens to be mine. You have music and the music industry and, more often than not, their interests are at odds with one another. Maybe that’s why it feels so good to be reminded of what’s essential behind the everyday capitalist reality of continuing a career in music: the magic that is music is in fact uncorrupted and free.”

“Sadly, the streaming business has made the song’s title true in another sense as well: if the entire music history is available for 12,99, then music is rendered virtually worthless. I worry about that less when I hear a song like Everything Is Free.”

AWKWARD i and la loye are going on tour together

• 6 November – De Spot, Middelburg
• 27 November – De Doelen, Rotterdam
• 4 December – Burgerweeshuis, Deventer
• 18 December – Fluor, Amersfoort
• 11 December – Vera, Groningen

Photos

Keep watching

Thank you for watching and enjoying this session. You’ll probably like some other sessions from The Influences’ archive too, like these earlier ones we filmed at with AWKWARD i.

2025 awkward i cover djurre de haan everything is free gillian welch la loye lieke heusingveld streaming